Event watch: Wordstock; Canzine West; Manitoba writers seminar; Magazines West

This Saturday, October 2 is Wordstock, the annual Toronto event for journalists and freelance writers, presented by the Ryerson University journalism alumni. For $75 ($50 for journalism students), you get a full day of professional development seminars and presentations, plus lunch. Details available in a previous post and you can download the brochure here. Ian Brown is the keynote speaker.

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Canzine is going west again, with the first zine fair and festival of alternative culture on the left coast since 2006. It will be on Saturday, October 16 at Vancouver's W2 Storyeum. The fair was created in Toronto in 1999 by Broken Pencil, and has flourished since, presenting the best of zines, underground culture, and the independent arts. There were some struggles operating a western spinoff, but these seem to have been resolved.(It couldn't come at a better time, given the grisly funding cuts that the arts in general and independent publishing in particular, are enduring in B.C.)

This year, encouraged by Vancouver’s flourishing independent magazine community, Tracy Stefanucci of Vancouver’s OCW Magazine*stepped up to provide the link to Vancouver that Broken Pencil needed to resurrect this legendary event [said a release].

“The idea of a festival that not only brings the diverse independent arts communities of Vancouver together in one space, but that also puts a spotlight on independent publishing, is extremely appealing to me. It’s something that Vancouver needs right now,” says Stefanucci.

(*OCW magazine is what used to be called one cool word, but was relaunched and rebranded this past summer.) 

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Mark Reid, editor-in-chief of Canada’s History (formerly The Beaver), together with Linda Hazelwood, Editor of Horse Country, will look at how writers can provide viable, entertaining and informative articles and features, not only for the printed page, but also for the web, how they can add value to a story pitch and what opportunities the web holds for writers. It's one of the many events being presented as part of Manitoba Magazines Month. Wednesday, October 6^th, 7-8:30 p.m., Carol Shields Auditorium, 2^nd flr Millennium Library.*  *  *

Magazines West is October 14 and 15 in Vancouver at the Century Plaza Hotel. In its 8th year, the event offers two days of seminars leading up to the Western Magazine Awards gala. It features a keynote luncheon on Thursday 14 with an address by Jim Sutherland, former Vancouver magazine editor. On Thursday, there are morning and afternoon seminars by Bob Sexton, the managing editor of Outdoor Canada, Martin Seto of Reflex Media Sales, Scott Wheatley, the director of circulation at Canada Wide Media Limited and editor Frances Peck. 

On Friday, there is a panel discussion with Kevin Lund of T3 Publishing, Claudia Cusano, the editor of NUVO and Linh T. Huynh of the trade publishing company Advertising in Print. And there is the always popular Grilled Editors Luncheon giving participants a chance to put their questions to John Butcher, digital editor of BCBusiness, Rhonda Batchelor, assistant editor of The Malahat Review, Janet Gyenes, editor of BC Home and Alberta Home, Matt O'Grady, editor of BCBusiness and Anicka Quin, editor-in-chief of Western Living.  The gala reception and awards that night are hosted by Vicki Gabereau.