Authors Index

Shelley Banks was born in a small town in the British Columbia Rockies, raised in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, and has worked and studied in Ontario, Quebec, and BC. She has been a newspaper reporter, freelance writer, and editor, and her poetry, fiction, and non-fiction have been published in Grain, CV2, The Antigonish Review, and other Canadian literary magazines. Banks is also a photographer and an active blogger with a focus on prairie wildflowers and birds. She lives in Regina.

Byrna Barclay has published ten novels and short story collections including House of the White Elephant (Burton House Books, 2015). Her book, Crosswinds (Coteau, 1995), won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction, and her first novel, Summer of the Hungry Pup (NeWest Press, 1981), won the Saskatchewan Book Award for First Novel. She was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2005. She has served as chair of the Saskatchewan Arts Board and as president of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild and of the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre. Barclay lives in Regina.

Michelle Barker lives in Penticton with her husband and family. Her poetry has been published in literary reviews around the world, including the 2011 Best Canadian Poetry anthology. A chapbook of her poems, Old Growth, Clear Cut: Poems of Haida Gwaii, was published by Leaf Press in 2012. Michelle's short fiction has been published in several journals. She has also published non-fiction in magazines, newspapers and literary reviews, and she won a National Magazine Award in personal journalism. She is studying for her Master's degree in creative writing at UBC's optional-residency program.

Doug Beardsley has produced both poetry and prose that is visionary and historically rich. His celebrated friendships with Canadian legends Irving Layton and Al Purdy have further informed his writing and created a legacy of fourteen books dating back to the mid 1970s. He has published over 200 poems in a wide variety of periodicals; given over 125 poetry readings; and written over 250 book reviews. He has been nominated for the BC Poetry Prize and the George Woodcock Prize. Beardsley lives in Victoria, BC.

Born in Germany to French-Canadian parents, Tanya Bellehumeur-Allatt grew up on various army bases across Canada, from Quebec’s North Shore to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. When she was twelve years old, her family moved to Tiberius, Israel, where her father served as a United Nations peacekeeper on the Golan Heights. When war broke out with Lebanon, Tanya and her family moved to Beirut, where they lived for seven months, at the height of the Lebanese civil war. Tanya’s journal from 1982-1983 became the seeds of her memoir, Peacekeeper’s Daughter. Tanya holds an MA in English Literature from McGill University and an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. She lives in Quebec’s Eastern Townships with her husband and four children. Find out more about Tanya and her writing at https://tanyaallattbellehumeur.com

John Bemrose’s first novel, The Island Walkers, was a national bestseller, a finalist for The Giller Prize, and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He is also a well-known arts journalist who has published reviews and articles in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, and Maclean’s. His second novel, The Last Woman, was published in 2009. He has also published poetry and written a play, Mother Moon, which was produced by the National Arts Centre. Bemrose was born and raised in Paris, Ontario, a place that has inspired the settings for his fiction, including his latest novel, The River Twice. He lives in Toronto.

Stephen Bett's writing and college teaching life has been informed by the "counter tradition " of Black Mountain, the San Francisco Renaissance, and the New York School (1st and 2nd generations), and how that played out in Canada with the TISH poets, and beyond. His more recent books are "minimalist " in form, often stretching into "serial poems (book-length "linked poems"). This allows for the surprise of echoing back and forth — everything from idea to image to cadence. Bett's work, like its creator, is recognized as funny, satirical and unique. He lives in Vancouver. Previous books include: Re-Positioning , Track This: A Book of Relationship, Extreme Positions, Sass 'n Pass, Three Women, Nota Bene Poems: A Journey, and High-Maintenance.

Cathy Beveridge lives in Calgary with her husband and daughters. Her previous publications include: Shadows of Disaster (Ronsdale Press, 2003); Chaos in Halifax, (Ronsdale Press in 2004); and, Offside (Thistledown, 2001) that won the 2003 SYRCA Snow Willow Award and the 2002 Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice" award. Cathy has worked as a teacher, editor and author for a number of years.

Sandy Bonny is a writer and visual artist with an academic background in science. Her short fiction has appeared in literary journals and anthologies including Prairie Fire, Grain, and The Danforth Review, and was featured in Coming Attractions 11, Oberon Press’ annual anthology of up-and-coming Canadian fiction writers. Her first collection of short fiction, The Sometimes Lake (Thistledown Press, 2012), was nominated for the 2013 Saskatchewan Book Award for Best First Book. Yes, and Back Again is her first novel. Bonny lives in Saskatoon.

Kate A. Boorman is an author from Edmonton, Alberta, with roots in the small town of Rimbey. Her books have been published in four world territories and have appeared on a variety of Best Of lists, from >em>Seventeen to O! The Oprah Magazine. The first book in her acclaimed Winterkill trilogy won the Alberta Writers’ Guild Award for Children’s Fiction. Her latest YA, Into the Sublime, was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. The Heathens and the Dragon is Kate’s middle grade debut. When she is not writing, she is wrangling her family and dreaming up travel to faraway lands.

