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Keep Writing There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. So why does a writer write? I guess the truth is I can't tell you why. I can only tell you what writing does for me. It satisfies my curiosity about the world around me, and my place in it. If I'm lucky, it pays the bills. It sometimes drives me crazy. It is a doorway, a window and a mirror. It challenges me, raises me up, and humbles me constantly. But ultimately, like blind fear and exuberant joy, it reminds me, I am alive. It affords me a moment of immortality, as I open that vein and leave a little of myself on the page. I don't always love writing, but I usually love having written. The process is often nerve-wracking, with long periods of anxiety and self-doubt. I don't know if I chose writing or it chose me. A little of both I would think. Writers are outsiders. They have to be. Burton Rascoe once wrote, "What no wife of a writer can ever understand is that a writer is working when he's staring out the window." A writer's life is one spent in contradiction. You must fully immerse yourself in life, yet stay objective enough to report on it. And for this, we must all ask for forgiveness from those who love and inspire us, despite our absence from the dinner tables, family reunions, and birthday parties, as we are often their in body alone. Because there is one vital ingredient in our process those family and friends provide that we writers cannot live without, encouragement. A voice that says, "Keep going. What you're doing is important. Write it. Finish it." It is a voice we long to hear regardless of experience, talent or confidence. And it is a voice that echoes in the Dave Greber Freelance Writer's Award. Steve Goldsworthy About Dave Dave Greber was a prolific, working writer who was committed to the rigorous professionalism of non-fiction freelance writing. Though Dave wrote extensively about Canadian business, he also wrote about the environment, social justice issues, cowboys in Western Canada, and the lasting effects of violence on the individual. Dave wrote books and magazine articles on a wide range of subjects from the environment to issues related to social justice. Often, Dave was not content to simply report on issues. Later in his life, he also sought and posed possible solutions to the problems about which he wrote. This approach to writing is but one of the traits that made him such a remarkable presence. Social Justice In the last decade of his life Dave wrote at length about his experiences as a child of Holocaust survivors and, through continued research, he gave voice to the knowledge of other survivors. Much of his writing reflects a sense of urgency about issues of social justice in Canada and the wider world now bound together by the process of globalization. He recognized that the current world was still prone to violence and genocide that kills many and haunts its survivors. Dave continuously pursued the need for non-violent solutions and he recognized the chronic need that exists for the healing of brutalized lives. He felt that "an act of violence is a part of a stream of history not just an isolated act in time." He thought that the reverberations of violence "will continue unless the people affected decide there has to be another way." Dave devoted his personal energy through his writing and made other efforts to find and protect the "other" way. In life, he actively sought ways to build man's humanity to man. Background After completing degrees in History and Political Science from the University of Western Ontario, Dave Greber left Toronto in 1974 to write and work on newspapers in Western Canada. He was a dedicated professional for whom writing was the breath of life. A passionate stylist and technician, he crafted stories that were powerful, effective and appealing. Dave was a quick study with a curious mind and a wicked sense of humor. He had an ability for telling stories across a variety of media and for a diverse range of markets and audiences. Dave's Work As a freelance writer in Calgary, Alberta, Dave expanded his writing skills and wrote in a wide range of areas that included considerable work on environmental issues and corporate responsibility for the environment. He scripted industrial films for major corporations and created training videos to meet a variety of requirements. Dave had a continuing interest in the development and growth of Canadian businesses. Over more than 20 years this led him to write magazine articles spanning dozens of topics of financial, investment and economic interest. He was a frequent contributor to CBC programming. Dave wrote several books about business. He was the author of the Canadian best-sellers, Rising to Power: Paul Demarais and Power Corporation and Hustling For A Buck: The Adventure of Living Self Employed. In support and recognition of his professional work, Dave was the recipient of several grants and awards for writing excellence. For many years Dave instructed courses in professional writing through Mt. Royal College (and subsequently Mt. Royal University), University of Calgary and the Calgary Board of Education. He continuously encouraged young writers through the generous use of his personal time and effort at young writer's conferences and by being a writer-in-residence at the community college level. Dave was strongly attached to the West - its developing history and the parallel arrival of the cowboy. This deep personal resonance appeared in his music and derived from his direct experiences in cowboy life. Dave Greber Resume (clickable PDF) Winners of the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Awards 2009 - Marcello Di Cintio For details on this year's winner and his work, please go to our Blog. 2008 - Deborah Campbell Deborah Campbell, Vancouver freelance writer, is the 2008 winner of the recently redesigned Dave Greber Freelance Writers Magazine Awards for her article published in the April 2008 issue of Harper's magazine entitled Exodus: Where will Iraq Go Next? Based on the two months she spent living among Iraqi refugees in Syria, the article is considered one of the most comprehensive accounts of the human story behind the ongoing Iraqi refugee crisis. The $2000 prize was presented to Ms. Campbell on September 28, 2008 at the Word on The Street Book and Magazine Festival in Vancouver. Bio Deborah studied history, political science, languages and Near East Religions at universities on four continents. An adjunct professor of literary nonfiction at the University of British Columbia, she is currently teaching creative nonfiction writing to graduate students. Deborah is a founding member of the FCC literary journalism collective.
