Festival Year: 2024

Holly Hogan

by Stewart Goodings Let’s go back to 1966 for a moment. The Governor General’s Medal for poetry goes to a young 27 year old from Toronto, Margaret Atwood. The Circle Game is her first book, and is a harbinger of what becomes a veritable flood of over 60 books, with her book of short stories … Read more

Mystery author Iona Whishaw grew up in Canada, Arizona and Mexico. She has an MFA from UBC, and spent her working life in education. Her Lane Winslow mysteries have won her the 2021 Bony Blythe Light Mystery Award and she has been a finalist for the Duthie book prize and two Lefty Awards. Her book … Read more

Siila Watt-Cloutier was born in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, Northern Quebec, Canada. She is an environmental and human rights activist. From 1991 to 1995, she worked as a counsellor in the review process of the education system of Northern Quebec. This work led to the 1992 report on the educational system in Nunavik, Silaturnimut – The Pathway … Read more

Frank Tester is a resident of Denman Island, a Canadian author, film maker and professor of social work and environmental studies. He is currently adjunct professor of Indigenous Studies, University of Manitoba and the Kutenai Art Therapy Institute, Nelson B.C., having previously taught at the University of British Columbia, York University, the University of Edinburgh … Read more

Angela Sterritt is an award-winning investigative journalist and national bestselling author from the Wilp Wiik’aax (we-GAK) of the Gitanmaax (GIT-in-max) community within the Gitxsan (GICK-san) Nation on her dad’s side and from Bell Island Newfoundland on her maternal side. Sterritt worked as a television, radio, and digital journalist at CBC for more than a decade. … Read more

Des Kennedy has been writing and homesteading on Inner (Denman) Island for the last 50-plus years. Living a conserver lifestyle, he and his partner Sandy have created gardens that provide food and beauty throughout the year and inspire much of his writing. His published works include five novels, five books of non-fiction and a memoir … Read more

Will Ferguson is a three-time winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour. His novels include his debut, HappinessTM, sold in twenty-three languages; 419, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize; and The Finder, which won the 2021 Arthur Ellis Award for Crime Fiction. With his brother, Ian, he is the author of the mega-bestseller How to … Read more

Sarah Cox is an award-winning author and journalist based in Victoria, B.C. Sarah’s new book, Signs of Life: Field Notes from the Frontlines of Extinction, will be published on April 16, 2024. Her previous  book Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand Against Big Hydro won a B.C. Book Prize and was a … Read more