Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, 5511 Shorncliffe Avenue, Sechelt, BC (2025)

08/22/2025

We would like to express our sincerest gratitude to all of those who attended the 2025 Sunshine Coast Festival for the Written Arts! ♥️ We appreciate you for showing up rain or shine to support our talented lineup of authors and artists in fostering our mighty literary community.

We extend our thanks to every panellist, moderator, musician, staff member, and volunteer who made this event possible. To the authors, who showed up ready to share their unique voices and their exceptional works on the Sunshine Coast. Thank you for your participation in bringing readers from across Canada together for our 43rd year. See you again next year!

📸 Event #18 featuring author Amal Elsana Alh’jooj — photo by Phil Harrison.

07/30/2025

Indulge your fiction cravings on the Sunshine Coast with this roster of events featuring the best in fiction! Each of these authors will be sharing. Each of these authors will be sharing the thrilling inspirations behind their stories that will ignite your imagination.

Got some free time? Kick off your morning with a delicious brunch at Edie Rae’s Café and explore the area after!

📖 Nita Prose
🗓️ Friday, August 15 | 7:00 PM
🎭 Join #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery Guest, The Mistletoe Mystery and The Maid Nita Prose to discuss her newest book, The Maid’s Secret, is a spirited heist caper and an epic love story; a spell-binding whodunnit that will capture your heart.

1️⃣ Sarah Leavitt and Teresa Wong with Tara McGuire
🗓️ Saturday, August 16 | 4:00 PM
📚 Powerhouse graphic novelists Sarah Leavitt and Teresa Wong will discuss the unique joys and challenges of telling stories in the graphic form with moderator and author Tara McGuire.

2️⃣ Eddy Boudel Tan
🗓️ Sunday, August 17 | 9:00 AM
📰 Eddy Boudel Tan will discuss his novel The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, a story that examines how immigrant families are exploited by society. Eddy will share how he used elements of mystery to disguise his book about race and class.
Lorna Goodison, Garry Gottfriedson and Evelyn Lau, with Tara McGuire

🗓️ Sunday, August 17 | 10:30 AM
📰 Three acclaimed poets join moderator Tara McGuire to discuss their latest work. Lorna Goodison reimagines Dante’s Inferno through a Jamaican lens; Garry Gottfriedson honours Residential School survivors in The Flesh of Ice; and Evelyn Lau explores climate change and destruction in Parade of Storms.

Get tickets to these events and more at the link in our bio!

07/28/2025

If nonfiction is more your speed, we’ve put together an itinerary for you full of fresh perspectives that will challenge, engage and inspire you. Plus! You can take the rest of the afternoon to spend time at the Sechelt Farmers' and Artisans' Market. 🍓

1️⃣ Coast Writes: andrea bennett and Charlotte Gill with Megan Cole
🗓️ Saturday, August 16 | 10:30 AM
📚 This year, Coast Writes proudly features two acclaimed authors from the qathet region. National Magazine Award-winner andrea bennett and Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize-winner Charlotte Gill joins writer and BC Book Prizes Interim Executive Director Megan Cole for an insightful conversation about books, writing, and the stories that shape us.

2️⃣ David A. Robertson
🗓️ Saturday, August 16 | 2:30 PM
🎭 David A. Robertson’s new book, All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety, reveals what it’s like to live inside his mind and his body, describes the toll his mental health challenges have taken on him and his family, and how he has learned to put one foot in front of the other as well as to get back up when he stumbles.

📙 Amal Elsana Alh’jooj
🗓️ Sunday, August 17 | 1:00 PM
📰 Join Amal Elsana Alh’jooj a founder of several NGOs, including the Arab-Jewish Centre for Equality, Economic Empowerment and Cooperation, and the recipient of many international prizes, to discuss her debut memoir, Hope Is a Woman’s Name.

📘 Timothy Caulfield
🗓️ Sunday, August 17 | 4:00 PM
📰 Timothy Caulfield’s newest book, The Certainty Illusion: What You Don’t Know and Why It Matters, lifts the curtain on the forces contributing to our information chaos and unpacks why it’s so difficult—sometimes even for experts—to escape the fake.

Get tickets to these events and more at the link in our bio!

07/25/2025

Get a taste for what’s new and evolving with our itinerary of some of the new releases, stories and perspectives that will be at this year’s festival! You can use our itinerary as a guide for planning your perfect weekend of exploring, discussing and discovering more about the future of Canadian writers.

1️⃣ Zoe Whittall
🗓️ Friday, August 15 | 9:00 AM
📚 Join Zoe Whittall to discuss her newest book, Wild Failure. Her characters encounter feelings of shame, desire, attachment and disconnection as they find themselves navigating their way through bad decisions, unusual situations, and fraught relationships.

2️⃣ Caroline Adderson
🗓️ Friday, August 15 | 2:30 PM
🎭 Caroline Adderson’s book, A Way to Be Happy, is a collection of short stories that considers what it means to find happiness—and how we so often seem to understand it through our encounters with the lives, and the stories, of others.

📑 Eddy Boudel Tan
🗓️ Sunday, August 17 | 9:00 AM
📰 Eddy Boudel Tan will discuss his novel The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, a noirish page-turner about a mysterious disappearance and a moving portrait of a Chinese Canadian family navigating insecurities and simmering anger in their small town near the Sunshine Coast. With a story that examines how immigrant families are exploited by society, Eddy will share how he used elements of mystery to disguise his book about race and class.

