A message from the President
Summer’s coming and some of us have already started on our adventures. We look forward to hearing all your travel tales and I hope you have safe and happy journeys. I’ll be off to England and Greece by September with a plan to start my Greek adventures in Corfu, the beginning of some island-hopping as I do research for the Greek Islands e-book I’m putting together for Hunter Publishing, US. By June I’ll also be starting final edits on Volume Two of my novel SHADOW OF THE LION, this one subtitled FIELDS OF HADES, which hopefully will be published by October. So far I already have two book readings lined up while I’m in Greece. If you happen to be traveling to Greece this summer be sure and find my ATHENS AND BEYOND e-book on Kindle.
Happy Travels, Everyone!
Ruth Kozak, BCATW President
Blog Contest Entries
Our Symposium Blog Contest is now closed for entries. Here are the blog post that will vie for the last two zipline tickets, compliments of SuperFly Ziplines.
Blog contest winners will be announced in mid-June on this site as well as Twitter and Facebook. Good luck to all!
The Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in New Westminster by Melanie Ferguson on PostcardsandPlaces.com, April 17, 2016
British Columbia: Too Beautiful for Words,
How Travel Writers Face New Realities of Print vs Digital Markets by Mari Kane on BlogsiteStudio.com, May 18, 2016.
Bonnie Sainsbury
Our judge this year is Bonnie Sainsbury, a corporate trainer, speaker and author of numerous online articles on the subject of social networking and social marketing and founder of Left Brain Marketing.
In 2013 Forbes named Bonnie among ” The Top 25 Most Influential Social Media Influencers.” Visit her site at SocialMediaSmarter.com and follow her at bsainsbury.
Meetups coming up
Trip Night with BCATW Members
Wednesday, June 1, 2016 7:00 PM – That’s tonight!
Big Rock Urban Eatery
310 West 4th Ave, Vancouver (map)
Trip Night will feature BCATW members giving 10-minute multi-media presentations about their favorite or most recent trip.
Presenters will be: Roberta Staley – Afghanistan, Baila Lazarus – Cuba, Mari Kane – Israel, Ruth Kozak – Greece or Egypt, Craig Minielly – India.
At this Meetup, you will:
– learn a little (or a lot) about the food, culture and history of each country
– get to ask specific questions about where the writer published their stories
– have a chance to mingle with travel writers to get some tips
– spend a fun social evening out
AND – JUST ADDED… A DOOR PRIZE!
Two sets of two tickets for free wine-tasting and tours at Cedar Creek Winery. (Valid until Sept. 5)
Social Media Mastery Conference
Saturday, June 4, 2016, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
The Centre for Digital Media
685 Great Northern Way, Vancouver, BC.
BCATW Member, Symposium Committee Member, and Travel Blogger Ricky Shetty is also the producer of the upcoming Social Media Mastery Conference, which has 200+ guests attending, 15+ social media expert speakers, and 20+ vendor tables.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=PGcEcEQ6i6w
Ricky has agreed to give all BCATW Members $100 off the regular price! Just enter promo code “BCATWBuzz” and you will your discount. We’ll even have a BCATW Booth to encourage more people to join our association. Click here to register for Social Media Mastery
New Member Spotlight: Rick Green
Rick Green is a Vancouver-based writer, editor, and content marketer with a passion for travel, craft beer, and gastronomy. He has combined these interests in his new beer travel book, How to Drink Beer in Mandarin: An English-Chinese Craft Beer Glossary, part of his latest Great Hop Forward project about the craft beer revolution in China.
Rick is also the author of four multimedia travel guides and co-author of three other CD-ROM titles. More recently, he has written about his Asian travel experiences for Adventurocity, a travel company focused on independent travel to Asia. His work has also appeared in the B.C. Beer Blog, The Georgia Straight, Edible Vancouver, Northwest Brewing News, Megaphone, TAPS, Urban Diner, and What’s Brewing.
Visit his sites, Adventurocity, a partnership with Brian K. Smith, and Great Hop Forward.
Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka. Photo: Irene Butler
Media Members News
Irene Butler’s article “Sri Lanka – Elephants and Temple of the Tooth” was published in Travel Writers Tales, and in their affiliated newspapers – Kamloops this Week, The Delta Optimist, Vernon Morning Star. Thanks to Jane and Margaret, Editors/Owners of Travel Writers Tales.
Joan Boxall’s article, ‘Kayak-tion Attraction’ is in the June edition of ‘Senior Inspired Living.’ She’s off to Vancouver Island soon for another story about seniors chasing grizzlies & whales (not the other way ’round).
Haida Gwaii. Photo: Karoline Cullen
Karoline Cullen’s article “Haaw’a Haida Gwaii” was published in several BC community papers and on Travel Writers Tales. Haida Gwaii is only a two-hour flight from Vancouver. Do go – it’s incredible!
Brian K. Smith is currently attending the China International Photographic Art Festival in Zhangzhou, China. As an invited guest he also participated on a forum panel, To Review Photographic Works in Chinese and Western Cultural Context. This panel included foreign presenters from Iceland, Israel and Brian. Also on the panel was a government official and a number of Chinese Photographic Arts officials including the director. This is Brian’s second hosted trip to China in the past 8 months. Last September he was an invited guest and exhibitor at the Pingyao International Photography Exhibition.
Mari Kane has released an new edition of her ebook, Create a WordPress Website in Ten Easy Steps, updated for WordPress version 4.5. The ebook takes the new blogger through the ten steps to website completion and is heavily linked to the WordPress Codex, Blogsitestudio.com, plugin developers and dozens of other sources.
The new edition is the same low price of $2.99, available as PDF through blogsitestudio.com or as Kindle through Amazon. If you or someone you know is eager to build a website with WordPress, please refer them to Create a WordPress Website in Ten Easy Steps.
Industry News
Bestway presents Vegetarian India – a Culinary Journey, a unique 15-day tour hosted by the well known cookbook writer, Nettie Cornish. Guided by local English speaking tour guides, this culinary journey explores the different regions of India most known for vegetarian food, regional tastes, organic food, spices, and a life revolving around food. This artistically designed tour explores the rich culture and heritage of India – its history, people and above all, food. Home visits, hands on cooking sessions with renowned Indian chefs, exploring the best restaurants, seeing historical sites and experiencing Indian culture is all a part of the experience on this exciting culinary journey.
Tour dates are from February 6-20, 2017 and is priced at CA$ 4495 per person sharing. BCATW members get a $150 discount when booked on or before June 30, 2016. Participants also get a personally-autographed book by the six-time author. Group size is limited to 20 participants only. For details view: www.bestway.com
THE VINEYARD TERRACE RESTAUR
ANT IS NOW OPEN FOR LUNCH AND DINNER.
At Cedar Creek we are proud of our land and we love to showcase it. Today ALL of our produce comes from Okanagan farms with a few meats from the interior. We get 80% of our ingredients from BC. If you are looking for real food, sustainable dining and a true taste of the Okanagan, make sure to reserve your seat at the Vineyard Terrace this season.
It will be a dining experience to remember. Look up the reviews we get: TripAdvisor. We’re open from May 13th – September 18th. Reservations are highly recommended by calling 778-738-1027 or reserve on OpenTable.
(BCATW 2016 attendees can use the tour and tasting coupon they received at the Symposium!)
Have a great summer and happy travel writing!
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