Past Festivals

Denman Island Readers & Writers Festival

Photos from 2009 on this page by Andrew Fyson

This year’s wonderful line-up of authors left us with plenty of ideas and readings to work on for at least the coming year.  The many powerful solo sessions, provocative panel discussions and in-depth workshops made for a fantastically stimulating and engaging weekend.

Denman Island hospitality, once again, was highlighted through contributions from local billeting hosts, an on-island catering crew, volunteer helpers, the organizing committee and local community librarians.  We had record numbers for attendance at many events thanks to our eager and appreciative audience members.  And finally, many generous sponsors made it all possible.  Thanks to all of you! 

Who wasn’t spellbound by Sarah Dunant’s presentation, Afua Cooper’s dub poetry, or Matt Rader’s poetry?  Or provoked by the ideas and research of Deborah Campbell, Ronald Wright, and Gabor Maté?  Or delighted by Eden Robinson’s laugh, Harold Rhenisch’s tales or Heidi Greco’s poems? Or transported by the work of Mary Novik and Steven Galloway?  Or awed by the insight of writers such as Jack Hodgins and William Deverell?

Over the few days of the festival, we all traveled vicariously to 17 century London, Mayan Mexico, Iraqi refugee camps in Syria, Canadian-Caribbean communities, downtown eastside Vancouver, 15 century Italy, futuristic Britain, Sarajevo under siege, Cariboo grasslands, and then zoomed back into our own landscape here on the west coast.

What a trip – in every sense of the word!  And CBC’s Mark Forsythe, our panel moderator, brought it all together with his skilled handling of the Main Stage events and his many inclusions of details from the Denman community. 

Visiting Writers: Brian Brett, Robert Bringhurst, Zsuzsi Gartner, Des Kennedy, Joy Kogawa, Richard Mackie, Emily St. John Mandel, Philip Kevin Paul, Nancy Turner, Deborah Willis, and Jan Zwicky.

Writer In Residence: Sharon Butala

Manuscript Assessment Program: Charlotte Gill

Host: Bill Richardson

Denman Writers: Sheila Carnegie, Bill Engleson, Karla Florian, Karl Goodwin, Ana Miriam Leigh, Jane Masutani, Sheila Nopper, Del Phillips, Annette Reinhart, and Ron Sokolsky.

Young Denman Writers: Lucy Dabbs, Louise Eriksson, Sandra Puga, and Kassandra Warner.

And finally, thanks to all of you - audience, supporters, and readers - we hope we have provided a year’s worth of new ideas and authors to explore and enjoy!

Highlights include Joy Kogawa’s deep and heartfelt reflections in her solo session and main stage appearance, the melodic and inventive polyphonic readings with Robert Bringhurst and Jan Zwicky Friday afternoon, the unforgettable authentic raven call on the Friday night main stage from Nancy Turner, and the irrepressible Des Kennedy with his raucous dedication to Bill(y) Richardson on the Sunday afternoon main stage.

Equally impressive were the delightful young duo of emerging writers, Deborah Willis and Emily Mandel, poet Kevin Paul with his beautiful words, Brian Brett’s boisterous stories from Trauma Farm, Zsuzsi Gartner’s rapid fire prose and humour and her participatory quiz Friday morning, and Richard Mackie’s historical tales of Comox from its logging heyday.

Thanks for wonderful readings which started each day from local Denman writers, both adult and youth. Also, thanks to our writer-in-residence, Sharon Butala who gave a week long workshop for 10 lucky participants.

Thanks also to Charlotte Gill who offered one hour long manuscript assessment sessions by appointment and provided individual feedback for those who prearranged their time with her.

And our evening moderator, Bill Richardson, thanks for his humour and skill at bringing each panel together in approaching a common theme.

Photos from 2010 on this page by Annette Reinhart & Danni Crenna

Visiting Writers: Gurjinder Basran, Kate Braid, Daphne Bramham, Heather Burt, Anne Cameron, Wayde Compton, Bernice Friesen, Paul Headrick, Jack Hodgins, Evelyn Lau, Andrew Nikiforuk, and John Vaillant.

Writer In Residence: Jack Hodgins

Manuscript Assessment Program: Heather Burt

Host: Bill Richardson

Denman Writers: Sheila Simpson, Sarah Joyce, Laura Busheikin, Karl Goodwin, Sheila Carnegie, Bill Engleson, Jennifer Lee, Graham Brazier, Del Philips, and Ana Miriam Leigh.

Young Denman Writers: Lucy Dabbs, Elishka Hajek, Ondine Mayor, Chenoa Honsinger, Sandra Puga, Ocea White, and Louise Eriksson.

A huge thank you to all the participants and volunteers who made this year’s festival the best ever! It was an impressive event from the Grand Opening with our own Maxine Matilpi, to the Writer-in-Residence program with renowned Canadian author, Jack Hodgins, the Manuscript Assessment service offered by Langara College instructor and novelist, Heather Burt, and the Main Stage Events moderated by CBC’s Bill Richardson.

Our community hall is still ringing with the echoes of Bernice Friesen reading in Irish dialect (channeling her mother-in-law!), Anne Cameron fiercely opposing resource extraction, and Kate Braid reading her poetry between the bass notes of Clyde Reed. Information and insight came to us from Daphne Bramham’s investigation of polygamy in Bountiful, Andrew Nikiforuk’s research into the tar sands of northern Alberta, Wayde Compton’s essays on mixed race identity and John Vaillant’s extraordinary chronicle of the vengeance of a Siberian tiger.

Evelyn Lau gracefully read poetry, and husband and wife Paul Headrick and Heather Burt shared sections from their very accomplished works of fiction. Gurjinder Basran, our youngest author, read from her prize-winning, first novel. Denman writers presented outstanding readings and even young Denman writers contributed their own original stories.

The highlight of the 2011 festival, in the end, was the connections made between writers, between readers, and between readers and writers. We have all come away from a fantastic weekend feeling richer from the ideas heard and expressed, and ultimately, from the making of new friends.