Terry Burns

Terry Burns first had the idea of the Young Authors’ Conference in 1980 as the local cornerstone of the Canada-wide National Writers’ Festival. He was a member of a team of Yukon librarians from various Yukon schools including Marg Healy, Marion Noone, Val Ross, and Marg Wicken. The conference goal was to make students more aware of Canadian writers and to encourage students to develop their potential. The first conference had thirty-three students working with three visiting authors, Susan Musgrave, John Lazarus, and David McFadden. Terry was the over-all conference organizer for the first ten years, and then the position was taken over by Joyce Sward who was the main organizer for twenty years.¹⁾ The 40th annual conference took place in 2020 and continues to support young Yukon writers.