Deborah's web site http://deborahcampbell.ca. 2007 - John Vigna The 2007 recipient of the award was John Vigna, a Vancouver freelance writer. Mr. Vigna's successful submission, his magazine article The Ballad of Big and Small about his relationship to his drug and alcoholic addicted brother and the family in which they grew up, was published in the fall of 2007 by Grain Magazine. The $2000 award was presented to Mr. Vigna on September 30, 2007 at The Word on The Street, Book and Magazine Fair in Calgary. Bio John has been a self-employed writer since 1989 and has devoted himself full time as a freelance professional writer since 1999. His writing has been featured in many magazines and newspapers, including The Georgia Strait, The Vancouver Sun, The Vancouver Province, Banff Crag & Canyon and The Canmore Leader. He has won a number of Professional Awards including scholarships from the BC Arts Council, Banff Cultural Journalism and Creative Non-Fiction Scholarship, Canada Council as well as the First Prize for Creative Non-Fiction Awarded by the Kootenay Writer's Guild. He was chosen as 2002 Vancouver Entrepreneur of the Year (Service Business-to-Business). John has recently completed his Master of Fine Arts at UBC in the Creative Writing Program. John Vigna, is also is a fiction writer. His fiction has been featured in several literary anthologies along with his poetry. John has won several awards for his fiction including the 2007 First Prize for the Sub Terrain Lush Triumphant Fiction Contest, and a first prize from the Kootenay Writers Guild for his poetry.
John's web site http://www.johnvignawriter.blogspot.com/ 2006 - Gordon Laird The 2006 winner of the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award was Gordon Laird, a Calgary freelance writer. Mr. Laird's successful submission, The Price of a Bargain, is a chapter from his new book, The Quest for Cheap and The Death of Globalization (updated title) published by McClelland and Stewart Ltd.. The $2000 award was presented on September 24, 2006 at Word on the Street Book and Magazine Fair in Calgary. Bio Gordon Laird's writing and commentary have been featured on CNN, National Public Radio, Far Eastern Economic Review, Report on Business, Mother Jones, Canadian Geographic, Maclean's, The National Post, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, CBC Radio, CBC Television and CBC Newsworld. Laird is a former Media Fellow for the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, which resulted in the 2007 publication of Shelter, a six-year study of housing, poverty and homelessness that has since been toured across Canada. In 2008, Laird was shortlisted for the Atkinson Fellowship, Canada's most prestigious journalism award.
Gordon's Web site http://www.gordonlaird.com/ 2005 - Marcello Di Cintio Mr. Di Cintio's successful submission, In the Holy City, Pilgrimage, is a chapter from his new book, Poets and Pahlevans: Travels in Iran, published in 2006 by Alfred A Knopf Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Ltd. Knowing that there was a relationship between heroic poetry and various styles of traditional Persian wrestling, Di Cintio sets out to discover how Iranians "reconcile creativity with combat.". The $2000 award of was presented by Senator Joyce Fairburn on September 25, 2005 at Word on the Street Book and Magazine Fair in Calgary, Alberta. Bio His first book, Harmattan: Wind Across West Africa. Harmattan won the Henry Kriesel Award for Best First Book at the Alberta Book Awards. Since then, he published articles in numerous magazines and literary journals including The Walrus, EnRoute, Geist, and The Globe and Mail. His writing received several honours including the 2002 Maclean-Hunter Endowment Prize for Creative Nonfiction, and a number of Western and National Magazine Award nominations. Di Cintio is a member of the Writer's Union of Canada, PEN Canada and the Writer's Guild of Alberta. He is the 2009 - 2010 Markin-Flanagan Canadian Writer-in-Residence and will be in residence at the U of Calgary from August 15, 2009 to June 15, 2010. He lives in Calgary with his fiancé Moonira.
Marcello's Blog http://marcellodicintio.blogspot.com/ 2004 - Brian Brennan Mr. Brennan's winning submission was for the chapter What's in a Name?-1896, Ha Ling Finally Gets his Due Recognition, from his book, Romancing the Rockies, published by Fifth House Ltd., a Fitzhenry and Whiteside Company. The book introduces the daring men and women who found themselves attracted irresistibly to the Canadian Rocky Mountains over the last 250 years. Writer, film producer, television and radio broadcaster, Fil Fraser presented the $1000.00 prize to Mr. Brennan on September 26, 2004 at The Word on the Street Book and Magazine Fair in Calgary. Bio His books include a biography of Canadian historian James H. Gray, and a biography of the nineteenth century Irish folk poet Mary O'Leary, which was nominated for the Irish Times Literary Prize. Brian has written freelance articles and columns for various publications including the New York Times, Globe and Mail and Toronto Star. He serves on the National Council of The Writers' Union of Canada. president of the Canadian Association of Journalists (Calgary chapter), a national board member chairing the CAJ ethics committee and past president of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association. His awards include two Western Magazine Awards (Gold Award Alberta, Science and Technology Award), for stories on regeneration of animal brain cells, and the national Hollobon Award for medical writing in Canada.
Brian's Web Site http://www.brian-brennan.com/ |
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