Book Review: a search for belonging   What does it mean to be a part of a community? And what lengths would we go to in order to fit in, and live our life in peace, unmolested? These are some of the questions put forth in this triumph of a novel written by Tara Gereaux.  The main character is a

Book Review: a place to call home Springtime in Kitkatla by Kim Spencer takes the reader back to a simpler time, to childhood, where Days pass, but time seems to stand still. The story is told through the eyes of seven-year-old Walaas—the Sm’algyax word for huckleberry—as she takes us on a delightful journey to the village of Kitkatla, also known

Book Review: stories across generations  Fall has officially arrived, and with it comes the promise of crisp mornings, brisk afternoons, and more time to unapologetically curl up with a good book or two. What better time to prepare for the Whistler Writers Festival, celebrating its 25th anniversary this November? And prepare we shall, for the Writers Festival is the World

Book Review: bearing witness to life in Gaza   What do you want for dinner? I ask my girls, safe in their home, cuddled into the sofa. “Pizza!” they chime. A simple dinner of dough, tomato sauce and cheese. A comfort food loved around the world. Even in war-torn Gaza. “Amid the roar of warplanes and the sound of debris

Book Review: a journey towards self love     Clara Hughes’s journey in her new memoir, Learning to Breathe, is similar to a journal, including all the ups and downs. It gives the reader insight into Clara as a human, so much more than an Olympian. “It was like riding in an elevator whose cables suddenly snapped. This was August

Book Review: when looking becomes reading As a reader who has never immersed myself in comics or graphic novels, I found Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’s Haida Manga a little difficult to write about. And yet I could not take my eyes from the drawings. They are extraordinarily beautiful, full of movement and detail, and at times wonderfully playful. There is so

Book Review: an ancient story with a modern message   Artist and storyteller Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is the father of a unique genre that blends Japanese manga techniques with Haida stories and artistic traditions. Red: A Haida Manga, is a modern, graphic retelling of a classic Haida oral narrative. As a child, Red’s sister is abducted by a band of

Book Review: learning to listen to the land     Reading hiking beyond; poems from the trail by bronwyn preece felt like hiking alongside her—breathing in the air of the mountains she is so enamoured with. The writing feels very real to me: unedited, raw, intimate, and beautiful. While the book is a journey through her recovery from injury and the intimacy

Book Review: thinking critically in a world of misinformation   Sticking to the Facts is part of the nonfiction Orca Take Action series for young readers, which offers tools to identify and to fight their spread of misinformation and disinformation. Each book in the series explains an important issue in simple, concrete terms and shows young people how they can

ZAK JONES CONNECTS GENERATIONS THROUGH STORIES ZAK JONES is a writer, literary scholar and US Army Veteran. He is the winner of the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s 2023 Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers and the 2023 Norma Epstein National Award. Zak holds an MA in English Literature & Creative Writing from the University of Toronto, where he is currently

HEATHER HENDRIE SHARES STORIES THAT BREAK THE SILENCE HEATHER HENDRIE is an award-winning author and mental health advocate whose work uses humour to slay shame. She is the creator of the Awfully Hilarious anthology series—including the #1 bestselling Awfully Hilarious Stories We Never Tell, and Awfully Hilarious Pillow Talk. Her work has received recognition from the Canadian Book Club Awards

WILEY WEI-CHIUN HO UNPACKS THE MEANING OF HOME WILEY WEI-CHIUN HO is a Taiwanese Canadian writer, whose short stories and personal essays have been published in PRISM international, Pulp Literature, Ricepaper Magazine, River Teeth, Room, and several anthologies. A champion of the literary community, she is a member of the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, Federation of BC Writers, North Shore

LASÄNMĄ EXPLORES RECONNECTION AND FINDING HOME LASÄNMĄ (she/her) was raised in Haines Junction, Yukon and is a member of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nation. Her English name is Mariah MacDonald, and she is a part of the Wolf Clan. Mariah lived in Haines Junction and Whitehorse before moving to Vancouver at the age of twenty-one, where she studied at