📕 New Voices: Deirdre Simon Dore and Ardra Shephard with Megan Cole
🗓️ Sunday, August 17 | 2:30 PM
📰 Join two distinct literary voices in a compelling conversation moderated by Megan Cole. Author and playwright Deirdre Simon Dore, whose debut novel A Reluctant Mother—praised for its inventive storytelling—shares the stage with Ardra Shephard, whose debut memoir Fallosopy: My Trip Through Life with MS traces her unexpected journey from a typical 20-something to a powerful voice of reinvention and resilience following a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

Head to our website at the link in our bio for tickets to these events and more.

07/23/2025

Looking for inspo on amazing events to attend at this year’s festival? If you want to experience a little taste of the thought-provoking work from writers across Canada that will surely create important conversations, we’ve put together the perfect itinerary for you.

1️⃣ Gurjinder Basran
🗓️ Friday, August 15 | 10:30 AM
📚 Join Gurjinder Basran the award-winning author of four novels: Everything Was Goodbye, winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and a Chatelaine Magazine Book Club pick; Someone You Love Is Gone; Help! I’m Alive!; and, most recently, The Wedding, published by Douglas & McIntyre.

2️⃣Bruce McIvor and David A Robertson with Daniel Heath Justice
🗓️ Friday, August 15 | 4:00 PM
🎭 Join Bruce McIvor and David A. Robertson, together with author Daniel Heath Justice, to discuss Indigenous rights and the meaningful ways we can work together to advance reconciliation.

Brian Thomas Isaac with Daniel Heath Justice
🗓️ Saturday, August 16 | 9:00 AM
📰 Brian Thomas Isaac will discuss his newest book, Bones of a Giant, a haunting and tender return to the Okanagan Indian Reserve and a powerful story of struggle and redemption. Brian will be in conversation with fellow author Daniel Heath Justice.

Susin Nielsen
🗓️ Saturday, August 16 | 1:00 PM
📰 Susin Nielsen is the multiple-award-winning author of seven middle grade novels. Her newest novel, Snap, delivers flawed but relatable characters whose heartaches, foibles, and choices will make you cringe as you laugh out loud.

Head to our website at the link in our bio for tickets to these events and more.

07/21/2025

Susin Nielsen is the multiple-award-winning author of seven middle-grade novels. Her books have won the Governor General’s Literary Award, the UKLA Award and over a dozen Young Readers’ Choice Awards. Her books have been translated into more than fifteen languages.

Her newest novel, Snap, delivers flawed but relatable characters whose heartaches, foibles, and choices will make you cringe as you laugh out loud
She’ll be at the festival on August 16 at 1:00 pm. Get your tickets now on our website at the link in bio.

07/18/2025

Two distinct new voices are showcased in this event moderated by Megan Cole. Featuring author and playwright Deirdre Simon Dore’s debut novel, A Reluctant Mother, praised for its inventive storytelling, is a finalist for the 2025 Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Ardra Shephard was a typical 20-something until she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her first book, Fallosophy: My Trip Through Life with MS, is a story of possibility, reinvention and the inevitability of uncertainty.

Be part of this festival favourite event on August 17 at 2:30pm. Tickets are available now at the link in bio.

07/16/2025

Join authors Bruce McIvor and David A. Robertson to discuss Indigenous rights and the meaningful ways we can work together to advance reconciliation. This event will be moderated by author Daniel Heath Justice, Professor of Critical Indigenous Studies and English at the University of British Columbia.

More about the authors:

Bruce McIvor is the founder and senior partner at First Peoples Law LLP and an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law. His newest book is Indigenous Rights in One Minute: What You Need to Know to Talk Reconciliation. He is a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation.

David Robertson is a two-time winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award. He has received several other accolades for his work as a writer for children and adults, including being named Globe and Mail Children’s Storyteller of the Year in 2021. He is a member of the Norway House Cree Nation. His latest book is 52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing.

Be a part of the conversation on August 15 at 4pm. Buy your festival tickets on our website at the link in our bio.

.mcivor

07/14/2025

Are you an aspiring or seasoned writer looking to sharpen your skills or learn how to write strong characters that will connect with your readers? Join author and National Magazine Award Gold Medal for Fiction winner, Caroline Adderson, for our fiction workshop kicking off on Saturday, August 16, from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. 📖

In this workshop you’ll have the chance to:

📚 Explore techniques to deepen characterization.

📚 Examine the hidden motivations of your fictional creations and trace their character arcs.

📚 Learn to write effective dialogue that reads naturally.

Tickets for this workshop are $25, with limited space available. So act fast! Come prepared to write, read, and share. For full details and to secure your spot, visit our website at the link in our bio today.

07/11/2025

A passionate activist and thinker bringing attention to issues facing Indigenous communities, especially those of Bedouin Palestinian heritage, Amal Elsana Alh’jooj will present her debut memoir, Hope Is a Woman’s Name at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts this August.

She is a founder of several NGOs, including the Arab-Jewish Centre for Equality, Economic Empowerment and Cooperation, and the recipient of many international prizes.

She’ll speak at the festival on August 17 at 1:00pm. Tickets are available on our website, at our link in bio.

.elsana.alhjooj

07/09/2025

Engaging and honest, Ryan McMahon will be closing out this year’s festival with his unique blend of folk and rock. Ryan’s music is written from the heart and sung from the soul. While firmly rooted in folk and roots, the album also explores hints of rock and Americana, creating a dynamic range to his music that makes each song an individual journey.

Don’t miss out on this electric event happening on August 17 at 7:30pm. Grab your tickets while they’re still hot now on our website at the link in our bio.

Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts

08/22/2025

07/30/2025

07/28/2025

07/25/2025

07/23/2025

07/21/2025

07/18/2025

07/16/2025

07/14/2025

07/11/2025

07/09/2025

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category