No One Succeeds Alone
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” Yoko Ono
I have a slight tendency to overextend myself. Stop laughing. First hear me out.
So 17 years ago I founded a writers’ festival, then expanded it to include a Writer in Residence Program for emerging writers and later added an Authors in the School Program to provide kids in our community access to authors and their wonderful books. And recently we’ve pilot tested a Spring Reading series. Okay, maybe you do have cause to laugh at my use of the word, slight in the last paragraph.
But in my defence, I didn’t get here alone. No one ever does. I’m not pointing fingers, but I know this festival could not have become what it is today without a great deal of support for my modest dream. All I thought I wanted was to provide educational opportunities for writers and events for readers right here in this community.
But steadily this thing we created has grown and taken the shape it needed. Folks bought and continue to buy tickets, others provide the necessary financial support and still others, the unsung heroes of all of this, continue to put up with me, coming up with ideas I wouldn’t have begun to think about. I can’t recognize everyone here. I’ll do that at a later date, but this week I wanted to give a shout out to those who make my job so much easier. No matter what is happening, I know they are there with me and we’ll solve whatever needs to be solved together. They are the reason I do what I do.
So here’s to those behind the scenes folks: festival manager, Rebecca Wood Barrett (check out her review of Peter Carey’s latest work, A Long Way Home. Peter is our festival headliner this year), Claire Piech, our PR person whiz kid, Ruth Burrows who keeps our website humming, Mieke Prummel, our volunteer wrangler, Natalie Griffiths who takes on all challenges with a resilient smile and all our guest authors who continue to blog about their experience with this year’s festival theme: no one succeeds alone. We have a month to go before our big event (YIKES!), but I thought this was a good opportunity to thank you for all you do. Thank you.
Even when my head spins with all the work that has been done and still needs to be done, I realise I’m not alone in this dream. This buoys me again and again.
The Whistler Writers Festival runs October 11th to 14th. Check out our line up at: Whistler Writers Fest.
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