Bear Witness

You might recognize these two intrepid writers if you live in Whitehorse!  Zeb and Santana Berryman have great talent.  I’ve been privileged to have been working with them now for five years!  And they keep surprising me.

I met them first when I offered a Saturday science fiction/fantasy creative writing class in October 2007.  They were teens…in fact, I think Santana was eleven? Incredibly well-read in science fiction and fantasy, and horror and manga, etc., this brother and sister went on to spin some novels of their own.  Both of them write a novel every September in the three-day novel contest, as well as the November Novel writing month, and short stories, their own novels, and a novella with me.

Now they’ve decided to spur on their shorter works by joining up with the Write-A-Thon happening through Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Workshop.  First link there will take you to the Write-A-Thon page–where YOU can help these writers by spurring them on!  They are using their writing drive to help Clarion with their Fundraising drive.  Folks can click on the “Support a Writer” and will be taken to this page.  There, they can click on the different teams–and Zeb and Santana are hiding in the Team Bears Discover Fire–click on show members.

Or you can go directly to Zeb Berryman’s page here.

Or to Santana Berryman’s page here.

You can spur them on in their writing–as well as lead them to win an iPad–by pledging a bit of money per word or per story or per whatever their writing is divided into.  It doesn’t have to be more than a dollar a story!  And that money goes to develop scholarships for writers to come to Clarion for the summer.

Every year the workshop invites about 18 writers to come join them and gives them real science fiction and fantasy writers working in the field to be their mentors.  Those writers get individualized attention for six weeks!  Six weeks, a different writer every week.

If you want to hear my testimonial about Clarion, and this page on Clarion, I am an alumni and can testify how great it is for propelling a writer forward.

These two writers are going to be great!  I have every confidence in them.  I believe one day, they too might enjoy Clarion.  We three are raising money for that possibility–or the possibility for someone to recieve a scholarship for Clarion some year.

Look for them on that webpage–and then look for them soon in a bookstore!