Welcome to the 2026 Whistler Writers Festival, November 5-8. We are grateful to hold our year-round programming and annual festival on the unceded, shared territory of the Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish Nation) and Lil̓wat7úl (Lil’wat Nation). We continue to learn from, and expand our partnerships with the original caretakers and stewards of the land and waters.

This year is extraordinarily special, as we’ll be celebrating our Silver Anniversary—25 years! I’ve had the honour of being involved since Stella Harvey founded the festival in her living room in the summer of 2002.

When I began to think about what the festival means to me and the broader literary arts community, I wondered, what if the Whistler Writers Festival had never existed?

It’s hard to fathom what would never-have-been, but I’ll try. In this parallel universe of No Festival, most of us wouldn’t have met the incomparable Stella and Dave Harvey, caring festival parents who nurtured the festival in its infancy, shepherded it through innumerable challenges (teething problems, growing pains, teaching it how to drive solo – scary!) before releasing it into the world with the guidance of a passionate Board, staff, volunteers and community.

In the No Festival existence, we would have missed out on Stella and Dave warmly greeting festival goers at the ‘front doors’ for over two decades, treating festival authors and audiences like family. (Their hospitality was astonishing. Over the years Dave made mountains of baked salmon and cookies for potluck events. Because, spoiler, Stella doesn’t cook. It’s her only flaw.) This welcoming, intimate and accessible approach is something we do our best to provide to this day.

But back to the universe of No Festival. I do believe we would have read some of the same, newly published books. Most certainly those by the high-profile authors. But would we have read or even heard of the dazzling debuts by yet unknown Canadian authors? Would we have cracked open the stories written in unfamiliar genres? Or picked up the books by exciting local authors? Would any of our Sea to Sky writers have been published without the existence of the Festival workshops, Writer in Residence program, support for local critique groups, and Pitching to Publishers and Agents events? I wonder…

In the land of No Festival, we wouldn’t have had the chance to meet and have conversations with the hundreds of guest authors, storytellers and musicians we’ve hosted over the last two-and-a-half decades. We would not have experienced the sudden sparks of enlightenment and feeling of connection when a story resonates. Our minds would not have expanded. There would have been no tears shed at searing, vulnerable, all-too-relatable stories. We would not have enjoyed any gut-busting laughs at the tales revealing the foibles and absurdity of being human.

Most of all, we would not have experienced these moments together. Some of our dearest festival friends, attendees and authors are no longer with us. Yet we will always have the memories of the moments when we came together to share our love of listening to stories and ideas. For this, I am most grateful. And I extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone over the last 25 years who has been a part of the Whistler Writers Festival, simply by showing up.

As I look forward, I envision a festival and storytelling community that continues to connect, reinvent, learn and stretch. I’m excited about the future and what the next 25 years will bring.

I invite you to explore the 2026 program, engage in the wide variety of storytelling events, delight in conversations, and join our curious, energetic community of readers and writers.

Rebecca Wood Barrett
Artistic & Executive Director