Fans spoke and the folks behind the Whistler Writers Festival listened — despite an announcement late last year that the 2010 fest was cancelled, the troops rallied and the literary event is, in fact, returning Oct. 14 to 16.

True to form, the ninth annual festival lineup includes interesting workshops, innovative events and a roster of heavy-hitting authors. Highlights include Kate Pullinger, 2009 Governor General’s Award-winning novelist, and a performance by spoken word/beatbox artist C.R. Avery.

But even though the fest will go on in October, the struggles aren’t over for the Whistler Writers Group, the local group of volunteers that organizes the annual event.

Stella Harvey, writers group founder and festival director, said she found out about two weeks ago that a grant she was counting on isn’t coming — after planning the bulk of the festival and booking many authors. The B.C. Arts Council has helped fund the festival for five years running, but not this year because of an overall cut in available funding, she said.

Despite a $3,000 grant from the municipality and a small amount from the Whistler Arts Council, Harvey said on Monday (Aug. 16) she’s about $4,000 short to cover the costs of October’s three-day event.

“We’ll have to just see what happens,” she said. “We’re going forward.”

Harvey said she’s waiting to hear back on yet another grant application, and she’s planning to seek corporate sponsorships to help make up the shortfall. She’s “hopeful” the difference will be made up and perhaps even some long-term funding secured.

On the positive side of things, Harvey said she and other festival organizers remain committed to providing programming at affordable prices. Workshop prices will be the same as last year, and tickets to the Saturday evening gala — featuring readings and a discussion by eight different authors — are just $20.

“I’m really committed to keeping ticket prices as low as possible,” she said.

What’s more, a new partnership with the Vancouver International Writers Festival is helping the Whistler fest’s bottom line. Harvey said Hal Wake, the Vancouver event’s artistic director, was one of the people who called after the November 2009 announcement that the Whistler fest would be no more.

Urging her to continue the highly regarded and successful festival, Wake suggested the possibility for the two events to partner to help save costs, Harvey said. Usually held in September, the Whistler fest has been moved to the weekend before Vancouver’s event in October. The date change allows Harvey to invite writers who are part of the Vancouver festival’s programming and save on travel costs from the writer’s hometown to Vancouver.

The synergy is the first step in what Harvey hopes becomes a deeper partnership between the two events in the future. She said she’d like to see future joint efforts in marketing and other areas.

Despite the challenges of putting on a “unique and intimate” festival with ever-shrinking funding and a group of volunteer organizers always at risk of burnout, the Whistler Writers Festival is a popular, growing event. Attendance has grown 25 per cent over the past two years, Harvey said, and the festival draws people from across Canada and the U.S.

“It’s building and people are coming from elsewhere,” she said.

The full festival program will be posted online at theviciouscircle.ca as of Monday (Aug. 23), Harvey said. Registration will be offered online.

There are also two spots left for the successful Whistler Writer in Residence program, which offers novice, emerging and aspiring writers one-on-one manuscript development sessions with B.C. writer Brian Brett starting in mid-September. Brett has published 12 books including memoir, poetry, non-fiction, short stories and novels over his 35-year writing career. His most recent book, Trauma Farm, has won multiple awards.

The cost to participate in the Writer in Residence program is $250; register online at theviciouscircle.ca.