Sad News -- VSW Suspends Operations

Just got this notice this morning:

VICTORIA SCHOOL OF WRITING SUSPENDS OPERATIONS

Dear Friends of VSW:

With great regret, we announce the suspension of operations of The Victoria School of Writing. Competition from other writing programs and persistent difficulty in filling positions for the all-volunteer board have necessitated this unfortunate move. We did not make the decision as a result of a crisis but with clear analysis and a bank account in the black. We ran a successful summer school and fall program of courses and our reputation remains solid. Our exit will be graceful.

We deeply appreciate your support over the thirteen years since the school's founding. The school has benefitted from your gifts of time and money as well as your enthusiastic participation in workshops, courses and literary events. We hope you have benefitted, as well, from your association with the school.

If you have questions, please visit http://vswblog.wordpress.com for the names and phone numbers of VSW directors available to answer them.

Thank you for your understanding. We wish you much success with all your creative endeavours.

The Board of Directors

~kc
(blog author's note -- the photo illustration is mine, not the VSW's. I'm sorry to see them go!)

Briefly...

A short one tonight -- I just finished a big re-write and my brain is watery, digested, hemorrhagic porridge. I haven't answered any of my email, my boy spent most of last night coughing (so he is much more tired than I) and I remain consistantly behind in everything.

Nonetheless, I feel compelled to tell you about this contest, since there is a mere three weeks left to the deadline...


The deadline for the Victoria School of Writing’s Flash Fiction contest is May 31, 2008. First Prize is full tuition to the summer intensive five-day course, a $635 value. Second Prize is half the cost of tuition ($318) and Third Prize, one-quarter the cost ($159).

Eligible entrants are to be 19 or older. The work can be fiction or non-fiction, and only a maximum of 300 words. The entry fee is $12.

Complete contest details can be found here.

For some inexplicable reason, Blogger will not allow me to post a picture this evening. All the more for tomorrow, then...

Good night.

~kc

The Trickster

My puppy is what these days is charitably known as a 'rescue' dog. (Read: stray) He came from the Alkalai Lake Reserve, in the Cariboo area of the province. I called him Silas Ermineskin, after a character in a series of WP Kinsella stories that I love. Apart from a little initial shyness (now a distant memory) he has been a happy puppy.

But I should have called him Raven.

Apart from the giant black ears like soft raven wings that he has not yet managed to grow into, he is a trickster of the first water.

Today was an easy day -- all he stole was a loaf of bread, and since the bread had first been first stolen by Seamus (his complicit canine companion), really -- how can he be held to blame?

Yesterday he ate a large section of trellis that had been erected to prevent his escape from the deck. I would have documented it, but he left it lying all over in pieces, sharp staples facing up, as he and Shameless wrestled amongst the debris. I needed to pick it up fast before any paws were punctured. No time for photography at a moment like that.

I like this picture of him. I took it while I was on the roof a week or so ago, and he was not quite sure how I got up there. So he sat down to watch me and figure it out.

I expect to find him up there one day soon.

***

A couple of notable events on the local literary scene....

First, I got a note from Alan Twigg today. Alan publishes BC Book World and keeps an on-line directory of all BC writers. He is also a prolific author, and his latest book FULL TIME: A PRIVATE INVESTIGATION OF SOCCER is launching shortly. This looks like a great story -- among other things, Alan recounts his experiences playing on an over-50 soccer team from Vancouver as they travel to the south of Spain to play a team of ex-professionals. The book is published by McClelland & Stewart.


Also heard from the Victoria School of Writing today. They have opened registration for their summer session, to be held July 20-25th, 2008. Instructors this year include Steven Galloway, Sarah Leavitt, Curtis Gillespie, Rita Moir, Rosemary Neering, Kathy Page, and Susan Stenson.

The only one of this illustrious crew with whom I have personal acquaintance is Steven Galloway. He has been a presenter at the Surrey International Writers' Conference for the past couple of years. He teaches creative writing at UBC and has just published his third novel, THE CELLIST OF SARAJEVO. Based on the true story of a cellist in the Sarajevo orchestra who played Adagio in G minor for 22 consecutive days in the crater where a mortar shell killed 22 of his neighbours in front of his home, Galloway weaves the story of fictional characters living through the terrible fall of their city. The novel sounds fantastic. He'll be a marvellous addition to the Victoria group.


~kc