Sea to Sky Discovery invites four established Canadian and Indigenous authors to share the stage with local Sea to Sky Corridor writers and musicians to celebrate Canada’s sesquicentennial. Authors Joan Haggerty (The Dancehall Years), Susan Juby (The Fashion Committee), Bev Sellars (Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival) and Paul Watson (Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition) will read from their latest books, with Rebecca Wood Barrett moderating. Three winners of the Open, Youth and Indigenous categories of the Sea to Sky Discovery Writing Contest will share the limelight and read their short, award-winning entries.
Bios
Joan Haggerty was born in Vancouver, B.C. From 1962 to 1972 she lived and wrote in London, England; Formentera, Spain; and New York City. Returning to the B.C. coast, she made her home in Roberts Creek and Vancouver where she taught in the Creative Writing Dept. at UBC. The Dancehall Years was a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize this year. Her previous books are Please, Miss, Can I Play God?, Daughters of the Moon, and The Invitation which was nominated for the Governor General’s Award in 1994. She has spent her summers on Bowen Island since childhood.
Susan Juby has written six novels for teenagers. The most well-known is Alice, I Think, the first of the Alice MacLeod trilogy, which was made into a successful television series. She is also the author of a memoir, Nice Recovery, and the adult comic novel The Woefield Poetry Collective and the sequel, Republic of Dirt. Juby’s latest novel The Fashion Committee will be released in the spring of 2017. She lives in Nanaimo, BC, the setting for most of her books. (susanjuby.com)
Bev Sellars is a former Chief and Councillor of the Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation in Williams Lake, British Columbia. She is the author of They Called Me Number One, a memoir of her childhood experience in the Indian residential school system and its effects on three generations of women in her family, published in 2013 by Talon Books. The book won the 2014 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness, was shortlisted for the 2014 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction, and was a finalist for the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature. Her book, Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival, published in 2016 by Talon Books, looks at the history of Indigenous rights in Canada from an Indigenous perspective. Sellars has a degree in history from the University of Victoria and a law degree from the University of British Columbia. She is currently Chair of First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining (FNWARM) and serves as a Senior Advisor to the Indigenous Leadership Initiative (www.ilinationhood.ca).
Paul Watson covered world events and wars for nearly two decades. While at the Toronto Star he earned three National Newspaper Awards for foreign reporting and photography. Watson earned international acclaim and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of a dead American soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. In 2007, he won the Hal Boyle Award from the Overseas Press Club of America for his reporting on Afghanistan. His first book, Where War Lives, was named a Globe and Mail best book of the year. Watson’s current novel, Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition, was released in March 2017. He lives in Vancouver, BC. (http://www.arcticstarcreativity.com)
Moderator
Rebecca Wood Barrett is an award-winning filmmaker and writer living in Whistler, BC. She is a six-time finalist in the World Ski and Snowboard Festival’s 72 Hour Filmmaker Showdown. She co-directed the film Rush with Lisa Fernandez, and the ski-ballet mountain culture comedy won the People’s Choice Award. Her short films First to Go Down and Bear Essentials screened at the Whistler Film Festival. Rebecca’s short fiction has been published in Room, The Antigonish Review and Pique Newsmagazine.
