Beds, Books and Beaches: Lit Trips in BC

09-20-2008

 

by Sue Kernaghan

 

Sometimes, you just want to curl up with a good book. Sometimes, you want to write one. Either way, you’ll want peace, quiet and a room with a view.

 

Sounds like time for a lit trip -- a holiday for book lovers. A lit trip can, like literature itself, be anything you want it to be. It can be as inspiring as a literary festival, as life changing as a writers’ retreat, or as simple as a paperback in your overnight bag.

 

The place? Try British Columbia. There’s scenery (but you knew that), solitude (if you want it), and a calendar full of writers’ events, workshops and retreats.

 

And you’ll be in good company: many of Canada’s best-known writers – from George Bowering and Margaret Laurence to Carol Shields, Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro -- have spent at least part of their careers here. Current writers in residence include science fiction luminary William Gibson and Generation X author Douglas Coupland.

 

It’s also comforting to know that writers’ accommodations have improved in the 50 years since Malcolm Lowry wrote Under the Volcano in a North Vancouver shack.  These days, a writer’s (or reader’s) retreat can be a city centre hotel replete with art, jazz, and books; a Gulf Island spa resort, a serene seaside retreat centre, or any number of little cabins in the woods.

 

The Listel Hotel on Robson Street, for example, is Vancouver’s artiest and most literary hotel.  In 2005, the hotel joined forces with Raincoast Books to publish The Vancouver Stories, a collection of 15 tales about the city by some of Canada’s best-known writers. A copy of the book is found in every one of the hotel’s art-filled rooms, and a take-home copy is offered as part of the Listel Hotel’s Books, Bed & Breakfast package.

 

Next spring, the Listel will once again join forces with local literary magazine Geist to offer The Art of Writing Your Life, a workshop for women held at the hotel. Aspiring or experienced writers can book just the workshop, or they can treat themselves to the Women’s Writing Weekend package, which includes a night in one of the Listel’s Gallery Floor rooms as well as a Geist subscription, a half bottle of wine, a pen and notebook, breakfast, and a copy of The Vancouver Stories.

 

Or perhaps you’d like a getaway with your whole book club? Poets Cove Resort & Spa on Pender Island offers a Between the Covers package. Aimed at book clubs and book lovers, it’s available from October to April (that’s curling up by the fire season). The package includes two nights’ villa or cottage accommodation and a spa credit for each guest. Tucked between Vancouver and Victoria, Pender Island is easy to reach from anywhere in the Pacific Northwest – it just feels remote. May we suggest a spooky thriller by, say, Pender Island’s own William Deverell?

Another place to seek inspiration, especially for fans of conservationist and writer Roderick Haig-Brown, is at Haig-Brown House, the writer’s former home just outside Campbell River on Vancouver Island. Haig-Brown wrote most of his 25 books at his study in this 1923 riverside farm house. Three guest rooms are offered for overnight stays and group tours can be arranged in summer.

 

Campbell River is also the gateway to Cortes Island and the serene Hollyhock Centre, one of Canada’s best-known educational retreat centres. Among the dozens of programmes offered each year are several writing workshops led by experts in the field.  During the summer of 2008, for example, workshops included Writing Life Stories with Obie Award-winning playwright Julie Portman, and A Passion for Narrative with Governor General’s Award-winning novelist Jack Hodgins. Yoga classes, forest trails, massage and bodywork, kayaking, organic vegetarian meals and an ocean-view hot tub can all help get the creative juices flowing. Hollyhock also offers simple retreats for artists, writers and seekers of refuge to enjoy the centre’s peaceful ambience.

 

Writing workshops are also offered at the Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts near Victoria. Celebrating its 25th year in 2009, the centre, on the campus of Lester B. Pearson College, is set on a wooded hillside overlooking Vancouver Island’s Pedder Bay Inlet.

 

Looking for a change in scenery?  Head to the mainland – to BC’s Cariboo Chilcotin Coast region.  Island Mountain Arts, in the historic Cariboo [Back to Press Releases Main]