The Fernie Writers Conference is now open for registration and will be moving ahead with their conference from August 17-23, 2020.
After a nine year hiatus, the writers conference made its return to the Elk Valley earlier this year with several mini conferences that encouraged locals to sharpen their pencils and get writing. Now, the main conference will bring award winning authors to Fernie to lead a variety of intensive writing workshops. Attendees will be able to choose between one week, four day, and three day workshops by reserving a spot with a small, fully refundable deposit.
“With everything seeming to be doom and gloom, this will be a light at the end of the tunnel,” said conference director Keith Liggett. “With B.C. starting to open up, this will add a bit of normalcy to the months ahead and we can begin a slow return to our earlier lives.”
The conference has announced that they will be following all recommendations from the province’s Department of Health to make sure that all attendees and facilitators are kept safe and healthy. Most workshops will be capped at a maximum of eight people and social distancing rules will be in effect throughout the week.
Those attending the conference at Fernie Alpine Resort will spend their mornings working on their craft, their afternoons in one-on-one meetings, panel discussions and readings and their evenings enjoying more readings, performances and dinners.
This year the conference is bringing writers to represent a broad spectrum of styles and mediums. Pam Houston, John Keeble, Tom Wayman, Sid Marty, Sue Purvis, Sara Fish, Jayme Moye, Harry Kerker, Danielle Gibson and Rod MacIntyre will all be on hand to act as leaders and mentors for the conference.
Rod MacIntyre, a playwright and award winning author and has also been selected as the first ever writer in residence for the Fernie Writers Conference. MacIntyre’s residency will run from October 17 to November 7, 2020 but he will also be present at the August conference to provide guidance for aspiring writers.
Although the call for submissions brought forward a wide variety of writers, the committee chose MacIntyre because he is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and has three plays that were staged and published. According to Liggett, his play writing experience “added dimension, above and beyond his depth in poetry, fiction and non-fiction, that convinced the committee he would be the right person for the first residency.”
For more information on the Fernie Writers Conference or to register for the event, visit Ferniewriters.org.
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