At the orientation you can meet other volunteers, help yourself to drinks and snacks, browse for some free books and magazines, and enter a draw for a prize basket with local goods and gift certificates for Sunshine Coast businesses. Folks are welcome to stay for the whole two hours, or just ten minutes!

• Wednesday, May 27 | 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

LOCATION: Rockwood Lodge Living Room and Dining Room, Rockwood Centre, Sechelt.

Attending a volunteer orientation meeting is not mandatory if you want to volunteer this year, but if you can come, please drop by. You are also welcome to fill out the volunteer contact form on our website.

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Funded in part by a generous Responsive Community Grant from the Sunshine Coast Foundation, the program aims to support a new generation of storytellers on the Sunshine Coast by offering students in-depth, week-long workshops with professional writers that will inspire them and help develop their skills and storytelling/writing abilities.

Kathleen Gros, a cartoonist and graphic novelist from Vancouver, was selected as the 2026 CABC secondary writer-in-residence. Gros travelled between Chatelech Secondary and Elphinstone Secondary from February 23-27 to deliver workshops on making zines (short magazines), publishing graphic novels and creating comics. She worked with approximately 50 creative writing, art and English students at each high school.

Gros’s most recent graphic novels include Carousel Summer, Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort Of), and Jo: An Adaptation of Little Women (Sort Of). She graduated with a BFA in Illustration from Emily Carr University of Art and Design and currently teaches students of all ages at Place des Arts in Coquitlam, and teen students at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

The CABC elementary writer-in-residence is Tanya Lloyd Kyi, who is excited to be working with grade 5, 6 and 7 students at Roberts Creek Elementary during the week of April 20-24.

Tanya Lloyd Kyi is the author of more than 30 books for children and young adults and is an instructor at the UBC School of Creative Writing. Her most recent titles include The City of Lost Cats, Feeling Your Feelings, What Will I Discover; Our Green City, Better Connected (written with her daughter, Julia Kyi); and The Best Way to Get Your Way.

The Roberts Creek Elementary Writer-in-Residence program will culminate with a celebratory public event featuring Kyi and some of the student participants reading from their work. The event will take place on Friday, April 24 at 1:30 pm at the Roberts Creek Legacy Garden (or, in the case of inclement weather, the Roberts Creek Elementary School Library).

CABC is a joint initiative of School District 46—Sunshine Coast and the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts that brings writers into Sunshine Coast classrooms to talk about books and writing and encourage students to express themselves through both the written and spoken word. Each year CABC also publishes Coastal Voices, an annual anthology of student writing.

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The deadline to submit to the 16th edition of Coastal Voices is almost here!

Coastal Voices is an anthology of writing by Sunshine Coast students which is published annually by Celebration of Authors, Books and Community (CABC), a joint initiative of School District 46 – Sunshine Coast and the Festival of the Written Arts that was formed to promote literacy and to encourage youth to express themselves through both the written and spoken word.

Students in Kindergarten to grade 12 have until Friday, March 13 to submit up to three poems, stories, personal narratives or short essays with a maximum length of 500 words. Volunteer adjudicators usually receive between 700-800 submissions each year, which they then have to whittle down to 150-200 pieces for the anthology.

The anthology’s professional design is possible thanks to Edmund Arceo, the publisher and founder of Zoom magazine. Arceo has been involved with Coastal Voices since its beginning sixteen years ago, and he volunteers his time and expertise each year to produce a beautiful volume that honours and celebrates its contributors.

For more information about submitting to Coastal Voices, students can talk to their teachers, or email project coordinator John Lussier at jl******@*****bc.ca.

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Special thanks to our generous auction donors…

Arts Club Theatre, BC Ferries, Canadian Tire (Sechelt), Coast Academy of Dance, Fred’s Sechelt, Gigi Hoeller Art, Painted Boat Resort Spa & Marina, Rockwater Secret Cove Resort, Sechelt Inn, and Talaysay Tours.

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Tickets are still on sale! Don’t miss your chance to hear from others in our incredible lineup of writers this year. You can buy tickets by calling 604-885-9631 or 1-800-565-9631 (toll-free), visiting our office in person (5511 Shorncliffe Avenue in Sechelt), or online via Tickit. You can find more information about the Festival and the remaining events by perusing the 2025 Festival Program.

We have three sold out shows (Event #1, Event #14, and Event #15), but we still have tickets available for all other regular events.

