Young Alberta Book Society

Young Alberta Book Society Since 1983, YABS has brought together a diverse pool of talented Albertan literary artists to enrich the lives of children and youth through literary arts.

For more than 30 years, YABS has been an advocate for children's literacy in Alberta. Our mission is "to foster literacy and a love of reading among young people in Alberta by providing access to the province's literary artists and their work." YABS has brought together a diverse pool of talented Albertan authors, illustrators and storytellers who dedicate themselves to enriching the lives of chil

dren and youth through the literary arts. Low literacy is linked to poverty, crime, disadvantage, and exclusion. Literacy is the foundation for a lifetime of learning and communicating. We strive to give Alberta's children and youth the basis for the quality of life they deserve. We are committed to creating opportunities for Alberta's children to be inspired by Alberta's literary artists. We believe that every child should have the opportunity to experience the arts to discover their creativity and imagination and to develop strong literacy skills. No matter what their location or socioeconomic status, every Alberta child should experience the joy of reading and writing.

Would your Edmonton school like to host writing workshops with Albertan authors next year for FREE? Apply by June 18! Li...
06/10/2026

Would your Edmonton school like to host writing workshops with Albertan authors next year for FREE? Apply by June 18! Link in comments.

Thanks so much to authors Natasha Deen and Anna Priemaza for delivering our Young Writers Award Winners Circle Writing W...
06/02/2026

Thanks so much to authors Natasha Deen and Anna Priemaza for delivering our Young Writers Award Winners Circle Writing Workshops this weekend! We had terrific young authors joining us from across the province on Saturday and Sunday and we hope they had a lot of fun learning from some pros. If you'd like to read their winning stories, you can see them on our website!

🏆 We are thrilled to announce and congratulate the winners of the Young Alberta Book Society's 2026 Young Writers Award!...
05/06/2026

🏆 We are thrilled to announce and congratulate the winners of the Young Alberta Book Society's 2026 Young Writers Award! All of the winning stories are posted on our website.

All 18 winners are invited to our Winners' Circle virtual writing workshops with Natasha Deen (elementary) and Anna Priemaza (junior high).

Special thanks to our dedicated jurors and to every student who entered! 🎉

04/23/2026
Congratulations to YABS member Katherine Koller for the nomination of her short story "Buckshot" for the Howard O'Hagan ...
04/01/2026

Congratulations to YABS member Katherine Koller for the nomination of her short story "Buckshot" for the Howard O'Hagan Award for Short Stories!

The Writers' Guild of Alberta is pleased to announce the finalists of the 2026 Alberta Literary Awards.

Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Story Finalists

Sponsored by Alexandra Writers' Centre Society

"Walking Jello" — Barb Howard (The University of British Columbia Magazine)

"Buckshot" — Katherine Koller (The Fiddlehead)

"Redbird" — Stephanie Tamagi (PRISM International)

The winners will be announced at our Awards Gala Dinner on June 5, 2026. The Alberta Literary Awards were created by the WGA in 1982 to recognize excellence in writing by Alberta authors. Entries are judged by an independent jury recruited by the WGA.

We will also be hosting public readings to hear from our finalists — April 8, 2026 for the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize and April 18, 2026 for finalists in Calgary, and May 3, 2026 in Edmonton. The winners of the 9th Kemosa Scholarship will also have a chance to share their work.

Read about all the finalists here: https://writersguild.ca/2026-alberta-literary-awards-finalists/

One week left for Alberta’s grade 4-9 students to enter their short stories in the YABS Young Writers Award! Check the l...
03/24/2026

One week left for Alberta’s grade 4-9 students to enter their short stories in the YABS Young Writers Award! Check the link in the comments for all of the details 📝

(Formerly the Martyn Godfrey Young Writers Award)

If your school would like to host an author, get in touch! YABS can help by covering the costs of travel to get a litera...
03/22/2026

If your school would like to host an author, get in touch! YABS can help by covering the costs of travel to get a literary artist to your community!

We're going to GETCA! On Thursday, the YABS booth will have author Marty Chan along with Jenn from the YABS office, and ...
02/26/2026

We're going to GETCA! On Thursday, the YABS booth will have author Marty Chan along with Jenn from the YABS office, and on Friday you'll find authors Nhung Tran-Davies and Robert Feagan! Come say at booth #505 and learn about our literary artist visits and other programs 📚

Thank you so much to everyone who made time to take casino shifts for us over the last two days. This funding is an impo...
02/24/2026

Thank you so much to everyone who made time to take casino shifts for us over the last two days. This funding is an important resource to help us get literary artists into classrooms all over Alberta. We couldn't do it without the support of our volunteers and we are so grateful! 🥰

The Rogers Birdies for Kids presented by AltaLink program raised $26,638,996 for 316 charities in Alberta this year! We ...
12/04/2025

The Rogers Birdies for Kids presented by AltaLink program raised $26,638,996 for 316 charities in Alberta this year! We are so grateful to be among them 🥰

All of the donations we receive through BFK are directed towards helping schools in need bring in professional literary artists to support teachers and students in their literacy journey.

Address

11759 Groat Road
Edmonton, AB
T5M3K6

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+17804228232

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