The Whistler Writing Society's mission is to connect readers to Canadian authors through access to the literary and storytelling arts, and offer craft development opportunities to writers within the Sea to Sky Corridor. The Society accomplishes this through signature programming including the Whistler Writers Festival, Authors in the Schools, Whistler Writer in Residence, Spring Reading Events, One Day Writing Retreats, and other literary community supports.
The Authors in the Schools program brings award-winning, diverse Canadian authors to 21 local elementary and secondary schools in Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, and Mount Currie to engage with students. At the beginning of the school year, and prior to the guest author presentations, the program buys class and reading sets of their current books, and gives them to the schools for study in the classroom. From 2020 - 2023, the Authors In Schools program was offered to over 600 middle and high schools in British Columbia via video recording on our YouTube channel.
The purpose of the Author in the Schools program is to inspire students about the process of writing and storytelling, through engagement with diverse Canadian authors. We hope that by offering these cultural perspectives, youth will be encouraged to write from their own lives, about ideas that matter to them.