SPOTLIGHT ON
Creative Ink Festival
WHEN AND WHERE
Friday, May 6 to Sunday, May 8 at the Delta Burnaby Hotel and Conference Centre, 4331 Dominion St.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?
Creative Ink is a weekend-long event for writers, readers and artists, welcoming people of all interests, skill levels and genres. It has events of interests to fans as well as to those who are writers themselves, both professional and amateur.
It’s being organized by Burnaby author Sandra Wickham, who wants to offer a place where people can learn more about their craft and also network and make connections – or, for fans, to turn out and meet their favourite authors.
WHAT’S INVOLVED?
The weekend includes an opening welcome with keynote speeches from the guests of honour: artist Galen Dara and bestselling author Carrie Vaughn. A Saturday night banquet features keynote speaker Robert J. Sawyer, a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning sci-fi author.
Participants can take part in blue-pencil sessions, sitting down with a professional to get feedback on their work, and also pitch sessions to pitch their work to editors and publishers. Ink Club sessions will give people a chance to sit down and be creative.
There will also be kaffeeklatches – a chance for small groups to sit down with a pro and chat in an intimate setting – and group readings and autograph sessions by participating authors.
For fans and readers, a dealer room will include offerings from a number of different publishers, writers and artists.
And, through the weekend, workshop sessions give participants a chance to delve into all kinds of topics – self-publication, writing for comics, steampunk, speculative fiction, kid lit, writing horror, budget for creatives, elements of story and much, much more.
MORE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION
Anyone interested can sign up online for $70 until May 1; after that, you can buy at the door for $80 – the pass is one-price-fits-all for the weekend, and you can attend as much or as little as you like. The Saturday night banquet is priced separately, at $56.60. See www.creativeinkfestival.com for all the details and to sign up.
