She sits on the board of the Canadian Association of Literary Festivals and organizing committee for The Global Association of Literary Festivals.

She enjoys crocheting and origami, and is a compulsive baker.

Chelsee is a second generation Canadian and grew up in Calgary. She also studied child development, worked as a preschool educator, and spent four summers mentoring young feminists at the original Girls Rock Camp in Portland.

Leena is a cinephile and devours the fantasy and sci-fi genre in both books and movies.

Joyce enjoys books, bike rides, travelling, and basically anything else that could be described as magical.

She comes to the Vancouver Writers Fest as a “born again” reader of fiction, particularly literature in translation from Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. Outside of work, her interests include eating charcuterie, watching boxing and making some of the best unintentionally lopsided ceramics in the city.

When not working on her behemoth of a fantasy novel, she enjoys walking her dog, travelling, and the occasional theatre show. She reads a lot and consumes stories other ways too—her favourite genres are sci fi/fantasy, mystery, and historical drama. She loves a proper cup of tea, and she tries to avoid using semicolons whenever possible.

Ashleigh has always had an insatiable appetite for storytelling and is often working through numerous books at once. When not reading she can be found at art galleries, movie theatres, concert halls or dive bars with live shows.

Benjamin is passionate about storytelling, Queer studies, ecofeminism and science fiction. They enjoy spending their free time walking in nature, carrying their own kind of “Essentials” in their backpack; a book, a water bottle, coffee, and an almond croissant.

Mikaela’s words have appeared in Room Magazine and Poetry Is Dead Magazine, and she was shortlisted for Geist’s 2018 Erasure Poetry Contest. An appreciator of cinema, literary and genre fiction, graphic forms, and theatre, she has volunteered with various arts non-profits in Vancouver.

As a lifetime admirer of the arts, Kirith enjoys reading, painting and watching films in her free time. Kirith is excited to work with the amazing volunteers who make the Writers Fest possible.

If you see her at a festival, you know that you are in the right place and that the event will be amazing.

She has conceived and executed marketing campaigns for award-winning authors, publishers and charities across North America and writes regularly for publications on both sides of the Atlantic. Zoe is former Co-Chair and Director of The KidSafe Project and a current Director of WISH Drop-In Centre Society. When she is not immersed in books, Zoe travels, walks, and seeks out new varieties of pungent cheese.

During a six-year stint in Japan, Ariel worked extensively with award-winning culture magazine Kyoto Journal as a consultant and designer, helping the team navigate shifting publishing landscapes. She has also worked as a workshop facilitator, teaching authors how to build up their online presence, community manager and marketer for an independent self-publishing community and is currently also the Communications Manager at ZG Stories.

Is it his love for fiction, or the great crew and volunteers he gets to work with? All we know is that he calls the Writers Fest his family.

He also practiced law at a large Vancouver firm, specializing in litigation, media, and employment law. He served as president of Vancouver’s second largest youth soccer club and still referees on the weekends. He has two children – a daughter who has just graduated from UVic in gender studies and a son at McGill majoring in international development and playing on the varsity soccer team. Dan’s wife is a dental hygienist from Dublin, Ireland.

She has served as a trustee and chair on the West Vancouver Library Board, and she is currently on the board of Equitas, an international centre for human rights education. Jillian continues to undertake periodic diplomatic assignments, most recently heading election observation missions in Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans. A recent grandmother, she finds joy in helping to instill a love of reading in the next generation.

Benita is an avid reader and has been a member of the Binding Book Club since it was founded in 1989.  She has kept a list of all the books read over the years. Supporting local books stores in Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria and Revelstoke is important to her. Benita recently joined the board of Coast Mental Health and also volunteers with the Chartered Professional Accountants of BC. 

From 2014 to 2020 she was on the executive of the Estate Planning Council of Vancouver and also a KPMG Canada Board Director. 

