The Penticton Writers and Publishers (PWAP) group was established in February 1994 in Penticton, BC, Canada. The co-founders were housewives, Janelle Breese-Biagioni, Cindy Fortin, Yasmin John-Thorpe, Lorraine Pattison and Penny Smith, who wanted to learn about the writing and publishing business.
PWAP has published several anthologies and coffee table books including, Penticton and Area Secrets and Surprises (1994), The Novel Approach to Self-Publishing (1995), 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 Spring, 2004. In 2008, PWAP was contracted by the City of Penticton to write, compile, edit and publish Penticton British Columbia: Celebrating a Century to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the City.
Today, co-founders Penny Smith and Yasmin John-Thorpe host a monthly writers meeting from September to June, where the public is invited to join. The authors 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 have instructed young writers, during the Okanagan School of the Arts summer programs. Through a legacy from former member, Clem Battye, a legacy writing contest was established to assist promising writers. The group held a Writers' Conference in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. The Conferences brought publishers, editors, agents and producers to present workshops in an effort to assist in understanding the marketplace to potential writers.
In 2008, the Penticton Herald asked PWAP to locally host the CanWest Raise a Reader program. Yasmin John-Thorpe organized authors’ visits into the area schools, where a copy of the author’s work was presented to each student, paid for by the RAR funds. On July 11- 13, 2008, PWAP Champions/RAR program held the first Youth Write Camp for young writers 8 – 18yrs. The success of this event has promoted an annual British Columbia Youth Write Camp, starting in 2009. It will be opened to 100 young writers of the province through a contest for a short 5-page story or 5 poems.
Three original co-founders, Janelle Breese-Biagioni, Lorraine Pattison and Cindy Fortin have moved on to different careers, while the day to day business of running PWAP is carried on by Yasmin John-Thorpe and Penny Smith.