Just released from SCWES President, Cindy, "Feebee's Magical Figure Skating Tea," illustrated by SCWES artist member, Serena J. Trinder (whisperland.com), in both paperback and Kindle versions 🙂 Suitable for tweens. Available from her directly, or on amazon.ca.

This is a story about Feebee who’s recently moved to Vancouver from the “north”—a small town to big city transition. Through figure skating lessons, she quickly makes friends with her fellow skating students, who she finds out are also her classmates. Skating is in her family with her mother, grandmother and great grandmother also having skated and they pay homage to famous Canadian figure skaters in a show.

The book is dedicated to the figure skaters who were in the plane crash in January 2025 in Washington, DC. The figure skating world is a small global community and the storyline includes the tragedy insofar as some of the elite skaters in Feebee’s skating club knew the victims of the crash. Feebee has much to deal with economically, socially, educationally, and emotionally with the loss of her father, and once again facing her mortality with the tragedy. She's inspired to create skating choreography for the annual Appreciation Tea that the club does annually for their parents, grandparents, guardians and other important people in their lives.

Her coach, Coach Sasha, is open to her ideas and the performance becomes magical when all the skaters are involved with creating a moving and magical tribute to those skaters and coaches who lost their lives, especially as she’s found a way to reach out to the community of aerialists who also perform with them. Feebee discovers the true meaning of her passion of skating.

Congratulations to SCWES Member Marion Crook for her new book, Bloomsbury to Barkerville: The Life of Florence Wilson, appearing on the BC Bestseller list. She will be presenting her book at our 5th Annual Art & Words Festival (August 21-23).

Any book is a miracle

by Cathalynn Labonté-Smith

Check out Cathalynn's article on book contests in the British Columbia Review: https://thebcreview.ca/2026/01/30/2810-labonte-smith-essay-awards/

A huge Coastal thank you to the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse for gifting SCWES their venue and front of house staff for our Book Awards for BC Authors Ceremony and readings on Saturday, August 22nd. 

A huge thank you to Vanessa Tomado of The Painted Lady Art Supplies and Framing for a significant donation to our Growing Writers on the Coast bursary fund for high-school grads. You're awesome! 

Huge thank you to SuperValu Gibsons for awarding SCWES with a grant! We will use the funds for the next production of our literary quarterly Not An Island. 

Siobhan Smith (right) of the District of Sechelt was the winner of the Art & Words quilt raffle with patches contributed by members of the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society, and sewn by Cecile Labonte-Smith of Cecile's Quilts, Powell River.

A huge thank you to the Sunshine Coast Credit Union for being a major sponsor of the SCWES's 4th Annual Art & Words Festival!