The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) and Federation of BC Writers (FBCW) have teamed up to offer local writers their own weekend on March 11 to 13. It’s called a writers’ retreat, but you can bet it won’t be conducted in solitary and monastic silence. The weekend features a meet and greet on Friday evening at the Gumboot in Roberts Creek, networking meals, three workshops, a book table at the Gibsons Library and a Literary Cabaret at the Arts Centre.
In this day of multiple format publishers, self-promotion, e-books, online sales and more books than ever, the two unions decided to create a supportive weekend for meeting other writers and trading stories. Organizer Caitlin Hicks is keen to do just that.
“I write to share with the audience and other writers,” she said. As a playwright and performer, she didn’t get to meet many others in her field. “There was no community for me – creative community.” Currently there are 25 members of the FBCW on the Coast and she knows there are many more writers out there. By bringing both writing organizations together to put on a weekend of events, she hopes to enrich the writing life for members of both.
Visiting writers can stay for the weekend at Linwood House in Roberts Creek and, of course, the event is wide open to the hotbed of flourishing writers who live on the Sunshine Coast.
The Writers’ Union is a national advocacy group for writers with a history of industry influence. Last May, TWUC released a survey of their members and other writers they had undertaken in spring 2015 that focused on income for writers. For 81 per cent of respondents, income from writing would not allow them to live above the poverty line, and the average writer’s income ($12,879/year) is a full $36,000 below the national average.
“Today’s writer does more to earn less,” was one of the discouraging conclusions of the report. Grant funding helps to supplement income, but 46 per cent of the writers surveyed said that royalties from traditional publishers continue to be their main source of revenue. Self-published titles account for only eight per cent of revenue. Yet the work of writers fuels an almost $2 billion dollar industry.
No surprise then that the weekend retreat is affordably priced. FBCW is also sponsoring a limited number of bursaries for low income local writers.
After the Friday evening meet-up in Roberts Creek, writers can sign up for Tax Tips for Writers with George Opacic (9:30 a.m.), followed by lunch at Linwood House. In the afternoon Festival of the Written Arts producer Jane Davidson discusses Inside the Festival Circuit (1:15 to 2:45 p.m.).
Saturday at the Gibsons Public Library (3:30 p.m.) offers a Meet the Author Book Table and Signing followed by a workshop, also at the library, from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m. on Social Media Savvy for Authors with Sapha Burnell. Saturday wraps up at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre, Sechelt, with a Literary Cabaret at 7:30 p.m. featuring writers from both organizations performing their work by reading or with music. (Sign-up is on a first come, first served basis – contact [email protected]). All workshops and events are $10 each for BCFW members, $20 for non-members.
Throughout the weekend, writers from out of town will be dining at Linwood House and Coast writers are invited to share these meals also, paying their own costs. Book by calling Gwen McVicker at 604-885-0214 (breakfast $10, lunch $15, dinner $25).To register for workshops, cabaret and author table, contact [email protected] by Feb. 27. Space is limited. Tickets to Social Media Savvy for Authors and the Literary Cabaret for the general public are $20 each, $10 for TWUC and BCFW members and can be picked up at MELOMania in Roberts Creek.
