Look Who’s Instructing.

Angie Abdou (local author—Anything Girls Can Do and the Bone Cage), Keith Liggett (Director, Fernie Writers Conference) and Carolyn Nikodym (former Managing Editor of the Edmonton VueWeekly).

The Arts Station and the Fernie Writers Conference offer a three-month team taught writers workshop. Learn from the best – it doesn’t get much better.

Tuesday, January 8 to March 25
Weekly, 7-9pm. (12wks)
At the Arts Station, 601-1st.Ave. Fernie

The focus will be on developing and refining new work without genre bias—poetry, fiction, memoir, and non-fiction are all welcome.
Limited to 10. More information on the Fernie Writers Conference site at www.ferniewriters.org <http://www.ferniewriters.org/>
$150/series, ($120 Art Station members)

For registration Call Oz Parsons at 423-4842 or email at info@theartsstation.com

Jennifer Hamilton, Managing Editor of Avenue, the lifestyle magazine for Calgary and Edmonton, will hold a special workshop on Crafting the Query for workshop participants. From what is a great “story� to creating the package that will convince an editor to assign your idea, Crafting the Query will be invaluable. This is offered free to all workshop participants on a first-to-register basis and is only one of several offerings from Conference Special Guests.

Seeking Balance
Living with Nature
An open panel discussion on July 26, 2007

Monday, July 23 through Sunday, July 29, 2007

Hosted by the Griz Inn at the base of Fernie Alpine Resort

The Fernie Writers Conference brings established writers to work with writers of all levels in an intensive workshop setting. By encouraging positive critique of work–both in-progress and new–writers sharpen and refine their craft over the course of the Conference.

While centered around workshops, the featured panel discussions, evening presentations and social events surrounding the conference often create lasting and fruitful relationships. Editors, publishers and writers mingle over meals, in the receptions and during the public readings.

The Novel, Short Story and Poetry sessions focus purely on refining the craft in an intensive workshop setting.

The Fishing and the Golf/Travel session focus on creating work for acceptance by mainstream media. From the choice of the initial subject matter, to creating an easy to read, engrossing article, these sessions will take participants one step closer to publication.

During the Conference, guest editors and publishers will be available for small discussion groups and individual consultations.

Fernie in the summer offers visitors an array of activities. Hiking and mountain biking starts at the door of the Griz Inn. The fly fishing in the Elk River Valley is considered some of the best in North America. A short distance from the base of Fernie Alpine Resort, Historic Downtown Fernie offers a wide variety of shops and restaurants.

For information:

keith@saw.net

Keith Liggett, Director 250-423-5999 x222

Reservations, a service of Fernie Getaways, for both the Conference and Lodging (open 24 hours) 1-888-423-6855

Novel Workshop—July 23-29

John Keeble, Professor Emeritus, Eastern Washington University. John published four critically acclaimed novels and the non-fiction classic Out of the Channel chronicling the Exxon Valdez accident. His most recent collection of fiction, Nocturnal America (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2006) received the prestigious Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction.
(see www.johnkeeble.net)

Tuition: $695 paid on or before June 25. After $750

Includes workshop sessions, breakfast each morning, opening reception, Conference dinner Saturday night, closing reception at the Art Station Sunday afternoon. Lodging and all other meals are the responsibility of the attendee.

Weekend Workshops—July 27-29.

Fishing—TBA
Golf and Travel–Jeff Wallach, author of four noted golf books and over 500 articles in golf and travel journals.
Poetry—Brenda Schmidt
Short Story—Angie Abdou, a Fernie resident, Angie’s first book of short stories, Anything Boys Can Do (Thistledown Press, 2006) gathered praise from media across the country. Her novel, The Bone Cage (Thistledown Press, 2007) will be released just prior to the Conference. (see www.abdou.ca)

Tuition: $295 paid on or before June 25. After $335

Includes workshop sessions, breakfast each morning, opening reception, Conference dinner Saturday night, closing reception at the Art Station Sunday afternoon. Lodging and all other meals are the responsibility of the attendee.

Lead sponsor–Fernie Getaways. www.ferniegetaways.com

The owners of Park Place lodge and mangers of the Griz Inn and the Cornerstone Lodge at the base of Fernie Alpine Resort, the Conference would not be possible without the generous financial and logistic support of Fernie Getaways.

Fernie Getaways offers a Conference a condo lodging package as low as $45 per night at the Griz Inn, the Conference center,

Second-tier sponsors—These businesses each stepped up to insure the financial success of the conference. Their support allows us to charge the very low tuition.

ReMax Elk Valley 250-423-4444 www.remaxfernie.com

The Art Station 250-423-4842 www.theartstation.com

More sponsors to be announced shortly.

Scholarship Sponsors—These local businesses sponsored scholarships in workshop sections.

To be announced shortly.

One Scholarship per Section for Columbia Basin Residents—Tentatively. From Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance (application pending) one scholarship in each session for residents of the Canadian Columbia Basin. If this is not granted, the applications will be pooled with the other scholarship applications for consideration.

