Expansion, Picton Gazette

Prince Edward County’s crime writers’ festival , Women Killing It, the brain child of Vicki Delany and Janet Kellough, premiered last year. It was a sell-out success and it is back!

The library is pleased to be asked again this year to host their writing workshops. Last year there was only one very crowded workshop. The event proved so popular, however, that this year the Festival will offer two – both at the Picton branch library, with partial proceeds going to support the Time to Renew campaign for the Picton addition. I seem to remember promising the packed room of budding crime writers that the library would offer more elbow room next year. I can’t make good on that promise yet, but with the help of the community we are predicting that the attendees of the Women Killing It Crime Writers’ Festival workshops to be very comfortable indeed in 2021.

Kellough tells me: “last year’s workshop was so popular we decided to add another one this year. Best-selling author Vicki Delany will lead a workshop on how to write the all-important Page 1, Chapter 1 that will keep agents and publishers reading. Gail Bowen will outline the pre-writing process you need so that you end up writing the book you want”

It will be great to have Bowen in the library again. She has been to visit the Prince Edward County branches at least three times before and is always warmly received. Her Joanne Kilbourn series is popular with our readers and Kellough commented that she was recently included on CBC’s list of “100 Canadian Writers You Should Know.“ Her books have been made into a TV series and she has just published a book on writing called Sleuth.

Delany, of course, lives in Prince Edward County and has appeared many times in and for the library. She is a staunch library supporter and the Picton branch even gets a mention in By Book or By Crook, written under Vicki’s pen name Eva Gates as part of the Lighthouse Library series. Delany and Eva Gates occupy almost two shelves in the fiction section of the library and if you have not read her you may want to check out one of her many great mysteries as inspiration before the workshop.

On Friday, Oct. 12 Delany has organized an evening with Linwood Barclay. Watch for more details in future library columns regarding this event. This is another in a great series of programs brought to you through the generosity of some of our favourite authors in support of the Picton building fund.

Kellough says of the upcoming murderous weekend: “Aspiring writers will find the variety of featured works interesting and it may get them thinking about possibilities they hadn’t considered before. Authors will talk about writing short stories, mystery for young adults, theme-based series, historical mystery, works that have an element of the paranormal, and cross genre works of speculative fiction/mystery. And readers may be introduced to authors they may not have been familiar with, or who they may not have considered dipping into before.”

The county’s own Laurie Scott will be on hand this year to participate in the festival. Her In Like a Lion can be borrowed from the library although currently all of our copies are on loan. It has all of the best elements in crime fiction: long-kept secrets, a raging storm, and wrongs that must be righted.

Last year Women Killing It donated over $400 to the building fund. This year as we close in on our target of $2 million I encourage you to attend one of the workshops. They take place at the Picton branch on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 10 a.m. with Delany , and on Sunday, Sept. 2 at 10 a.m. for Bowen’s “Ready, Set, Write!” You will have a great time, learn a lot and help to improve the venue for next year!

Tickets are available at Books and Company or online at Eventbrite.ca. To check on the progress of the Picton branch building fund go to timetorenew.ca and watch the thermometer rise. We update every Friday!

-Barbara Sweet