Lifetime Learning Centre News

With events happening nearly everyday there’s always something new at the Lifetime Learning Centre!

About the 3rd Annual Writers’ and Readers’ Festival!

UFV Mission Campus – Heritage Park Centre,
33700 Prentis Ave.
April 24, 2010, 9:30am – 4:00pm

Price List

EARLY BIRD SPECIAL—available until March 31
Full Day: $20

After April 1
Full Day: $30
Students $10

Lunch
Available for purchase—$7/person (cash only)
(Subway sandwiches, fruit/chips, water/coffee) Registration fee includes—Keynote address, fishbowl forums and poetry & book readings.

This Festival draws on the rich creative writing and publishing resources of our region.  It is a Lifetime Learning Inspired program, with partnerships including University of the Fraser Valley, Fraser Valley Regional Library - Mission Branch, Mission Community Foundation, Canadian League of Poets, and a host of authors, publishers, and more…..This year we celebrate April--  National Poetry Month, and the theme for 2010:  Climate Change.

Established in Canada in April 1998 by the League of Canadian Poets, National Poetry Month brings together schools, publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries and poets across the country to celebrate poetry and its vital place in Canada's culture.  Communities and businesses participate through readings, festivals, book displays and other events in several unique venues including parks, movie theatres, art galleries and a local zoo.

 Theme for 2010:   Climate Changes

Morning Workshops

Break a Leg: Writing for Stage & Screen Discover how to write with an eye toward productions on stage or on screen. An awardwinning
director, scriptwriter, and documentary producer presents strategies for characterization, dialogue and stagecraft. Rajneesh Dhawan

Walking and Talking How do real people talk? We’ll explore this, and learn to create dialogue that will bring your characters alive. Helene Littman

Afternoon Workshops

Better Writing in 100 Words or Less In 100 words, you can create better writing. Ultra-short stories are challenging and help writers find the 'point' of their work while building skills. For contests or practice, 100 words will make you a better writer. Bring pen & paper and prepare to write! Ronda Payne

Writing for Children & Young Adults This is an overview workshop, introducing writers and potential writers to the hazards and highlights of writing literature for children and young adults. We’ll look at what works and what doesn’t for tots through teens and get started in the genre with some hands-on exercises. Barbara Nickel

The Experts

Rhett Nicholson is a member of the Junior Optimist Club, and
publishes Optimix magazine for teens. He trained in the fields of
graphic arts and visual effects, and can rock a young movie
maker's world with "explosions" and "the octopus" effect. He
claims the youth he works with "mostly do their own work!" So his
energy and skills are inspiring!

Rick Rake is a former award-winning newspaper editor who now
enjoys the growth of social media platforms. The father of three is a
juror with the prestigious Jack Webster Foundation journalism
awards and is an entrepreneur with Click Media Works. He is
working on a book for the UFV Criminology Department and
volunteers with Abbotsford Canuck Place, FV Child Development
Centre, Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce and Mission Institution.

Marion Quednau’s first novel, The Butterfly Chair (Random
House), won the Smithbooks-Books in Canada First Novel Award,
and a second, Broken Entries (Thomas Allen), is forthcoming.
Marion also writes for children; The Gift of Odin (Annick Press), and
is an award-winning poet; Paradise, Later Years, won the Malahat
Review Long Poem Prize in 2009 and is nominated for a National
Magazine Award. She works as a freelance editor, and has long
been a creative writing instructor with Continuing Studies at UFV.

Anthony Hutchcroft is multi-media-faceted, a truly creative
individual. He is a freelance copy writer, for both magazines and on
-line business applications, including a Fortune 500 company in
New York, has created a school-friendly, on-line musical rendition
of In Flanders Fields, has co-created successful theatre
productions, and is an astute website designer.

Ken Herar was born, raised and educated in Mission, and is a
columnist with the Times newspaper, focusing on diversity issues in our communities. Recognized as the Champion of Diversity in 2007 at the Fraser Valley Cultural Diversity Awards, Ken speaks regularly on diversity issues in high schools and in the community: "What I have learned through my own experience as a columnist is to become a better writer you have to keep on writing. It is as simple as it sounds. I enjoy writing and meeting people from all walks of life. We all have a story to share".

Guest Speaker Profiles

Rajneesh Dhawan was born in India and is currently a creative writing and drama instructor at UFV. He has been active in the theatre world as an actor and director, and has written scripts for sitcoms and documentaries: The Shadows of Preet Nagar won international recognition. His first Canadian play, That Time of Year, will be performed as a staged reading at The Reach Gallery in autumn, 2010.

Helene Littman’s book, Peripheries: Three Novellas was published in 1998 by Cormorant Books in Ontario. She has had work in progress published recently in the Capilano Review. Helene has been teaching Early American Literature at UFV for three years.

Andrea MacPherson is the author of four books: two novels, When She Was Electric (Raincoast, 2003), shortlisted for the CBC Canada Reads: People's Choice Award, and Beyond the Blue (Random House, 2007), and two poetry collections, Natural Disasters (Palimpsest Press, 2007), longlisted for the ReLit Awards, and Away (Signature Editions, 2008). She is a member of the English department's teaching faculty at UFV.

Barbara Nickel’s first collection of poetry, The Gladys Elegies (Coteau), won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Her second poetry book, Domain (House of Anansi), was a Quill & Quire Best Book of 2007. Barbara is also an awardwinning author of books for children; her novel, Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach, was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and won the B.C. Book Prize. She lives and writes in Yarrow, B.C.

Ronda Payne, a writer since she could hold a pen, is passionate about her craft. In 2007, she kissed “real jobs” goodbye and began her true
occupation as a full time copy writer and freelancer. A regular contributor to Country Life in BC and Integrated Health Retailer, Ronda
continues to grow in her career.