Writing allows us to release our deepest feelings and desires. Reading can open our minds and transport us to other places and times.
The Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival, which runs from Friday, May 10 to Sunday, May 12, is an annual celebration for both readers and writers.
“The festival is suitable for anyone who writes, whether it’s a blog or diary; you don’t have to aim to be published, you just have to enjoy writing,” says Kay Johnston, festival chairperson. “You get to meet people who are interested in the same thing, because writing is a lonely occupation.”
Johnston also points out that the weekend festival is fun, energetic and promotes mixing and mingling with presenters and attendees, who will learn how to make their writing better.
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The festival opens with Friday night’s Café Lit , which runs from 7 to 10 p.m., is open to the public and is an opportunity to meet the presenters and hear some of them read from their published works.
As in the past, this year’s presenters are among the best in their field and include the following authors:
Brenda Baker is an award-winning writer, performer and recording artist from Saskatoon. Her unique creative life spans 40 years, a songwriter with two CD releases, a children’s entertainer who released three CDs and a starring role in a national TV series.
Norma Charles’s novel, RUNNER: Harry Jerome, World’s Fastest Man, was shortlisted for the 2018 Sheila Egoff Award for Children’s Literature.
Anthony Dalton is the award-winning author of 14 non-fiction books, most about adventure and the sea, plus two non-fiction collaborations with American authors; he has had two novels published, in addition to hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles. These have been published in 20 countries and nine languages.
Gail Bowen’s first Joanne Kilbourn mystery, 1990’s Deadly Appearances, was nominated for the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada Best First Novel Award, and A Colder Kind of Death (1995) won the Arthur Ellis Award for best crime novel; all books in the series have been enthusiastically reviewed, and the most recent, The Winners’ Circle, has been named a finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for best crime novel.
Multi-talented and multi-instrumentalist Linda Kidder has been wowing live audiences for 40 years. She has appeared on albums by Bon Jovi, Rita MacNeil, Gary Fjellgaard and sung hundreds of jingles.
Jonas Saul is the bestselling author of the Sarah Roberts Series and has written and published more than 30 thrillers and sold more than two million books.
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Presenters also include award-winning author Nancy Bell; in-depth copy editor Karen Autio, literacy agency owner Robert Mackwood; writer, speaker and comedic storyteller Judy Millar; Kat Montagu, a writer, producer, script analyst, story editor and teacher; editor, author Bill Stenson; and the Shuswap’s own Indigenous storyteller Louis Thomas.
All Friday and Saturday events take place at the Prestige Harbourfront Resort.
Registration for the workshops takes place from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Saturday and all Sunday events take place at Okanagan College.
For full details on all festival activities, go online to wordonthelakewritersfestival.com.
The festival is a fun event for everyone and, says Johnston, and important because it teaches attendees how to communicate their ideas.
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