That’s a wrap! We can’t believe it’s over 🥹Thank you to every one who attended the 44th annual Sunshine Coast Festival for the Written Arts! ♥️ The festival would not be what it is without your sincerest dedication in showing up, rain or shine, to support every author and artist. 📸 Ken McCann

The fun has officially started! We hope you are dressed for the weather and are reading for three days of immersion in the best of BC arts and culture on the Sunshine Coast. ☀️📚

In his coming-of-age debut novel Black Cherokee, author Antonio Michael Downing introduces Ophelia Blue Rivers—“half Black, half Cherokee, and all mixed up”—a young woman searching for belonging in a landscape fractured by generations of social and racial divides.

Prepare to be inspired by the emerging voices redefining Canadian literature. 📚 Our New Voices authors this year offer powerful portraits of youth navigating upheaval and longing. Wiley and Iryn join the 44th Sunshine Coast Festival of Written Arts on August 16 at 11:30 a.m.

Individually, BTU—Barney Bentall, Tom Taylor, and Shari Ulrich—are accomplished, acclaimed award-winning musicians. 🎶 Together, they become a powerhouse trio of talent whose music melds folk, roots and acoustic singer songwriter traditions into something warm, intimate and deeply human.

Interested in trying out a bit of everything? This itinerary features a variety of conversations to help you explore the rich range of voices, stories, and perspectives across the festival for the best weekend in town.

We can’t wait to host you at the 2026 Sunshine Festival of the Written Arts, Monique! It’s going to be an outstanding time to celebrate the uplifting stories, vignettes, and reflections in Sharing the Light to inspire gratitude, love, joy, and hope in navigating life in a changing world.

Immerse yourself in an itinerary of literary excellence, from gritty noir and true life stories to exquisite poetry that speaks to our times. We’ve planned the perfect weekend to discover new-to-you writers from across Canada.

Sharpen your pencils and join crime writer Sam Wiebe for a workshop on dialogue at the Rockwood Lodge Art Space. 📖 💬The workshop fee is $25.00. Be sure to register quickly, as space is limited!

Fiction lovers are in for a real treat on the Sunshine Coast this summer! ☀️📚 We have so many wonderful authors presenting their unforgettable works (including an inaugural award show ✨) that you really won’t want to miss. Book this itinerary before the tickets for the individual shows are gone!

Enjoy complimentary coffee and tea and live music from The Soporifics (Ken Dalgleish and Boyd Norman) while you share stories, talk books and mingle with other festival goers at the Festival of the Written Arts Coffee Hour. ☕ 🍵 No registration required! Find us at the Beside the Book Tent!

Looking for a fun book event to attend? You can experience a few with us by booking this itinerary featuring Canadian trailblazers, authors, and thought leaders talking about their engaging work that will transform your perspective on people, nature, and the ever-changing world around us.

Bestselling Cree-Scottish author Monique Gray Smith returns to the Sunshine Coast with Sharing the Light, a new quietly profound collection of stories, vignettes and reflections that invites readers to cultivate gratitude, love, joy and hope while moving through a world that is both changing.

✨We are excited to announce the shortlist for the inaugural Al and Eurithe Purdy BC Award for Excellence.✨ These authors are the inaugural selection for a new annual prize for an outstanding book of fiction or non-fiction written by a BC author and traditionally published by a BC-based publisher.

Beloved comedian and author Charles Demers brings us The Eh Team: A Celebration of Canadianisms from Elbows Up to Poutine, a laugh out loud guide to the quirks and charm of our uniquely Canadian foods, expressions and turns of phrase that define who we are. 🍁

Prepare to be inspired by the emerging voices redefining Canadian literature. 📚 Our New Voices authors this year offer powerful portraits of youth navigating upheaval and longing. Wiley and Iryn join the 44th Sunshine Coast Festival of Written Arts on August 16 at 11:30 a.m. Buy your tickets now.

Georgia Toews’s novel Nobody Asked for This follows 23-year-old comedian Virginia as she navigates grief, a collapsing friendship, and a date gone wrong. A rich, darkly comic, raw portrait of early adulthood, trauma and the limits of humour as a coping mechanism.

This year’s Rockwood Lecture features a powerful voice on healing and change. ✨ Drawing on his decades of experience, Dr. Alika Lafontaine’s The Outrage Cure offers a groundbreaking exploration of how anger and betrayal deepen into outrage when we lose hope that change is possible.

In his memoir, The Road to Bard, Bard on the Beach founder Christopher Gaze recounts a life in the theatre, sharing vivid stories of acting, fundraising, leadership and community building, revealing with warmth and humour how a bold vision grew into one of Canada’s great theatre companies.

Author of Five Little Indians, Michelle Good returns with her highly anticipated second novel, Eliza Sunshine, a sweeping, intergenerational Cree family saga tracing three generations of women whose lives are shaped by colonial violence, resilience and the enduring power of story.

Two atmospheric mystery stories on PIs tackling corruption, crime and dark secrets come together in this exciting event for mystery fiends. 🫆🔎 Join Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson and Sam Wiebe in conversation with fellow author Antonio Michael Downing as they delve into their new crime novels.

Two poets attuned to nature and language examine the forest, its role in our lives and our impact on it at this not-to-be-missed event. 🗓️ Elee and bronwyn will join the 44th Sunshine Coast Festival of Written Arts on August 15 at 11:30 a.m. Buy your tickets for this event and more on our website.

Two-time Stephen Leacock Medal winner Terry Fallis returns to the 44th annual Sunshine Coast Festival for the Written Arts with The Marionette, a comic thriller featuring Fallis’s signature satirical wit. Terry joins the festival on August 14 at 8:00 p.m. Buy your tickets on our website.

Two-time Stephen Leacock Medal winner Terry Fallis returns to the 44th annual Sunshine Coast Festival for the Written Arts with The Marionette, a comic thriller featuring Fallis’s signature satirical wit. Terry joins the festival on August 14 at 8:00 p.m. Buy your tickets on our website.

Did you know our official Festival bookseller is Tale Wind Books? For the duration of the Festival from August 13-16, the team will have a fabulous pop-up shop on-site (the Book Tent). They also manage the author signings that take place after each event!

Tickets for the 44th annual Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts are on sale now! 🎟️ Buy your tickets online today on our website, or you can purchase by telephone at (604) 885-9631 or 1-800-565-9631. We can’t wait to see you! \

Named the Best Canadian Poetry Book of 2025 by CBC Books, The Idea of An Entire Life delivers an intimate examination of twenty-first-century anguish, love, queerness, and political possibility. Billy-Ray Belcourt will be joining the festival on August 14 at 3:30pm.

In Tell It to the Water, Donna Morrissey crafts a voice-driven family memoir capturing the grief that engulfs her family after her mother’s death. Donna joins the 44th Sunshine Coast Festival of Written Arts on August 14 at 6:30 p.m. Buy your tickets for this event and more on our website.

Still making your summer bucket list? 😎📚 The 44th annual Sunshine Coast Festival for the Written Arts is back from August 13-16. Bring your friends and family along and join your fellow book lovers on the Sunshine Coast!

We’re gearing up to launch the best literary festival for readers this summer! There are over 20+ events for you to explore featuring writers and artists who represent the best of BC literature—both established and exciting emerging voices. We can’t think of a better way to spend a weekend. ☀️