The Kootenay School of Writing
Encyclopedia
The Kootenay School of Writing (KSW) is a Vancouver-based writers' collective.
Founded in 1984 after the forced closure of David Thompson University Centre in Nelson, British Columbia
KSW relocated to Vancouver
to offer inexpensive courses (in writing, editing, and publishing), to sponsor colloquia and critical talks on writing, visual art, and politics, and to host a reading series with local, Canadian, and international writers, and to continue publishing Writing magazine.
The first KSW brochure, published before the school had its own address, offered a variety of courses and workshops in various locations around Vancouver, as well as listing readings and talks upcoming. It included the following statement of intent:
"The Kootenay School of Writing is a continuation of the Writing Program of David Thompson University Centre in Nelson, B.C., closed by order of the Social Credit government in May 1984. At DTUC, the Writing Program offered a broad interdisciplinary spectrum of courses, providing students with the usual seminars in prose, poetry and scriptwriting, as well as instruction in manuscript preparation, copyediting, book and magazine production, layout, design, typesetting, word processing, marketing, journalism, and interaction with artists in many other disciplines.
The Kootenay School of Writing is a response to the failure of most public institutions to serve their artistic communities. It stands in opposition to the concept of ‘culture industry
’ in its recognition that theory, practice, and teaching of writing is best left to working writers. To this end, the School represents a new hybrid: a form of parallel gallery and centre of scholarship, open to the needs of its own constituency and alert to the possibilities of all disciplines that involve language. The Kootenay School of Writing welcomes both beginning and established artists in all disciplines to share in its programs as both participants and observers. Please let us know what you’d like to see and hear."
In the 1990s the KSW's focus shifted away from professional writing courses in favour of the reading series, talks and occasional workshops. At the beginning of the 21st century, KSW opened the Charles Watts Memorial library and resource centre on Hamilton Street in Vancouver and commenced publication of a new magazine, W. Today, KSW continues to function as a "Writer-Run Centre", the sole institutional analogy to the government-sponsored Artist-run centres that have been at the heart of contemporary arts production in Canada since the 1970s.
The organisation is incorporated as a not-for-profit society and is operated by a volunteer collective of practising writers, without an administrative director.
(VANOC) and 2010 Legacies Now) to commission 18 Canadian and US poets to create new works for a colloquium entitled "What Is To Be Undone? Positions and Poetics in the 21st Century" to be held in August 2008 in Vancouver.
Past members include Andrew Klobucar, Craig MacKie
, Sachiko Murakami, Fred Wah
Andrea Actis, Michael Barnholden, Lary Bremner (Timewell), Margot Butler, Colin Browne, Suzanne Buffam
, Ted Byrne, Susan Clark
, Maureen Colclough, Victor Coleman, Stephen Collis, Peter Conlin, Peter Cummings, Jeff Derksen, Roger Farr, Soma Feldmar, Kirsten Forkert, Steven Forth, Reg Johanson
, Robyn Laba, Dorothy Trujillo Lusk, Kathryn MacLeod, Rob Manery, Nicholas Perrin
, Alicia Priest, Meredith Quartermain, Nikki Reimer, Lisa Robertson
, Tony Ruzza, Nancy Shaw, Colin Smith
, Tom Snyders
, Catriona Strang, Jacqueline Turner, Aaron Vidaver, Tom Wayman
, Calvin Wharton, Gary Whitehead
, and Jonathon Wilcke.
A critical study of the Kootenay School of Writing and in the social and economic context of Vancouver in the 1980s.
Founded in 1984 after the forced closure of David Thompson University Centre in Nelson, British Columbia
Nelson, British Columbia
Nelson is a city located in the Selkirk Mountains on the extreme West Arm of Kootenay Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Known as "The Queen City", and acknowledged for its impressive collection of restored heritage buildings from its glory days in a regional silver rush,...
KSW relocated to Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
to offer inexpensive courses (in writing, editing, and publishing), to sponsor colloquia and critical talks on writing, visual art, and politics, and to host a reading series with local, Canadian, and international writers, and to continue publishing Writing magazine.
The first KSW brochure, published before the school had its own address, offered a variety of courses and workshops in various locations around Vancouver, as well as listing readings and talks upcoming. It included the following statement of intent:
"The Kootenay School of Writing is a continuation of the Writing Program of David Thompson University Centre in Nelson, B.C., closed by order of the Social Credit government in May 1984. At DTUC, the Writing Program offered a broad interdisciplinary spectrum of courses, providing students with the usual seminars in prose, poetry and scriptwriting, as well as instruction in manuscript preparation, copyediting, book and magazine production, layout, design, typesetting, word processing, marketing, journalism, and interaction with artists in many other disciplines.
The Kootenay School of Writing is a response to the failure of most public institutions to serve their artistic communities. It stands in opposition to the concept of ‘culture industry
Culture industry
Culture industry is a term coined by critical theorists Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer , who argued in the chapter of their book Dialectic of Enlightenment, 'The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception' ; that popular culture is akin to a factory producing standardized cultural goods...
’ in its recognition that theory, practice, and teaching of writing is best left to working writers. To this end, the School represents a new hybrid: a form of parallel gallery and centre of scholarship, open to the needs of its own constituency and alert to the possibilities of all disciplines that involve language. The Kootenay School of Writing welcomes both beginning and established artists in all disciplines to share in its programs as both participants and observers. Please let us know what you’d like to see and hear."