As a Director of the BC Library Association Board she participated in strategic planning and conference organization. Along with her book club, she brought the Read for the Cure cancer fundraiser to Vancouver in 2013 and has been instrumental in planning and coordinating the event for 10 years. Her passion for reading and literature began at an early age. She has been an avid supporter of the Vancouver International Writers’ Festival for many years, maintaining a membership and attending as many events as possible. She belongs to two book clubs that have both been together for more than 20 years. 

A long-term attendee and volunteer of VWF, she is a strong believer in the transformative power of books and ideas as the foundation for an empathic and just society. As a Certified Management Accountant, Deepthi specializing in strategy, risk, performance, and financial management and holds a Chartered Professional Accountant designation. She brings to the table over three decades of senior management consulting experience supporting executive teams primarily in the financial services industry. In addition to literary pursuits, she loves travelling and photography.

She was a board member on the International Coach Federation’s San Francisco Bay Area, and Vancouver Chapter over the past 5+ years. Sanika celebrates diverse cultures and inclusive voices, and has led Women and South Asian affinity groups in corporate settings. Sanika believes in the transformative power of books and the positive impact of words in people’s lives. A proud first-generation Indian-born Canadian, she is a newly published author in the LOVE NOTES From the Soul: Stories of Transformation and Hope anthology. Born and raised near Mumbai, India, Sanika writes stories inspired by her global immigration experience. After living in both Chicago, Illinois, and San Francisco, California, Sanika now resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband.

Avalon has also served as a director of the Kerrisdale Community Centre Society. Avalon holds a Bachelor of Arts from UBC in English Literature. She is also a graduate of SFU’s the Writers’ Studio program and a co-founder of the Varietal, an online platform celebrating the writing of local, emerging authors. An avid reader, she has appeared on the Varietal’s YouTube channel to talk about books, authors, and her deep love for gothic literature.

She’s been in charge of implementing diversity and inclusion practices at the CBC, and takes pride in the innovative programming she’s developed over the years. Alison is also a tremendous reader, former Festival fanatic, and served an extremely brief term as Board Chair of the VWF before her move to Toronto. She’s glad to be back, and to have the opportunity to rejoin the Board where she’s eager to learn what’s changed. 

—where she led services for children and teens, branch-based neighbourhood services, accessible services, and facilities development projects. She believes that public libraries are champions for equity, intellectual freedom, and access and that they connect people with books, ideas, and each other. She is pleased to be on the Board of the Vancouver Writers Fest with its aligned Vision of “A world in which the transformative power of books and ideas is the foundation of an empathetic, inspired and just society.”

Julie holds a Master of Library Science from the University of British Columbia. She is committed to lifelong learning and is excited about opportunities to promote diverse voices including those of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations and Urban Indigenous Peoples.

In this role, she has gained experience in researching and writing grant proposals, developing a pipeline of funding prospects, and maintaining a portfolio of existing funders. She has also served as a board member for Pomme d’Api, a French immersion preschool in Vancouver. Anna is deeply committed to pursuing a more just, equitable, and inclusive society and firmly believes in the power of language and storytelling to impact and change the world around us. In her free time, she writes poetry, tries to make a dent in her long list of “to-read” books, and enjoys playing with her children and visiting their local branch of the VPL library.

Additionally, he’s served as Chair of the Social Planning Advisory Committee as well as the Advisory Planning Commission for North Vancouver, building strong working relationships with internal and external partners, including municipal staff, elected officials, committee members, non-profit organizations, and the public. He’s he co-founder of a workers cooperative that conducts demographic research, supports organizational change, and offers workshops to create an environment where differences are valued through a culture of care. This has included facilitating workshops for the City of Vancouver regarding anti-oppression, decolonization, disability justice, equity in organizational operations, unconscious bias. 

Through leading marketing strategy and messaging for clients such as Google Cloud, SAP, Atlassian, and Microsoft, she is continuously learning about new technologies that are changing our world. She believes human creativity is the foundation of innovation and that connecting people to books and ideas has the power to shape our world. As a lifelong reader, Sonia is particularly passionate about building opportunities to extend the transformative power of books to children and underserved communities.