Welcome to the CWILL BC blog

Welcome to the blog of CWILL BC, Children’s Writers and Illustrators of British Columbia. Here you’ll find CWILL BC news and events announcements as well as articles relating to CWILL BC and the writing and illustration of children’s literature.

If you would like to jump straight into blogged news and events that are specific to CWILL BC, such as our book launches or reports on annual events our organisation attends, we’ve got a special article category just for that: CWILL BC news and events.

If you are looking for our membership list, are interested in booking an author or illustrator for a speaking engagement, or want more information about CWILL BC or joining CWILL BC, please visit us on our official CWILL BC site at www.cwill.bc.ca.

 

News from our Members

Julie Burtinshaw’s fifth book for older teens, The Perfect Cut, has been nominated by the Ontario Library Association for the White Pine Award.

The White Pine Award reading program offers high school-aged teens at all grade levels the opportunity to read the best of Canada’s recent young adult fiction titles. All of the ten books for young adults on this list are accessible and will allow all readers to be successful participants/voters. As in all of the independent reading programs, a reader only needs to read five books out of a list of ten to qualify to vote. Based on student voting across the province, the most popular book is then selected and author is honoured with the award.

Julie is now a member of The Author’s Booking Service. She is hoping this will enable her to speak to students and readers across Canada.

 

CWILL BC Tip of the Week

Each week, a CWILL BC member offers a tip about writing or illustrating, the creative process, or getting published.

This week’s tip comes from writer Jacqueline Pearce, author of Manga Touch and other novels for middle readers and young adults. Jacquie also blogs at Wild Ink.

Jacqui’s tip:
The best advice I can give is to keep reading and keep writing. When you read good stories you end up digesting a lot about how a story works, and by practicing writing you strengthen your writing muscles and get into the writing habit. Write stories, keep a diary, write for your school newspaper or yearbook, write a blog, keep a secret poetry notebook… whatever type of writing you like. Don’t worry about writing a best selling novel right away. It might never happen. Write about what interests you, and write because you love writing.

 

This Week at the National Gallery…

Scot Ritchie’s work is currently hanging in the National Gallery of Ottawa as part of a group show called The Art of the Picture Book.

An illustration from his book Let’s Go! (written by Lizann Flatt and published by Maple Tree Press) is part of an auction to benefit the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. Stop by and put in a bid!

 

Authors Like Us

It’s with great pleasure that I announce the launch of Authors Like Us, a podcast hosted by me and fellow CWILLER James McCann. We formulated this idea after deciding that we know too many interesting and quirky people (many of them CWILL members!) and we couldn’t help thinking that so many of our conversations would make for great broadcasting! You can listen to our podcast by visiting authorslikeus.com or by searching for it on iTunes.

We invite you to eavesdrop on the Authors Like Us Halloween Party (Episode 1) and listen to a conversation with Shelley Hrdlitschka (newly nominated for the Governor General’s award) as she turns the tables on James and I halfway through the interview! Confirmed for future episodes are Kelly Armstrong, CC Humphreys, Marianne Mancusi, and Art Slade.

Check it out!

 

CWILL BC Tip of the Week

Each week, a CWILL BC member offers a tip about writing or illustrating, the creative process, or getting published.

This week’s tip comes from writer Linda Bailey. You can find more advice from Linda on her website.

Linda’s tip:
Read! Read, read, read. Read for the love of it. And some of the time, try to read-like-a-writer. As you read, try to figure out what the writer did to make you care. Try to see the “skeleton” of the story. Try to see how choosing certain words made a difference.

 

A Successful Walk

Kari-Lynn Winters and Christina Leist launched On My Walk at Vancouver Kidsbooks last Thursday, in front of a crowd of enthusiastic kids and a who’s-who of the Vancouver writing community.