It’s raining, it’s pouring!

This weekend is going to be a rainy one! Come prepared with jackets and umbrellas. The Pavilion is an open-air site, so even though it is covered – it can still get chilly during the events.

Hungry during your event?

We are pleased to announce the return of the Festival Café! We will have fresh and local flexitarian options including a gluten-free/vegan soup, an assortment of sandwiches, and a variety of sweets. Located near the book tent, the Café will be open daily from 8:30 am – 6:30 pm.

Once you’ve got your lunch, come check out the Beverage Booth! Located between Rockwood Lodge and the Book Tent, there are a variety of non-alcoholic and alcoholic refreshments for sale. This year, you can find Sunshine Coast beer from Persephone Brewing and local cider from Banditry Cider.

Locally owned and operated, Strait Coffee will also be serving their delicious coffee and tea on site from Friday-Sunday! Their both will be located in front of Rockwood Lodge

Limited Parking on Saturday

If you are coming to the festival on Saturday morning or early afternoon (on August 16), please leave lots of time to find parking, or carpool, or travel by public transit. The Sechelt Farmer’s and Artisan Market is set up at the end of Cowrie Street until 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and it is very busy!

Shorncliffe Avenue will still be open for drop-offs/pick-ups, and we do have some limited parking for attendees with disabilities.

The post The 2025 Festival has begun! appeared first on Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts.

Stay for the whole two hours, or just ten minutes! While you’re here you can meet other volunteers, help yourself to tea and coffee, browse for some free books and magazines, and enter a draw for a prize basket with local goods and gift certificates for Sunshine Coast businesses.

• Wednesday, April 16 | 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
• Friday, May 23 | 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

LOCATION: Both drop-in meetings will be held in the Rockwood Lodge Living Room and Dining Room, Rockwood Centre, Sechelt.

If you’re interested in being a TICKET-TAKER, you will be able to speak with Front of House Manager Pat Dalgleish on both April 16 and May 23. Would you like to be one of our CAFÉ VOLUNTEERS this year? Festival Café Manager Lynn Grossutti will also be on hand to talk about this role and how you can help with food prep and packaging. And we may be lucky to have additional visits from other members of our production team!

Attending a volunteer orientation meeting is not mandatory if you want to volunteer in 2025, but we would love to see you if you can make it. You can also fill out the volunteer contact form on our website.

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Calling all young authors! The deadline to submit to the 15th anniversary edition of Coastal Voices, an adjudicated anthology of writing by School District 46 students, is rapidly approaching.

Students in Kindergarten to grade 12 have until Friday, March 14 to submit up to three poems, stories, personal narratives or short essays with a maximum length of 500 words. Submissions will be sent to a team of volunteer adjudicators from the community, who have the difficult task of choosing a selection of the best writing for publication. For the sake of fairness and impartiality, names and identifying schools are removed from each submission—the only information the adjudicators have when they make their decisions is the approximate age (grade) of the authors.

The adjudicators usually receive between 700-800 submissions each year, which then have to be whittled down to 150-200 pieces for the anthology.

“Each of these pieces of art represents what these gifted young people are thinking and feeling,” says John Lussier, a retired educator and the anthology’s coordinator. “They have created their own magic and then have been brave enough to share it with the world.”

Another important part of the anthology is its professional design, created by Edmund Arceo of Zoom Magazine. Arceo has been involved with Coastal Voices since its inception, and he volunteers his time and expertise each year to produce a beautiful volume that honours and celebrates its contributors.

Coastal Voices is published annually by Celebration of Authors, Books and Community (CABC), a joint initiative of School District 46 – Sunshine Coast and the Festival of the Written Arts that was formed to promote literacy and to encourage youth to express themselves through both the written and spoken word.

For more information about submitting to Coastal Voices, students can talk to their teachers, or email John Lussier at jl******@*****bc.ca.

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For more information, please view or download the full job description below. Deadline for applications is March 28, 2025.

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We send our heartfelt condolences to Len’s family, especially his daughters Kathy and Karen, and his many friends. A celebration of Len’s life will take place at 11:30 a.m. on February 19, 2025 at St. Hilda’s By The Sea Anglican Church. Please see Len’s obituary in the Coast Reporter for more details, and visit our Legacy of Literacy Donor Wall to read more about Len and the Lynn Pakulak Endowment he founded.

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