April 24, 2007: Awards Season

Finalists have been announced for both the Kenneth R. Wilson awards (for excellence in Canadian trade magazines) and the National Magazine Awards (for excellence in Canadian consumer magazines).

As usual, we find PWAC members listed among the writing finalists. Congratulations to the following PWACers:

Julie Stauffer - Finalist, Best Professional Article, KRW Awards
Eve Lazarus - Finalist, Best Retail Article, Best Merchandising/Marketing Article, KRW Awards
Graham Chandler - Finalist, Best Resource/Infrastructure Article, KRW Awards
Jim Middlemiss - Finalist, Best Profile of a Person, Best Regularly Featured Department or Column (2), Best Feature Article, KRW Awards
Kevin Marron - Finalist, Best Regularly Featured Department or Column, Best Feature Article, KRW Awards

Christopher Moore - Finalist, Columns, National Magazine Awards
Marci McDonald - Finalist, Investigative Reporting, Politics & Public Interest, National Magazine Awards
John Degen - Finalist, Service: Lifestyle, National Magazine Awards

April 19, 2007: Upcoming local PWAC events

Here is a short list of some upcoming PWAC local events:

Toronto, ON:
Mon. April 23, 7 - 8:30 pm: Copywriting - The ins and outs of breaking into the corporate market as a copywriter and writing ads, brochures and other marketing material.

Wed. May 16, 7 - 8:30 pm: Self-promotion - How to promote your name, work and reputation.

Location: Northern District Library (Room #200), 40 Orchardview Blvd. (west off Yonge, just north of Eglinton).

Time: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Fee: PWAC members - Free; General public - pay what you can ($10 suggested)

St. John, NB
Writing Workshop: Beyond the First Draft with Russell Barton. The schedule for this weekend workshop begins Friday evening with readings, a question and answer period and a light lunch. On Saturday and Sunday, sessions look at various topics including recognizing your manuscript's viewpoint, editing and revisions as well as creating suspense through editing techniques and preparing a final packaging of your manuscript for agents and publishers. The facilitator for the workshop is Russell Barton, an award-winning author and editor with over 27 years of creative writing experience.

Open To: Members and non-members

Cost: $100.00 - includes textbooks, handouts, coffee and lunch in Saint John, NB

April 16, 2007: What is Stephen Harper reading?

Today, writers and artists will gather on Parliament Hill for what The Writers' Union of Canada is billing "an awakening." TWUC is leading a protest of sorts to draw the federal government's attention to the importance of the arts in Canada.

This awakening follows closely the Canada Council for the Arts' 50th Anniversary celebrations in Ottawa.

One Canadian writer has come up with a unique strategy for helping Stephen Harper's government to a greater appreciation of writing and the arts. Yann Martel, who was present for the CC's 50th celebration (and unimpressed by the government response) has built a website dedicated to filling Stephen Harper's bookcase. As he writes:

For as long as Stephen Harper is Prime Minister of Canada, I vow to send him every two weeks, mailed on a Monday, a book that has been known to expand stillness. That book will be inscribed and will be accompanied by a letter I will have written. I will faithfully report on every new book, every inscription, every letter, and any response I might get from the Prime Minister, on this website.

The first book on Mr. Harper's new reading list is The Death of Ivan Ilych, by Leo Tolstoy. We await a full report.

Thanks to THIS Magazine for the tip.

April 15, 2007: PWAC founder June Callwood dies at 82

June Callwood passed away at a Toronto hospital this weekend. She was 82 years old when she died.

Despite failing health, Ms. Callwood gave an inspiring speech to a packed house at last month's Writers' Trust Awards at the St. Lawrence Centre in Toronto. She received a standing ovation.

PWAC is among the many organizations and services helped into being by the inimitable June Callwood. Ms. Callwood's is the second name on PWAC's original Letters Patent from 1976, and she was active in the organization for more than twenty years.

Obituaries can be found in The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star.

April 12, 2007: American novelist Kurt Vonnegut dies

The death yesterday of American fiction giant Kurt Vonnegut is today's top Internet story:

CBC.ca

The New York Times

The Guardian

BBC News

Vonnegut.com

April 10, 2007: "fools, knaves, blowhards and nuts."

Over at cbc.ca, columnist Heather Mallick is writing about the effect of blogs, unmoderated comment threads and social networking sites like Facebook.com on our society's relationship with free speech and the act of writing.

Here's a sample:

There is wonderful writing online, but it is frequently thoughtless and foul, racist and frightening. It is so free that blogs, chat lines and talk threads are often the chosen destination for embittered, deranged people, repelling the intelligent readers who were supposed to make the internet a new haven for humanity.

April 02, 2007: Sub-contracted writing?

This very strange story comes from the Canadian Magazines blog.

Someone has been advertising on the New York Craigslist for a ghostwriter for magazine stories.

It seems the contracting writer has more story ideas than s/he can possibly write. The ghostwriter is expected to surrender copyright to the work, and expect no byline. The pay is below 40 cents per word.

Is this writer as exploiter, or the return of the old apprentice system? After all, Rembrandt didn't do all his underpainting, but it's still his name on the canvas.

Thanks to PWAC Quebec President, Craig Silverman for tipping the CMblog. Craig, if you want a mention on PWAC's blog, you can contact us directly.

NB: If this is an April fool's joke, everyone cheated. The Craigslist ad is dated in March, and the CanMag posting is dated today.