BOOKED FERNIE WRITERS SERIES
The Booked! Fernie Writers Series is a favourite with book lovers. These free 19 + events feature some of Canada’ s best and brightest literary talents, interviewed by local Fernie author Angie Abdou. The evening begins at 7pm with a cash bar followed by an engaging discussion, readings, and Q & A with the visiting author. Due to popularity, advance registration on the library website is required to ensure a spot!
The 2025-2026 season begins on Thursday, November 13, with Iona Wishaw. Born in nearby Kimberley, Wishaw has lived in the US, Mexico, and Central America, as well as several locations in Canada. She studied at Antioch college, UBC, and Simon Fraser University, going on to a prestigious teaching career which led to a position of Principal in Vancouver. She received the Woman of Distinction in Education by the YWCA in 2010 and a Canada’ s Outstanding Principals award in 2012.
A lifelong writer, she has published short fiction, poetry, poetry translation, and one children’ s book. Wishaw’ s latest project is the Lane Winslow series, plot-driven psychological crime dramas interweaving humour and romance in wartime England. The latest installation, A Season for Spies, is a prequel set during the London Blitz of WWI.
While not writing, Wishaw enjoys her many hobbies including singing, dancing, painting, reading and gardening and looks forward to her next rambling holiday in England. She lives in Vancouver with her artist husband, Terry Miller. ionawishaw. ca.
On December 4, the series continues with Métis author, Elinor Florence. Originally from the prairies of
Saskatchewan, she now lives in Invermere in the Columbia Valley. As a trained journalist she put her rural roots to good use, working in all four Western Canadian provinces as a farm reporter. Later, she wrote from home for Reader’ s Digest for eight years. After moving to the Rocky Mountains, she purchased the Columbia Valley Pioneer and turned it into an award-winning local newspaper.
Her first novel, Birds Eye View, published in 2014, went on to be a Canadian Bestseller, and her second novel, Wildwood, was named by Kobo as‘ One of the Top 100 Most Popular Canadian Novels of All Time.’ Her latest novel, Finding Flora, published earlier this year, describes the adventures of a young Scottish woman who leaps from a moving train in 1905 to escape her abusive husband and claims her own homestead on the Alberta prairie. elinorflorence. com
The series continues with Deborah Willis on March 5, Anosh Irani on April 16, and Caroline Adderson on May 7.
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