Tickets for the Whistler Writers Festival (WWF) go on sale beginning Aug. 21 as the event returns to a predominantly in-person format for the first time since 2020. Workshops and select readings will still be offered online.
A total of 19 reading events and 10 workshops are on tap in 2023, featuring favourites like the "Thrills and Chills: Mystery and Crime Writers Panel," the "Literary Cabaret, Word of Mouth: Telling our Stories in the Oral Tradition," and the beloved poetry, writers of fiction, and writers of non-fiction panels. Also returning is Sunday Booktalk & Breakfast, while children can enjoy a story session called Picture This.
"Fire Weather: In Conversation with John Vaillant" headlines an array of topical readings at this year's festival. Leslie Anthony is slated to moderate a conversation with Vaillant about his latest book, Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast, which recounts the 2016 Fort McMurray fire. In addition, the poetry panel will do a deep dive into eco-poetry, showing readers the work that can be done to change humanity's relationship with Earth. Expect popular and brand-new workshops exploring memoir, writing non-fiction, plotting, and more.
“The beautiful thing about this year’s festival is how we’re bringing together incredibly topical non-fiction alongside some of the most exciting literary and commercial fiction of 2023,” says Rebecca Wood Barrett, festival artistic director, in a press release. “We’re not stopping there either. We have two comedy performances, a Sunday breakfast with Mona Awad, Kevin Chong, Alicia Elliott, and Rowan Jetté Knox, and we’ve added a discussion about cultural touchstones like BookTok, Hollywood deals, and AI. This year’s festival is incredibly expansive when it comes to topics, but it all still comes back to the importance of community and creativity.
Saturday night will be eventful, featuring "Saturday Night Special: A Killer Night of Comedy, Murder and Mayhem" with Brent Butt. Butt will read from his thriller novel, Huge, and share the stage with thriller-themed improv from Whistler’s own Laugh out LIVE! comedy troupe. Tickets to this event include appetizers, beverages and a copy of Huge.
On Oct. 14, Esi Edugyan (Washington Black, Out of the Sun: Art, Race and the Future, We Are Bone and Earth, Dreaming of Elsewhere, and Half-Blood Blues) sits down with author Jasmine Sealy to discuss Edugyan’s body of work and her latest role as the chair of judges for the Booker Prize.
“Community has always been such an important part of the festival,” adds Wood Barrett. “There is our Sea to Sky community, our audience, our literary and creative community, and the community that joins us online from all over the world. We want to provide a festival that meets people where they’re at, and this year we’re really going to be able to do that with how we’ve organized and offered the events.”
On Monday, Oct. 19 at 8 p.m., there will be an extra festival day and special encore performance of Writer’s Block Party with Laugh Out LIVE!
Early-bird pricing is available for the first time. Tickets are 15 per cent off until Sept. 15 and 10 per cent off until Oct. 1. For more information, visit the WWF website.
