Held each year at UVic, the event brings together poets, novelists, fiction writers, playwrights, publishers, students, and others with an interest in creative writing for a weekend of readings, panel discussions, workshops, and socializing. This year, we'll be hosting a Friday night of readings followed by an after party, a full Saturday of panel discussions, blue-pencil workshop sessions, and a Sunday afternoon Poetry Master Class workshop.
Visit the WordsThaw website for event schedules.
Ticket Sales and Information
Full WordsThaw passes are available online for $35 (regular, until March 19) or $20 (students, until March 19). Saturday-only passes are also available. New this year: Tickets for individual panels can be purchased at the door for $18 ($12 for students). Pricing details available on our ticket page.
Spread the word! Use #wordsthaw on Twitter, and follow us @malahatreview.
Friday, March 20
7:30 p.m. (doors at 7:00 p.m.)
UVic, Human & Social Development Building, room A240
Celebrate Canadian literature with eight distinguished authors: Yvonne Blomer, Eve Joseph, Kevin Kerr, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Peter Midgley, Arleen Paré, Matt Rader, D. W. Wilson. Moderated by Malahat editor John Barton.
Co-organized with Planet Earth Poetry.
WordsThaw pass or evening ticket required.
Regular evening ticket price (at door): $10
Student evening ticket price (at door): $5
All attendees at Words on Ice will receive a free copy of the latest Winter issue.
Join us for Words on the Rocks, an after-party to be held at Hillside Coffee & Tea from 10:00 p.m. 'til midnight!
Full-Day Readings and Panel Discussions
Saturday, March 21
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
UVic, Human & Social Development Building
Natural Divide or Shape-Shifting Chic: Negotiating CNF's Extremes
Panelists: Fiona Tinwei Lam, Mark Leiren-Young, Jane Silcott
Moderated by Lynne Van Luven
Young Adult Fiction: All Grown Up?
Panelists: Sarah Harvey, Robin Stevenson, Kirsten Andersen
Moderated by Christine Walde
Vanity or in the Vanguard: Self-Publishing's Makeover
Panelists: Mary Hughes, Patrick O'Connor, Sid Tafler
Moderated by David Leach
Has It Got Better: Minority Voices or Major Talents
Panelists: Hanna Leavitt, Janet Rogers, Daniel Zomparelli
Moderated by Aaron Devor
Brief Encounters: 15-Minute Critiques of Your Work
WordsThaw pass holders are entitled to a free 15-minute blue pencil session with one of six B.C. writers: Ross Crockford, Lorne Daniel, Missie Peters, Julie Paul, Matt Rader, Pam Porter
Poetry Master Class with Phil Hall
Sunday, March 22
1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Greater Victoria Public Library, downtown branch
This lab, led by Governor General’s Literary Award winner for Poetry Phil Hall, will investigate relations between parts and fragments of writing, and aim toward a theory of proximity and juxtaposition, beginning with Jack Spicer’s and Robin Blaser’s notion of "sequence," and going backward and forward from there.
Spots in the Master Class are sold out but we are accepting names for the waitlist.
Full details can be found here.
