Writers Festival's Second Year Promises a Literary Double-Header

Barbara Lewis, founder of the Orcas Island Writers Festival, at the 2008 event

Registration for workshops extended to Sept. 7

In its second year the Orcas Island Writers Festival, headed up by Barbara Lewis, plans a double-header — in terms of literary events. The Writers Festival, which concentrates on honing the writer’s craft, rather than publishing or marketing, will run Sept. 17-20 at several venues in Eastsound.

The Festival itself has expanded from its inaugural year at Moran Retreat Center, with more workshops, more classes, and a greater variety of evening entertainments, centrally located in Eastsound.<

Second, in seeking a keynote speaker for the Festival, Lewis was guided to the Big Read campaign, a nation-wide program to involve communities in reading American classics. With the assistance of the Big Read program, Lewis was able to engage noted African-American poet and scholar Al Young to not only be keynote speaker and workshop leader, but also a performer at the musical event featured on Saturday evening with Martin Lund at the Orcas Center.

Lewis says the overwhelming success of the workshops in the Festival’s first season convinced festival planners to expand that element this year. The workshops in poetry and fiction are “the heart of the program,” says Lewis.

To see detailed information about the workshops, go to www.orcasislandwritersfestival.com and click on “The Festival.”

As part of the morning workshops, participants’ writing will be critiqued. Registration has been extended to Sept. 7 for the workshops, by which date participants will need to have submitted their work.

Lewis and the Writers Festival Committee, better known as the Festival Gurus, have done more to make the Festival more accessible, in part by offering individual  festival events each day.

Morning classes with Nance Van Winckle will be offered Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and afternoon classes will be given each afternoon by others on the Festival Faculty.

For those who haven’t registered for these classes online, registration will also take place at the Victorian Room at the Outlook Inn from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 17, and every morning of the Festival.

“There are a lot of choices at this year’s festival, and I’d just encourage people to take advantage of that and come to at least one of the events,” said Lewis.

Another lesson learned at Moran Retreat last year, held in early September, was that participants wanted to be warm – so the search was on for places where classes could be held, and performances could be given, and lodging could be accommodated.

Festival gurus turned to the Outlook Inn, the Emmanuel Episcopal Church Hall, the Library, OPAL meeting room, the Senior Center, Ecotopian, the Healing Arts Annex, the Fire Station, Odd Fellows Hall and the Orcas Center to “spread the wealth” of the Festival offerings.

The varied evening programs were “beefed up, because that had been a pleasant experience last year,” said Lewis. The evenings begin with a “Welcome to Orcas” event on Thursday night that brings together  the Olga Symphony with other local talents in dance, drama, monologues and music to entertain Festival participants. “On Orcas, it’s ‘normal’ to be a writer, 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.” Admission at the Orcas Center is by donation, as are all the evening Festival events.

Friday evening’s entertainment is reading by the Festival faculty of their own works. “People really liked that last year,” said Lewis.

On Sunday, the Festival concludes with a dinner with the authors, prepared by well-known island chef Bill Patterson of Sazio dinner club, from 5:30 to 9, for $28. Carolyn Cruso and Dustin Fox will provide entertainment. “It’s a chance to support the festival and really enjoy an intimate evening with the Festival faculty,” says Lewis.

On Saturday, Sept. 19, Martin Lund will join Al Young, 2005 California Poet Laureate, for A Night of Poetry and Jazz on the Orcas Center Main Stage at 7:30 p.m. This event is free and tickets can be obtained at the Center Box Office Lewis describes Young as “a very musical poet. He often informs his poetry with blues and experimental jazz.

“And Martin is the perfect fit for Al.”

Their Eyes Were Watching God, the Zora Neale Hurston classic, subject of Orcas Island's The Big Read.

Their Eyes Were Watching God and “The Big Read”

Young’s appearance at the festival dovetails with the Big Read’s spotlight on Zora Neale Hurston’s classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel that Young has taught for 30 years. Young was already connected with the Orcas Writers Festival, and with only three weeks notice, the Festival was able to arrange his appearance through “The Big Read.”

“The Big Read” is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest, designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and to  bring the transformative power of literature into the lives of its citizens.

Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God was selected by the Writers Festival in applying for funding for San Juan County’s Big Read Events from Sept. 17 to Oct. 17.

The Writers Festival brings “The Big Read” to Orcas Island in partnership with the Orcas Library. Through this campaign, Lewis feels the Writers Festival can “reach out to more of the general community and include more people, while making the writers’ experience richer.

Hurston’s novel is a love story inspired by “the real love affair of [her] life.” Hurston lived from 1891 to 1960, and as an African-American woman, was the only black student at Barnard College in New York City. As an anthropologist, she collected the everday, idiomatic language of the American South, which informed four novels, two collections of folklore, her autobiography and many stories, articles, plays and essays.”

“Young is especially good at capturing Hurston’s ethnological dialogue,” says Lewis.

As part of the Writers Festival, a variety of events will celebrate Hurston’s book and promote literacy among all ages:

“High Tea with Hurston” will introduce Eyes to guests. There will be recordings, a clip from a movie based on the book, singing by Sharon Abreu and Tea Cakes (named after the male protagonist) prepared by Katherine Taylor Chocolates. The Tea takes place in the Outlook Inn’s Victorian Room on  Thursday, September 17  from 2 to 4 p.m. It is free and open to the public.

A Picture Book Writing Class with Deb Lund in the Library Conference Room, also on  Thursday, September 17  from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The cost for this class is $65.

Following the Tea, Deb Lund again appears at READ-TO-ME! at the Outlook Inn’s Victorian Room at 4:30 p.m. This event is also free and open to the public.

On Friday, Sept. 18, Al Young discusses Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God at the  Emmanuel Parish Hall from 2 to 4 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Lewis’ appreciation of the Hurston book comes from many perspectives. “It’s the story of a nobody, but she’s not angry. She created something new.” Lewis notes that Hurston’s book was rejected by her male friends and colleagues, (Richard Wright said her novel had “no theme, no message, no thought. In the main, [it] is not addressed to the Negro, but to a white audience whose chauvinistic tastes she knows how to satisfy.”

Hurston died in poverty in 1960, but  her work was “brought back to life” by novelist Alice Walker.

“I hold lost women’s stories deep in my heart – I love that about the book and I love the language,” said Lewis. “It doesn’t obey the rules of literature, but it works.

“I’m proud to champion her, and I encourage [readers] to hang in there and get to know the dignity of these people whose stories are being told.”