Register Now for the Third Annual Orcas Island Writers Festival: Three Days on the Journey

Continuing education and instant gratification for writers at the 3rd annual Orcas Island Writers Festival

Writers, communicators, book lovers – we all fit in there somewhere. Olga resident Barbara Lewis, Director of the Orcas Island Writers Festival, now looking forward to its third year, has again arranged for writers to come to Orcas and spark the flint of creativity against the rock of the island to inspire writers to do what they love best – write!

The Orcas Island Writers Festival is accepting registration for its third annual festival, to be held September 17-19, 2010, in Eastsound, Washington.

The Orcas Island Writers Festival began in 2008 as a way to enrich and connect readers and writers through classes, lectures, workshops, and the natural beauty of Orcas Island. “Our festival creates an environment for focus and energy, designed to bring the writer – whether a novice writer or experienced author – to deeper, more effective, and more fulfilling expression,” says Lewis.

That first September festival was held at Moran State Park. Last year, the festival moved “downtown,” as part of the NEA-sponsored “Big Read.” Events were held at the Outlook Inn, the Emmanuel Episcopal Church Hall, the Library, OPAL meeting room, the Senior Center, Ecotopian Restaurant, the Healing Arts Annex, the Fire Station, Odd Fellows Hall and the Orcas Center.

This year, Lewis hopes Orcas Island businesses as well as residents will fully embrace the 2010 Orcas Island Writers Festival. “On Orcas, it’s ‘normal’ to be a writer, or an artist, or a dancer, even if you’re not published or promoted,” Lewis says. “We try to create a taste of Orcas’ unique community and celebrate our artists.

The September 17 – 19 Writers Festival this year will feature intensive three-day writing workshops in fiction and nonfiction, as well as the popular Jumpstart! classes. This year’s Jumpstart! will focus on mixed-genre forms: flash fiction, prose poetry, and beyond-the-page visual/verbal art. Each day covers essential elements of the writing craft, leading writers to focus and enliven their poetry and prose.

The 2010 Festival program also offers lectures and panels with faculty members David Jauss, Sue Silverman, and Nance Van Winckel.

David Jauss’s recent works include Black Maps and Crimes of Passion. The recipient of the AWP Award for Short Fiction and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, among other awards, he teaches at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and in the low-residency MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Sue Silverman is the author of two memoirs and Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir. She teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Nance Van Winckel’s recent works include No Starling, After a Spell, and Curtain Creek Farm.

Nance has received two National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowships and a Pushcart Prize, among others. She teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at Eastern Washington University and the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing Program.

Tickets are available now online or by mail-in registration form. Participants are welcome to come for three days, two days, one day, or just one lecture. We encourage early registration for workshops and Jumpstart! classes.

For more information or to register visit www.orcasislandwritersfestival.com, or contact Festival Director Barbara Lewis at 360-317-4383.