In the 1990s the KSW's focus shifted away from professional writing courses in favour of the reading series, talks and occasional workshops. At the beginning of the 21st century, KSW opened the Charles Watts Memorial library and resource centre on Hamilton Street in Vancouver and commenced publication of a new magazine, W. Today, KSW continues to function as a "Writer-Run Centre", the sole institutional analogy to the government-sponsored Artist-run centres that have been at the heart of contemporary arts production in Canada since the 1970s.
The organisation is incorporated as a not-for-profit society and is operated by a volunteer collective of practising writers, without an administrative director.
What Is To Be Undone?
In January 2008 KSW was awarded $50,000 from Arts Partners in Creative Development (an arts investment partnership of the Province of British Columbia, Canada Council for the Arts, City of Vancouver, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter GamesVancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games was the non-profit organization responsible for planning, organizing, financing and staging the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics...
(VANOC) and 2010 Legacies Now) to commission 18 Canadian and US poets to create new works for a colloquium entitled "What Is To Be Undone? Positions and Poetics in the 21st Century" to be held in August 2008 in Vancouver.
Members
Current members include Pauline Butling, Donato Mancini, Nikki Reimer, Emily Fedoruk, Cris Costa,Past members include Andrew Klobucar, Craig MacKie
Craig Mackie
Craig Mackie is a senior Canadian curler and radio and television personality.-Curling career:Craig Mackie has been curling competitively since 1964. He has curled in Ontario, the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, Alberta, Quebec and Prince Edward Island...
, Sachiko Murakami, Fred Wah
Fred Wah
Frederick James Wah is a Canadian poet, novelist, and scholar.Wah was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, but grew up in the interior of British Columbia. His Canadian-born father was raised in China, the son of a Chinese father and a Scots-Irish mother. Fred Wah's mother was a Swedish-born...
Andrea Actis, Michael Barnholden, Lary Bremner (Timewell), Margot Butler, Colin Browne, Suzanne Buffam
Suzanne Buffam
Suzanne Buffam is a Canadian poet, author of two collections of poetry. Her first, Past Imperfect , won the Gerald Lampert Award in 2006. Her second, The Irrationalist , was shortlisted for the 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize...
, Ted Byrne, Susan Clark
Susan Clark
Susan Clark is a Canadian actress, possibly best-known for her role as Katherine on the American television sitcom Webster, on which she appeared with her husband, Alex Karras.-Personal life:...
, Maureen Colclough, Victor Coleman, Stephen Collis, Peter Conlin, Peter Cummings, Jeff Derksen, Roger Farr, Soma Feldmar, Kirsten Forkert, Steven Forth, Reg Johanson
Reg Johanson
Reg Johanson is a composition and literature instructor, poet and essayist. His critical writing focuses on the critique of Standard English as a classist and racializing disciplinary practice, the political economy of cheating and plagiarism, the problem of radicalism within a national literary...
, Robyn Laba, Dorothy Trujillo Lusk, Kathryn MacLeod, Rob Manery, Nicholas Perrin
Nicholas Perrin
Nicholas Perrin is a scholar of New Testament and early Christianity. He is currently Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, Illinois...
, Alicia Priest, Meredith Quartermain, Nikki Reimer, Lisa Robertson
Lisa Robertson
Lisa Robertson is a Canadian poet who is best known for a collection a poem entitled The Weather, which was inspired by the shipping forecasts announced on BBC radio. She currently lives in France.-Life:...
, Tony Ruzza, Nancy Shaw, Colin Smith
Colin Smith
Colin Smith *Colin Smith *Colin Smith , Scottish cricketer*Colin Smith , English journalist and author...
, Tom Snyders
Tom Snyders
Tom Snyders is an American comedian who bikes around the country, commenting on road signs that he encounters. He started in Las Vegas in 1983, and has traveled 134,000 miles. He's been on Good Morning America and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. He's also appeared on Comedy Central and...
, Catriona Strang, Jacqueline Turner, Aaron Vidaver, Tom Wayman
Tom Wayman
Thomas Ethan Wayman is a Canadian poet and academic.Born in Hawkesbury, Ontario, Wayman has lived most of his life in British Columbia. He studied at the University of British Columbia, Colorado State University, and the University of California, Irvine.Wayman has received the Canadian Authors...
, Calvin Wharton, Gary Whitehead
Gary Whitehead
Gary Joseph Whitehead is an American poet, painter, and cruciverbalist. He is the author of Measuring Cubits while the Thunder Claps , The Velocity of Dust , After the Drowning , A Cool, Dry Place , and Walking...
, and Jonathon Wilcke.
External links
- Kootenay School of Writing home page
- Shelagh Rodgers interview with Jeff Derksen, Catriona Strang, Lisa Robertson and Nancy Shaw on CBC (1994)
- Andrew Klobucar and Michael Barnholden, eds., Writing Class: The Kootenay School of Writing Anthology (Vancouver: New Star Books, 1999)
- Jason Wiens, The Kootenay School of Writing: History, Community, Poetics (University of Calgary PhD Dissertation, 2001)
Texts
- Burnham, Clint, The Only Poetry That Matters, Aresenal Pulp Press, Vancouver, 2011 ISBN 978-1-55152-429-0
A critical study of the Kootenay School of Writing and in the social and economic context of Vancouver in the 1980s.