Early registration has already started for the second annual Orcas Island Writers Festival on Sept. 17 to 20.
The festival offers writers a place to grown their skills with hands-on workshops, well-known authors for instructors and networking with other writers and readers.
For picture book fans, Deb Lund, author of the popular kids’ series, “Dino” will be conducting a Pre-Festival Picture Book Writing Class.
Morning workshop scheduled are a non-critique writing class by poet and fiction writer Nance Van Winckel, Nonfiction with Matthew Goodman, Fiction, Poetry, and Playwriting by Diane Lefer and Ellen Lesser’s Fiction Workshop. Vermont College MFA Writing Program scholar Jody Gladding will lead the Poetry section.
The afternoons and evenings classes will be filled with seminars, readings by faculty and special presenters.
Al Young, Poet Laureate Emeritus of California, author of more than fifteen books, including the Joseph Henry Jackson Award winning “Dancing: Poems” and the American Book Award, “Bodies and Soul: Musical Memoirs will be a guest lecturer. His honors and awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, and a Fulbright Scholarship.
The Festival Package, of one three-day workshop, classes, seminars, and evening readings, is $365 and early registration brings the price to $335. The Festival Three-Day Admission Ticket, with classes, seminars, panel discussions, and evening readings, is $125 for early registration and $165 regular registration. The One-Day Admission Ticket, with admittance to classes, seminars, panel discussions, and evening readings for the day of admission, is $50 for advance booking and $65 for regular tickets. Lodging and meals are not included.
Registration is available online or through the mail. The deadline for workshop materials is August 25. For more information call 371-4383, e-mail Festival Director Barbara Lewis at festivalgurus@orcasislandwritersfestival.com or Assistant Director Heather Devine at hdevine@easywriting.us or visit www.orcasislandwritersfestival.com.
