okanagan food and wine writers workshop | penticton and wine country

The idea is to give workshop attendees personal attention and small-group mentorship and support, for whatever stage you are at in your food and wine writing career. There will be six nationally published and influential writers, editors and publishers here to instruct, help and nudge you along to bigger and better things.

Based out of Penticton, BC, the workshop starts on Thursday evening (Sept 16) and features professional development sessions, special lunches, once-in-a-lifetime dinners, talks by some of the Okanagan top vintners and chefs, a guided chef tour of the outstanding Penticton Farmers' Market and wine country touring. The workshop is open to writers of all levels and is designed to move your career forward.

SPACE IS LIMITED. We can only accommodate 20 registrants to maintain a good instructor-to-writer ratio.

This year’s program is coming together. Program details and 2010 speaker list will be confirmed very shortly. Register now to get in on the earlybird rate and secure your spot.

Dianne Jacob is a writing coach, editor, and author. Her blog, Will Write for Food: Pithy Snippets about Food Writing, covers food writing trends and technique. She started it in 2009 as a way to update her book, Will Write for Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Blogs, Articles, Memoir, and More. Re-issued in July 2010, the book won the Cordon D’Or International award for Best Literary Food Reference Book. Dianne is also the co-author of Grilled Pizzas & Piadinas, with chef Craig Priebe. She has been self-employed since 1996 after a career as a top editor, and coaches writers across the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. She teaches classes on food writing and book publishing in the San Francisco Bay Area and online at Leite’s Culinaria. Dianne has also taught for the Smithsonian Institute and UCLA’s Journalism Department, and has spoken at The Symposium for Professional Food Writers at the Greenbrier and at the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) annual conferences. She judges for the James Beard Foundation, for the IACP's annual cookbook awards, and has also judged the Bert Greene Award for Food Journalism. A feature she wrote about food blogs was a finalist for a Bert Greene award in 2007. See her website, www.diannej.com, for more information.

Born in Vancouver, Claudia Cusano is Italian by blood, and thus grew up with a love of food, family, and friendship. The food served at the countless dinner tables of a generation of Italian-Canadian immigrants informed her gastronomic motto: I’d rather not eat if it’s not good food. Her first job was scooping gelato at a local fair and the addiction to gelato—not ice-cream—has never waned. Claudia is a graduate of sociology from the University of British Columbia and holds a degree in speech and drama from Trinity College London in England. Claudia is currently the editor for NUVO magazine, a lifestyle magazine for the Canadian sophisticate. www.nuvomagazine.com

Liane Faulder is The Edmonton Journal’s food columnist and appears in the Bistro section on Wednesdays, and on Saturdays in Lifestyle. She is also food columnist for CBC radio’s afternoon program in Edmonton, Radio Active. During her career at The Edmonton Journal, Liane has been a life columnist, a city columnist, and a television critic as well as a senior feature writer for the paper's weekly flagship feature section, Sunday Reader. A graduate of Ryerson University’s school of journalism, Liane has worked at CBC radio and CBC television and has been a regular contributor to CBC's local and syndicated national service. Liane's first book The Long Walk Home: Paul Franklin's Journey from Afghanistan, was published in 2007 and chronicled the inspiring recovery of an Edmonton soldier who lost two legs in a suicide bombing. An award-winning reporter, Liane's features have been published in Reader's Digest, Today's Parent, Venture and Chatelaine magazines. In 2006, her personal essay, About the Boys, was published in the best-selling Canadian anthology, Dropped Threads 3.

Jennifer Cockrall-King decided that the Okanagan was too good not to share with as many food and wine writers as possible, so she has spent the last several months organizing The Okanagan Food & Wine Writers Workshop. Jennifer is a food writer with over 13 years of contributing to publications in Canada and the US. In 2000, she began cataloguing her work at www.foodgirl.ca. She entered the blogosphere in 2007 at www.edibleprairie.ca. In 2006, Jennifer was short-listed for Cuisine Canada’s Best Food and Drink writing in Canada, and in 2007, Canada’s national association of chefs and cooks awarded Jennifer the national Sandy Sanderson food-writing award. In 2008, Western Living named her as one of the “Top 40 Foodies Under 40.” She teaches food writing courses with MacEwan’s Writing Works in Edmonton and at UBC Okanagan. She is truly grateful for all of the people who are participating in and attending this workshop. See you in September!

Rhys Pender, former owner of the Okanagan Grocery in Kelowna, is a wine educator, freelance wine writer, wine judge and consultant to the industry. Rhys is the instructor for all of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and educational programs for Wine Plus+. To ensure a full understanding of wine in its key context, with food, Rhys has also completed a professional culinary diploma. Rhys is a regular contributor on wine to publications Wine Access, Scout Magazine, CityFood and Montecristo. In 2008, Rhys was named by Western Living magazine as one of the "Top 40 Foodies Under 40" in Western Canada. http://www.wineplus.ca. In 2010, Rhys became the 4th Master of Wine (MW) in Canada.