The Sidney and Peninsula Literary Society celebrates the written word. We showcase established and emerging authors and provide regular opportunities for readers and writers to connect. We organize readings throughout the year and sponsor a biennial literary festival. Anyone who enjoys the written word is invited to become a member of the Society.
Iona Whishaw is returning to Sidney!
Saturday, May 10, 2025 at 4:00 pm
At the SHOAL Centre
10030 Resthaven Dr, Sidney
TouchWood Editions and The Sidney and Peninsula Literary Society invite you to an intimate afternoon with Iona Whishaw, author of The Lane Winslow Mystery series, as we celebrate the launch of the twelfth book in the series: The Cost of a Hostage.
About Iona Whishaw
Iona Whishaw has been a youth worker, social worker, teacher and an award winning High School Principal, who continued with her writing throughout her working life. Receiving her Masters in Creative writing from UBC, Iona has published short fiction, poetry, poetry translation and one children’s book, Henry and the Cow Problem. The Lane Winslow mystery series is her first foray into adult fiction.
Iona was born in Kimberley BC, but grew up in a number of different places, including a small community on Kootenay Lake, as well as Mexico and Central America, and the US because of her father’s geological work. She took a degree in history and education from Antioch College, and subsequent degrees in Writing at UBC and pedagogy at Simon Fraser University. Her own writing output took a brief back seat during her teaching career, but she shared her passion for writing by nurturing a love of writing in the students in English, Creative Writing, and Spanish classes. During the course of her career as a Principal in Vancouver she was awarded the Woman of Distinction in Education by the YWCA in 2010 and a Canada’s Outstanding Principals award in 2012.
Her hobbies have included dance, painting, reading, and gardening. She currently is a vocalist for a small Balkan dance band in Vancouver, and is patiently waiting for her next opportunity to engage in her current pash, long distance, cross country rambling in England.
She is married, has one son and two grandsons, and lives in Vancouver with her artist husband, Terry Miller.
Tickets are $5 and are available at Tanners Books in Sidney and at the door.
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Our festival is supported by granting agencies, local businesses, other arts organizations and individual donors. A special thanks to Tanner’s Books, for their continued support and generous sponsorship. Thanks also to our dedicated team of volunteers without whom we couldn’t hold the festival.
We respectfully acknowledge that the Sidney LitFest and our other events are held on the ancestral, traditional and unceded territories of the SET,TINES – WSÁNEĆ people.