We receive numerous queries every year from writers who are interested in participating at the annual festival. The following guidelines answer the most frequently asked questions. Please familiarize yourself with the festival, the format and its history by referring to the rest of this website.
- The Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts (SCFWA) takes place during the third weekend of August and features Canadian writers only.
- As this festival is by invitation only, there is no application process, although we accept expressions of interest from writers and publishers. Due to the sheer volume of queries we receive we cannot guarantee a response to every email.
- Our festival events, with a few exceptions, feature just one writer at a time. Each writer is given one hour to read, discuss their work and answer questions from the audience.
- Writers must have the confidence and energy to hold the attention of the audience for an hour.
- All festival events take place in the 400-seat Festival Pavilion.
- We typically can only invite 20-25 writers each year. While we seek opportunities to present emerging writers, we must also consider a writer’s ability to attract an audience given the size of our venue and our reliance on ticket sale revenue.
- At this time, the SCFWA does not program writers with only self-published books.
- The SCFWA is programmed with reference to a variety of criteria including gender, age, cultural diversity, regional representation and genre. We will consider authors with traditionally published books that have been published recently (generally within a year).
- The process of programming begins in September of each year and is completed by the end of February. Tickets for the August festival go on sale at the end of May or early June.
- Please note we cannot take responsibility for the return of unsolicited books and manuscripts.
Marisa Alps
Artistic and Executive Director
Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts
E: marisa(at)writersfestival.ca
T: 604-885-9631 or 1-800-565-9631