One Fernie Resident Scholarship—Scholarship for a Fernie resident to attend any weekend session or to apply against the cost of the Novel section. Granted by the City of Fernie.

For more information, please see the Scholarship Section.

Schedule
(Subject to change and additions)

Sunday July 22. Informal gathering and introduction of Novel participants. Evening, 7 to 9 PM. Griz Inn, base of Fernie Alpine Resort.

Monday, July 23. Breakfast 8 – 9 AM. Workshop 9 AM to 1PM

Tuesday, July 24. Breakfast 8 – 9 AM. Workshop 9 AM to 1PM

Wednesday July 25. Breakfast 8 – 9 AM. Workshop 9 AM to 1PM

Thursday. July 26. Breakfast 8 – 9 AM. Workshop 9 AM to 1PM

Evening Panel Discussion, “Seeking a Balance. Living with Nature�. Open to the public and free. Participants to be announced.

Friday July 27. Breakfast 8 – 9 AM. Workshop 9 AM to 1PM

Afternoon Panel Discussion, “Literary Publishing� Open to the public and free. A panel of workshop leaders and literary publishers discussing how to publish in the literary world.

Evening Welcoming Reception. 7 to 9 PM. Introductions, appetizers and no host bar. Griz Inn at the base of Fernie Alpine Resort.

Saturday July 28. Breakfast 8 – 9 AM. Workshop 9 AM to 1PM

Afternoon Panel Discussion, “Presenting for Publication�. Open to the public and free. Guest editors, and Conference staff will discuss and take questions on creating a successful over-the –transom submission. Editors will discuss what they want/need. Writers will discuss what they found works.

Sunday July 29. Breakfast 8 – 9 AM. Workshop 9 AM to 1PM

Closing Reception and Open Reading at the Art Station, 3 to 5 PM. Open to the public and free. Closing remarks, a chance for participants and instructors to read. Appetizers, and a no host bar.

Special Conference Guests

The conference will be bringing in editors, publishers and other writers as special guest to consult and discuss their genre with the participants.

To be announced

Scholarships in General.

With the support of local businesses, Fernie Writers Conference offers at least one* tuition scholarship to each session. These scholarships are based on quality of work and on need. Each session has slightly different requirements, so please read the requirements carefully and provide the materials requested. Applications will only be accepted for one session. You pick.

*The Fernie Writers Conference applied for a grant from the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance. If this grant is awarded, on or about June 1, we will add one additional scholarship in each section for Canadian Columbia Basin residents.

Fernie Resident Scholarship.

With the support of the City of Fernie, the Conference will award a Fernie resident a tuition scholarship to any weekend session or credit that amount toward attending the Novel session. The applicant must have lived in Fernie for at least three months prior to the application. These applications will be considered first and separately from the other scholarships. After awarding the Fernie Resident Scholarship, the balance of the Fernie applications will be considered as part of the general scholarship pool.

To apply for a scholarship include the following:

1. A cover letter of no more than two pages stating the session for which you wish to be considered, a brief writing background and explanation of your need for the scholarship. Please include all relevant contact information in your letter—mailing address, phone number, email address.
2. The required manuscript materials for the desired session. (See below) The manuscript cover page should have the title, all relevant contact information and is not considered in the manuscript page count. Each manuscript page should have your name and be sequentially numbered in a header or footer.
3. All materials should be conventionally formatted. White paper. Single sided. One inch margins. Double spaced for prose. Single spaced with stanza breaks for poems. Poems should be one to a page. No fancy, handwritten, san-serif or weird type. New Times Roman, 12 point is perfect.
4. Only hard copy manuscripts delivered/received by mail or in the Conference Office, (542 b, Victoria Ave. PO XX Fernie, BC V0B 1M0) before 5 PM, Wednesday May 22 will be considered. No faxed or emailed submissions will be accepted.

Do not send your only originals. Copies only.

The decision of the judges will be final.

Scholarships include workshop sessions, breakfast each morning, opening reception, Conference dinner Saturday night, closing reception at the Art Station Sunday afternoon. Lodging and all other meals are the responsibility of the attendee.

If you wish to have your manuscript returned, please include a SASE (international postage coupons if not Canadian)

Notification will be mailed and/or emailed on June 8, 2007

Novel with John Keeble. July 23 to July 29.

20 to 40 pages of a novel. (No more than 15,000 wds) The pages should be representative of the work as a whole or be a section you particularly wish to workshop.

Short Story with Angie Abdou. July 27 to July 29.

10 pages of a short story (3500 words) or a complete short story of less.

Poetry with Brenda Schmidt. July 27 to July 29.

5 poems, no more than 10 mss pages.

Golf/Travel with Jeff Wallach. July 27 to July 29.

A complete article of less than 3000 words. The piece need not be a golf or travel piece, but should be representative of your writing.

Fishing with TBA. July 27 to July 29.

A complete article of less than 3000 words. The piece need not be a fishing piece, but should be representative of your writing.