Writer-in-Residence

Writer in Residence, Nelson’s Elephant Mountain Literary Festival, June 2022

So delighted to be Writer in Residence at Nelson’s Elephant Mountain Literary Festival. Blue pencil sessions with writers, a lecture on fiction, and hearing and appearing on stage with authors I deeply admire, including Suzanne Simard – who wrote Finding the Mother Tree – daring and thoughtful author Angie Abdou, iconic poet Tom Wayman, Magpie Ulysses, performer and playwright Lucas Myers, and others. Many thanks to Anne De Grace for inviting me to come to Nelson and be Writer in Res. This is a wonderful festival…

Photo of authors Shaena Lambert and Suzanne Simard standing together — Shaena Lambert and Suzanne Simard

Writer in Residence at Whistler, Sept-Oct 2022

September saw me and faithful dog Augie driving the Sea to Sky Highway for a two-month stint as Whistler’s Writer in Residence. I was given a small, quiet cabin on the south side of Alta Lake. I’d wake at 5 am and take a cup of coffee to the dock (only meeting the occasional bear), write all morning, then meet with six thoughtful and engaged writers – some working in fiction, some memoir.

Photo of Alta Lake, Whistler, with Shaena Lambert's dog Augie in the foreground

In October was the Whistler Writers’ Festival, organized by volunteers and overseen by Artistic Director Rebecca Wood Barnett. Taking over from Stella Harvey, whose work was honoured at the Fest. Thanks so much to Rebecca, Stella and to Stephen Vogler, who runs the Point Artists Centre, which supports the annual WIR program.

In the thick of this residency, I managed to write 60,000 words of my new novel.