For several years, the Denman Festival’s five day intensive writing program has been attracting aspiring writers from all over BC and further afield. The renowned authors who have led The Writing Week have included Jack Hodgins, Steven Galloway, Steven Price, and for the last four years, Caroline Adderson.
This year, the Denman Festival is proud to welcome Angie Abdou as the new leader of this highly-rated workshop. Angie makes her home in Fernie and has been a well respected writer since her debut book of short stories, Anything Boys Can Do, which was published in 2006. Since then she has written four novels, including The Bone Cage and In Case I Go and three non-fiction books, including Writing the Body in Motion and Home Ice: Reflections of a Reluctant Hockey Mom. She’s an accomplished writing coach with stints at the College of the Rockies, the Banff Centre, and Athabasca University. Many regular Festival go-ers remember Angie well from her popular and polished performances when she came to Denman in 2014. She is well known for her warm personality, and professional teaching style. We’ve often wanted to get her back and now we have!
The Writing Week is limited to 8 participants to allow for the most effective and collegial atmosphere over the five days, running 9:00 to 1:00 every day, July 11 – 15 in the Arts Centre. The aim is to help writers who have a writing project on the go, in any genre, to move the project forward with advice and constructive feedback from the instructor, and fellow participants. Angie will review submissions from every participant (up to 5,000 words), meet individually with everyone, and provide daily lectures on the following topics: Writing Better Sentences; How to Hook and Hold Your Reader; How Much Truth is Too Much Truth?; Breaking Up with Writer’s Block. There will be a closing critique session of all the shared work. The week will be a mix of writing exercises, lecture material, one-on-one instructor feedback, and group critique.
For each participant, this is a great opportunity to learn from one of BC’s most accomplished and respected authors, and to gain the insights of seven other eager fellow writers. The Writing Week has garnered rave reviews every time it’s been offered. Full details are available on the Festival website.
Stewart Goodings
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