Join the Federation of BC Writers on April 15 at 7:00 pm PST for a Regional Spotlight featuring Writers Connect Penticton with host Meaghan Hackinen (at right) and readers Faye Arcand, Karen Barrow, Angela Douglas, LaVonne Gould and Kathryn Jenkins. 

Register here: (bcwriters.ca/events-for-writers) and a link will be sent to you. When it’s time for the event, click on the link to join the live Zoom event.

Digital Doors Open at 6:55 pm!

*This event will be recorded.

FEATURED AUTHORS

Faye Arcand describes herself as an author and creative with a twisted writer brain. Every experience, observation or reflection is fair fodder for her writing. Arcand is an award-winning short story writer in both contemporary and literary works. Her work has also appeared in publications such as Writers’ Digest and Outdoor Living. Arcand has a degree in criminology and worked in the justice system for several year. Her debut novel, a psychological domestic suspense titled Inside Out (Blue Robin Books), came out in 2024. She lives in western Canada with her family.

Karen Barrow is a Trinidad-born Canadian author. Her post-secondary studies brought her to Canada, where she eventually settled. Years later, Karen fulfilled a lifelong dream by combining a love of storytelling and a passion for travel to inspire her historical fiction novels. Her first published work, Palmyra (FriesenPress), was the winner of the Whistler Independent Book Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Guernica Prize and the Page Turner Awards. She lives in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia.

LaVonne Chantal is a writer and a bartender of pizza. Akin to the unique flavour combinations on her pizzas, she uses mental processes in her writing like distinctive ingredients to create thrilling fictional tales.

Angela Douglas is a Canadian author who lives in the Okanagan with her husband and kids. Her debut thriller, Every Fall, was published in January 2025, and her sophomore novel, The Bone Trail, will follow in June 2026, both with Rising Action Publishing. She is a member of International Thriller Writers, Crime Writers of Canada, the Federation of BC Writers, Sisters in Crime – Canada West and the Writer’s Union of Canada. When she isn’t working or hanging out with her family, she hides in her studio, writing her next book.

Kathryn Jenkins has published a number of personal essays for Okanagan Life magazine. In her spare time, she likes to write short stories (less than 1000 words) with surprising twists at the end. Her non-writing interests vary each day and include dreaming of remaining a writer.

HOST

Meaghan Hackinen is a bike-obsessed bookworm on a lifelong hunt for exceptional cycling routes, both on and off the pavement. Her cross-continental bike race memoir, Shifting Gears (NeWest Press), was published in 2023.