WIBA 2026 Finalists Announced
The evaluating committee assessed the longlisted titles and is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2026 Whistler Independent Book Awards.
Fiction:
Jalyn Renae Fiske for Side Quest: Stories
Jennifer Jacoby-Smith for A Fondness for the Reckless: A Ten Past Midnight Story
Tracy Kasaboski for The Birdman of Wylie Road
Non-fiction:
Hélèna Katz for Dispatches from Canada’s North
Bob Joseph for 21 Things You Need to Know About Indigenous Self-Government: A Conversation About Dismantling the Indian Act
Rose LeMay for Ally is a Verb: A Guide to Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
Children’s:
Paul Breau for Surviving Summer Camp
Anna McCarthy for Giraffe in a Scarf ; illustrations by Emma Latham
J. Taylor for The After
Poetry:
Robyn Marie Butt for The Pharaoh of Good and Ill
Nicole Dalcourt for What Remains
Jen Selk for Landmarks and Beacons
Winners will be announced during the Whistler Writers Festival, November 5 – 8, 2026.
Presented by
The Writers’ Union of Canada
The Writers’ Union of Canada is the national organization of professionally published book authors. Now over 2,800 members strong, the Union was founded in 1973 to work with governments, publishers, booksellers, and readers to improve the conditions of Canadian writers.
AWARDS PARTNER
The Whistler Writing Society was founded in 2001 and became a non-profit organization in 2005. Our group includes over 150 members living in the Sea to Sky corridor. From its inception, the group has promoted the literary arts, provided a forum for local writers to develop their craft within the community, and sponsored events such as the Whistler Writers Festival, the Whistler Writer in Residence Program, and the Author in Schools Program.