It started slowly this year. The 24th annual Festival of the Written Arts in Sechelt was heading for a low key opening night Aug. 3. After all, the Rockwood annex, home of some great post-event parties, had been demolished, to be replaced temporarily with a big tent for book sales. Then, festival president Wendy Hunt sadly announced the resignation of long-time festival producer Gail Bull who will now spend more time with her family. All was quiet - until Double Exposure hit.
The comic duo of Linda Cullen and Bob Robertson of both CBC and CTV fame energized the crowd with a non-stop satirical revue that featured a parody of every politician from George Bush (of course) to Adrienne Clark-son (one of Cullen's specialties). Media personalities, from Don Cherry to Bill Good, also felt their satirical jabs. Robertson astounded by impersonating every Canadian prime minister from the bombastic Diefenbaker to the decidedly non-chatty Stephen Harper.
Perhaps their bravest and funniest feat was to lampoon Senator Pat Carney, a Festival fan, despite the fact that the good senator was seated just three rows in front of them. It was a chance to use the sleeping senator jokes and to sing a charming ditty from Cullen involving one of Carney's cause célèbre, lighthouse keepers. Carney appeared to enjoy the humour as much as the audience. Robertson and Cullen wrapped up by blasting B.C. Ferries: "Another fuel surcharge! We'll have to sell the kids on E-Bay."
By Saturday morning, the Festival buzz had turned to more powerful issues. Everyone was talking about John Vaillant and his first book The Golden Spruce, a journalist's eye view of the logger Grant Hadwin, turned environmental activist, who cut down a showpiece ancient tree in Haida Gwaii to make a statement. Vaillant is surely on his way to becoming a Canadian best seller.
Jack WhyteAuthor Jack Whyte won new fans with his latest book about the Knights Templar. To hear Whyte describe them, the knights were 14th century killing machines, closer to Conan the Barbarian than sensitive seekers of justice. Nonetheless, they were interesting -a secret society that started the first banking system and even had their own navy until they were wiped out. We'll never know exactly how or why they were killed, which makes any speculation on their demise such terrific grist for the storyteller's mill. With the advent of his latest book, Knights of the Black and White, the author is suffering from a severe case of Da Vinci Code fallout. The best seller by Dan Brown has so captured the book-buying public's imagination that Whyte has been accused of jumping on the bandwagon and writing a grail story. Fact is, as readers know, he has previously produced a comprehensive series of books based on the Arthurian legend and has been researching this field for years. His attention to historical detail shone through in his reading.
Eden RobinsonAboriginal author Eden Robinson held the Festival crowd in thrall with the passion of her personality. She read from her first novel, Monkey Beach, scenes drawn from her life on the central coast of B.C. - descriptions of her grandparents, their love of old-fashioned TV soaps and salmonberry stew. Her latest book, Blood Sports, takes on stronger stuff. It is drawn from a story in her first collection, Traplines. The author laughed and cried on stage, charming the crowd with her sincerity and disturbing them with descriptions of life in the Downtown Eastside area of Vancouver.Maude BarlowTireless social activist Maude Barlow appeared on Saturday night to give this year's Bruce Hutch-ison Lecture. Her diminutive figure projected an enormous presence to the packed Rockwood Pavilion and she brought with her a breath of global fresh air. Speaking rapidly - there was so much to say - Barlow described some of the key issues from her books Parcel of Rogues and her latest, Too Close for Com-fort: Canada's Future With-in Fortress North America. She outlined how Cana-da's Thomas d'Aquino, president of a Canadian business council, has handed over the keys of the country to Bush's America by acquiescing to U.S. demands, particularly U.S. homeland security measures that demand passport/visa control and militarized presence at our borders. Canadians have also complied with U.S. foreign policy, with the exception of Paul Martin's anti-ballistic stance. And, we're about to give up our resources: we currently owe 70 per cent of oil and gas to the U.S. but our greatest resource, our water, which Barlow calls "blue gold," is threatened. Responding to a question as to when they will come up and take our water, she replied that water mining is happening right now. Already, we don't know how much groundwater we have left and our old notions of water as a constantly renewing resource are out of date.
Barlow blasted the media for not reporting on the last World Trade Organization conference that ended, she said, in disarray. It was marked by a tragedy. A suicide environmentalist killed himself on the barricades to protest the WTO's oppression of farmers, but the event got little coverage in North America.
Though the content of her talk was chilling, Barlow was determined to leave the room with hope. "It's important to remember we're part of a global movement and we're winning," she told the audience proudly. She drew a standing ovation.