YASUKO THANH UNCOVERS UNTOLD STORIES AND VOICES YASUKO THANH (she/her) is a writer and creative writing instructor at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC. She has written five books including the novels Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains (Penguin Canada) and To the Bridge (Hamish Hamilton) and the best-selling memoir Mistakes to Run With (Penguin Canada). She is the

KIM SPENCER TELLS TRUTHS THROUGH EVERYDAY STORIES KIM SPENCER is an award-winning, bestselling author. Her debut novel, Weird Rules to Follow, received a Kirkus starred review and was a 2023 Governor General’s Literary Award finalist. The book won multiple awards, including a 2023 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, a 2023 Jean Little First-Novel Award and a 2024 Pacific Northwest Book

AVIS BLACKBIRD EXPLORES OUR ROOTS THROUGH POETRY AVIS BLACKBIRD is Secwepemc and Sto:lo and of mixed European heritage, living in Coast Salish territory in British Columbia. She is an author, poet, visual artist and photographer. She is a member of the Indigenous Arts Collective of Canada and the Federation of BC Writers. Avis holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees from the

ELEE KRALJII GARDINER EXPLORES LANGUAGE THROUGH SOUND AND MOVEMENT ELEE KRALJII GARDINER is the author of three poetry collections, serpentine loop, Trauma Head and, most recently, sometimes, forest from Talonbooks, as well as the editor of two anthologies (V6A: Writing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and Against Death: 35 Essays on Living). A frequent collaborator, she works across disciplines and administers

EVE JOSEPH FINDS CONNECTIONS BETWEEN POETRY AND PROSE EVE JOSEPH lives and works on the unceded traditional territories of the Lekwungen peoples. Her first two books of poetry The Startled Heart and The Secret Signature of Things were both nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Award. She was awarded the P.K. Page Founder’s Award for poetry in 2010. Her nonfiction has

ROBYN HARDING TURNS EVERYDAY SCENARIOS INTO NIGHTMARES ROBYN HARDING is the international bestselling author of several novels including Strangers in the Villa, The Haters, The Perfect Family, The Arrangement, and Her Pretty Face. Her novels The Party and The Drowning Woman were both finalists for the Crime Writers of Canada best crime novel award. Her novel The Swap debuted at

BRIAN KAUFMAN TURNS IDEAS INTO STORIES AND WORLDS BRIAN KAUFMAN has been active in the publishing community as a writer, editor, and publisher for over thirty years. Mr. Kaufman is the founder of Anvil Press and subTerrain magazine and has been the recipient of the Jim Douglas Publisher of the Year Award and the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award

TARA GEREAUX EXPLORES FAMILY HISTORY THROUGH FICTION TARA GEREAUX is the author of three books, including the recently released novel, Wild People Quiet. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and is the recipient of the City of Regina Writing Award, the Colleen and Allan Bailey Memorial Fund from the Saskatchewan Foundation for the

BRONWYN PREECE WEAVES STORIES THROUGH LANDSCAPES AND MOVEMENT bronwyn preece, dubbed the ‘backcountry poet,’ holds a PhD in performance and is a community-engaged arts practitioner. She is the author of hiking beyond : poems from the trail (2026) and knee deep in high water : riding the Muskwa-Kechika, expedition poems (2023), both with Caitlin Press. With Simply Read Books she

LOGHAN PAYLOR USES FICTION TO CREATE CONNECTION LOGHAN PAYLOR is a queer, trans writer who lives in Chilliwack, BC. They are the author of the #1 national bestseller The Cure for Drowning (Random House Canada, 2024), which won the 2026 CBC Canada Reads competition and was shortlisted for the 2026 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Speculative Fiction. It was

A.D. SUI WRITES TO MAKE READERS FEEL LESS ALONE A.D. SUI is a Ukrainian-born, internationally raised speculative writer, Nebula winner, and Aurora, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist. They are the author of The Dragonfly Gambit (2024), The Iron Garden Sutra (2026), and more than two dozen short stories. Their work often draws from lived experiences and centers unlikable, unmanageable