Schutz, Diana

Diana Schutz is an award-winning editor who has worked in the comics industry for over thirty-five years.  Since 1990, she has been at Dark Horse Comics, where she is now a senior executive editor.  She is also an adjunct instructor of comics art history and criticism at Portland Community College, a published author of both comics […]

PETTLE, IRA

PETTLE, IRA is a performing artist, educator, and creative. A key player in Whistler’s performing arts scene, Ira was named 2019 Champion of Arts & Culture at the Whistler Excellence Awards in April. He is thrilled to be returning to this year’s Writer’s Festival, premiering his first play, A Whistler Vacation. 

Ricci, Nino

Nino Ricci’s first novel, Lives of the Saints, won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the SmithBooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award, and the F.G. Bressani Prize and was made into a motion picture starring Sophia Loren. The novel was also a long-time national bestseller, and was followed by the highly acclaimed In a Glass […]

Nolan, Angie

Angie Nolan was born and raised in BC, and got her start in TV as a teenager when she landed a production assistant job on the long running CBC hit The Beachcombers. She has also written, directed and acted in her own film and theatre projects. This includes a number of award-winning short films made under Swift Rock […]

Paré, Arleen

Arleen Paré is a poet and novelist, author of two previous books. Her first book, Paper Trail, was short-listed for the Dorothy Livesay BC Book Award for Poetry and won the Victoria Butler Book Prize. Her second book, Leaving Now, a mixed genre novel, was also well received. Originally from Montreal, she lived for many years […]

Nevison, James

James Nevison is an award-winning writer and educator and the co-founder of HALFAGLASS wine consultancy in Vancouver. His weekly wine column “The Wine Guy” appears every Thursday in The Province, he contributes regularly to TASTE magazine, and he can often be heard on radio and television providing his accessible approach to wine enjoyment.

Musgrave, Susan

Susan Musgrave has been labelled everything from an eco-feminist to an anti-feminist, from stand-up comedian to poet of doom and gloom, from social and political commentator to wild sea-witch of Canada’s northwest coast. She is the author of 19 books of poetry, numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, and several books for children. In 2014, […]

Munro, Jane

Jane Munro’s sixth poetry collection, Blue Sonoma (Brick Books), won the 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize. Her work has also received the Bliss Carman Poetry Award, the Macmillan Prize for Poetry, and was nominated for the Pat Lowther Award. She is a member of Yoko’s Dogs, a poetry collective whose first book, Whisk, appeared in 2013. She lives in Vancouver.

Mellings, Kelly

Kelly Mellings is an award-winning art director, illustrator, and designer. His work has appeared in comic books, magazines, apps, museum exhibits, and online games, and his clients include Microsoft. He is the co-owner of the acclaimed illustration, animation, and design firm Pulp Studios. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

McCullough, Robert

Robert McCullough is Publisher of Appetite by Random House and a Vice-President of Penguin Random House of Canada. After twenty-one successful years at Whitecap Books, Robert had the opportunity to start a new imprint in Vancouver for Penguin Random House of Canada, where he has been creating a carefully curated collection of food, drink, and […]