The Authors in the Schools program brings award-winning, diverse Canadian authors to local elementary and secondary schools in Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Mount Currie and D’Arcy to engage with students. At the beginning of the school year, and prior to the guest author presentations, the AITS program buys class and reading sets of their current books, and gives them to the schools for study in the classroom. In 2020 and 2021, the AITS program was offered to all 700 middle and high schools in British Columbia via video recording on our YouTube channel.

The purpose of the Author in the Schools program is to inspire students about the process of writing and storytelling, through engagement with diverse Canadian authors. We hope that by offering these cultural perspectives, youth will be encouraged to write from their own lives, about ideas that matter to them.

Program authors have included: Tanya Boteju, Joseph Boyden, Cherie Dimaline, Penny Draper, Deborah Ellis, Ann Eriksson, Cary Fagan, Katherine Fawcett, Jen Ferguson, Leslie Gentile, Darren Groth, Simon Groth, Stella Harvey, Patti Laboucane-Benson, Sara Leach, Kelly Mellings, Lisa Moore, Susin Nielsin, Susan Oakey-Baker, Kenneth Oppel, Kit Pearson, Emily Pohl-Weary, Zalika Reid-Benta, David Robertson, Eden Robinson, Jamal Saeed, Tanya Talaga, Drew Hayden Taylor, Richard Van Camp, Katherena Vermette, Richard Wagamese, Eric Walters, Andrea Warner, Rebecca Wood Barrett and Xiran Jay Zhao.

To find out more about the program, please contact Writers@WhistlerWritersFest.com.

This program is made possible through the generous support of Armchair Books, B.C. Arts Council, Libby McKeever, Province of British Columbia, Rotary Club of Whistler, Rotary Club of Whistler Millennium, Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, Whistler Community Foundation, and Whistler Public Library.