The Penticton Writers and Publishers group was established in February 1994 in Penticton, BC, Canada. The co-founders have published several anthologies and coffee table books including, Penticton and Area Secrets and Surprises (1994), Supernatural Stories Around British Columbia (1998), Penticton, British Columbia - Silhouette of Four Seasons (1998), which won the Penticton & Wine Country Chamber and Commerce Community Service Award. The 10th Anniversary Anthology -To Hope and Beyond- was released in the Spring of 2004.

Co-founders Penny Smith and Yasmin John-Thorpe host a monthly writers meeting from September to June. They offer a myriad of advice to writers, poets and playwrights. They critique manuscripts and suggest possible markets for publishing. They teach writing workshops to emerging writers at Okanagan University College. They also give seminars to students at area schools and during the Okanagan School of the Arts summer programs. Through a legacy from former member, Clem Battye, a scholarship program was established to assist a promising young writer to attend, the group's annual Writers' Conference, now entering its' 5th Year.

The Penticton Writers Conference is an annual event aimed at writers. Each year publishers, editors, agents and producers present workshops in an effort to assist in understanding the marketplace to potential writers. The 2005 Penticton Writers Conference takes place in September 9th and 10th, 2005 in Penticton, British Columbia.

            A group of housewives got together on February 1st, 1994 and founded The Penticton Writers and Publishers. Their aim was to research, write, self-publish, market and sell an anthology, featuring stories about Penticton and area. That book, Penticton and Area Secrets & Surprises reached the booksellers on July 9th, of that year.

            By 1998 four of the original co-founders, Janelle Breese-Biagioni, Lorraine Pattison, Penny Smith and Yasmin John-Thorpe continued to hone their writing skills, self-publishing A Novel Approach to Self-Publishing (1995); Lovescape, The Romantic Novella Magazine (created by John-Thorpe and co-written with Smith ? 1997); Penticton Silhouette of Four Seasons: a coffee-table pictorial book commissioned by the City of Penticton (spring 1998), that won the group The Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award in 1999 and Supernatural Stories Around British Columbia (fall 1998).

            Exhibitions and projects completed to date : The British Columbia Book Fair (?95); Spooktacular (?95); Okanagan Writing Contest (?95, ?96 & ?97); Ryga Writing Retreat (?96 & ?97); Romancing the Arts (1997); Literary Corner (?96 ? ongoing); Southern Exposure Book Review (?96-?97); Writing Workshop Kamloops (?96) Penticton (?95 & ongoing); Shaw Cable ?Christmas Words (?96, ?97 & ?98); Surrey Writer?s Conference (?97); International Woman?s Day Festival (?96 & ?98); Author Daniel Woods Workshop (?98); OUC, Okanagan Literary Expo (?98); The Romance Writers of America Annual Conference, Anaheim, California- Smith and John-Thorpe (?98); and Okanagan Summer School of the Arts (?2000, ?01- ongoing). The first Clem Battye Annual Conference was presented in 2001.

            Stories on the group have appeared on CBC Radio Kelowna, CHBC Television Kelowna, CIGV Radio and CKOR Radio Penticton, and in several Okanagan Papers: The Okanagan Valley Saturday Newspapers, The Penticton Herald, The Western News, The OK Review, Okanagan Event Magazine, Okanagan Life, BC Report Newsmagazine and The Vancouver Province Newspapers. In 1999 the four co-founders were added to Chatelaine Presents Who?s Who of Canadian Women.

            An associated group was started in 1996 to enable like-minded writers of fiction, non-fiction, romance, poetry, scripts and science fiction to meet and critique their works. This group continues today lead by remaining co-founders Smith and John-Thorpe.