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.
Welcome to our Third Mad Hatter’s Literary Tea Party
Featuring M.A.C. Farrant, Charles Demers, and Shaena Lambert
With Adam Olsen as emcee
Saturday, May 30 at 2:00pm
Mary Winspear Centre, Sidney, BC
Tickets at Tanners Books or on eventbrite.ca
M.A.C. Farrant
M.A.C. (Marion) Farrant has been writing and publishing in Canada since the 1980s: 20 works of fiction, non-fiction and memoir; two produced plays, countless book reviews for the Vancouver Sun and Toronto Globe & Mail; many anthology contributions, and over a dozen chapbooks.
Her books have been a finalist for many awards, among them the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, the Ethel Wilson fiction prize, two Jessie Richardson theatre awards, The Van City Book Prize, the National Magazine Awards, the ReLit Award, the Gemini Awards for the Bravo short film adaptation of her story, Rob’s Guns & Ammo, and the Victoria Book Prize (three times), the last of which she won in 2014 for her collection of miniature fiction, The World Afloat.
Her 2021 non-fiction book, One Good Thing, was a BC Bestseller, and in February, 2026, her latest book, Seventy-Two Seasons. entered the BC Bestseller list at #5 and has remained there for several weeks now.
Farrant is well-known for her acerbic wit and laugh-out-loud humour. BC Bookworld has called her “Canada’s most ascerbic and intelligent humourist”. Bill Richardson has called her “a master of the Zen-like art of delivering weight in a way that is featherlight”, further noting that she’s “the most accomplished and unapologetic miniaturist in Canadian letters.”
Charles Demers
Charles “Charlie” Demers is a Juno-nominated stand-up comedian, BC Book Prize-nominated author, political speechwriter & communications consultant, and co-star of two Emmy-winning Netflix animated series, Beat Bugs and The Last Kids on Earth.
One of the stars of CBC Radio’s long-running comedy smash-hit The Debaters, he has also written jokes & speeches for leaders in politics, academia, & organized labour. He provides the voice of ‘Poutine’ on Will Arnett’s patriotic superhero send-up Super Team Canada on Crave.
His most recent book is The Eh Team: A Celebration of Canadianisms from Elbows Up to Poutine.
Shaena Lambert
Shaena Lambert is the author of four works of fiction: Petra, Oh, My Darling, Radiance and The Falling Woman. Her essay on her writing apprenticeship, “Monkey Business,” was recently featured in Off the Record (Bibliosasis): six Canadian women writers exploring how they became fiction writers.
Petra won the 2021 Ethel Wilson Award from the BC and Yukon Book Prize and was a CBC best book of the year. She’s been a finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, the Ethel Wilson Award, the Evergreen Award, the Danuta Gleed Award and the Frank O’Connor Award for the Short Story.
Her stories have been anthologized four times in Best Canadian Stories, as well as in the Journey Prize Anthology, and published in The Walrus, Zoetrope All Story, Ploughshares, Toronto Life and other magazines. She’s at work on a new novel.
Adam Olsen – emcee
Adam Olsen (SȾHENEP) was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Saanich North and the Islands and member of the B.C. Green Caucus in 2017 and re-elected in 2020.
Adam has a deep love and respect for his home in the W̱SÁNEĆ territory. As an advocate and facilitator, he is committed to good relationships and improving public participation to strengthen all aspects of the community.
His 16-year career in elected public service began when he was elected Councillor in the District of Central Saanich (2008, 2011). Prior to that Adam worked for two decades in the service and communications sectors where he gained valuable experience in building relationships, connecting people, problems, ideas and solutions.
Born in Victoria, BC, Adam has lived, worked and played his entire life on the Saanich Peninsula. He is a member of Tsartlip First Nation (W̱JOȽEȽP), where he and his wife, Emily, are raising their two children, Silas and Ella.
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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.