Rita Bouvier is a Métis writer and educator from Saskatchewan. Her third book of poetry, nakamowin’sa for the seasons (Thistledown Press, 2015) was the 2016 Saskatchewan Book Awards winner of the Rasmussen, Rasmussen & Charowsky Aboriginal Peoples’ Writing Award. Rita’s poetry has appeared in literary anthologies, print and online journals, musicals, and television productions, and has been translated into Spanish, German and the Cree-Michif of her home community of sakitawak, Île-à-la-Crosse, situated on the historic trading and meeting grounds of Cree and Dene people.

Patricia Bow was born in 1946 and educated (in History and Library Science) at the Universities of Carleton and Toronto. She lives in Kitchener, Ontario, and makes her living as a freelance writer. One of a family of seven, she found her childhood solitudes in the woods that border the Ottawa River, in her imagination, and in books. Since Heart of Ice, her first fantasy novel, was published in Germany in 1990 under the title Wendigo-Eisiger Tod, Patricia Bow has brought out five more books for young teenagers - all thrillers with a supernatural dimension.

Carla Braidek lives and writes in the boreal forest near Big River, Saskatchewan. Her book Carrying the Sun (Thistledown, 2005) was short-listed for the Saskatchewan Book Award for poetry. Her work is also published in her chapbook Quickening, the Hagios Press anthology New Saskatchewan Poets, and various literary magazines. In 2010 Carla had the good fortune to attend Emma, an international artists’ collaboration. Her poetry was included in the full-length documentary, Unplugged - Emma 2010 Collaboration, that was filmed during that time. Carla has taught in classrooms from grade 1 to 12, as well as outdoors, in libraries, and on city streets. She was both a guest speaker and a facilitator for the Sage Hill Teen Writing Experience. Recently she is exploring the world by way of the personal essay.

Something to Hang On To marks Beverley Brenna's sixth book for young readers. Her acclaimed YA novel, Wild Orchid (Red Deer Press), was nominated for the Canadian Library Association's Readers Choice award in three different provinces and was listed on the New York Public Library's Recommended Books for the Teen Age in 2007. Other previous books include: The Keeper Of the Trees; Spider Summer; and, The Moon Children. Brenna lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Dwayne Brenna has acted at the Stratford Festival and at the Edinburgh Fringe. He has appeared on television in various nationally and internationally broadcast programs including 'For the Record', 'Judge' (CBC Toronto), 'The Great Electrical Revolution', and The Incredible Story Studio (Mind's Eye). His movie credits include The Wars, Painted Angels, and Black Light. Brenna was heard regularly on CBC Saskatchewan radio in the character of Eddie Gustafson. An active researcher and writer, Brenna's recent publications include Scenes from Canadian Plays and George Dibdin Pitt: Actor and Playwright. A book of fiction, Eddie Gustafson's Guide to Christmas was published in 2000. Brenna is also a contributor to the Routledge Who's Who in Contemporary World Theatre (2000) and to the New Dictionary of National Biography (2004). His most recent publication is Emrys' Dream: Greystone Theatre in Photographs and Words published by Thistledown Press in 2007.

Brian Brett was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1950 and studied literature at Simon Fraser University. He has been associated with several firms as an editor and publisher and has been a reviewer for many publications and newspapers. In the early seventies, he began working as a freelance journalist and critic for various publications and newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Vancouver Sun, The New Reader, Books in Canada, the Victoria Times-Colonist and theVancouver Province — where he was the poetry critic for two years, and had his own column. His journalism has appeared in almost every major newspaper in Canada, and his essays in most of the major magazines. Brett inaugurated the BC Poetry-in-the-Schools program, introducing children in schools to world poetry for a period of several years, and has taught or given workshops on writing across Canada. He has been a member of organizations ranging from P.E.N. International, the League of Canadian Poets, the Federation of BC Writers, to the Writers' Union of Canada. While a member of the League of Canadian Poets he performed a national reading tour under their auspices. He has also given readings on CBC Radio and various other media as well as public performances funded by private organizations, universities, Harbourfront, Vancouver International Writers Festival, Saltwater Festival, Sechelt Writers’ Festival, Wordfest: Banff Calgary International Writers Festival, the Winnipeg International Writers Festival, National Book Festival, and the Canada Council. Brett is the author of several books of fiction and poetry, including, Tanganyika (Thistledown Press, 1991), The Fungus Garden (Thistledown Press, 1988) Coyote (Thistledown 2003), and Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life (2009) for which he won the Writers Trust Non-Fiction Prize. He lives on a farm on Salt Spring Island.

Wendy Burton studied English literature and feminist epistemology and taught work-place writing and adult education. She writes short stories, novels, and academic and creative non-fiction. She has had prose-poetry and academic non-fiction published over the past 20 years, most notably “Swimming Winter’s Lake” in Down in the Valley, editor Trevor Carolan and “Histories of Aboriginal Adult Education” in Contexts of Adult Education: Canadian perspectives edited by Fenwick, Nesbitt, & Spencer. Ivy’s Tree is her debut novel.

Pam Bustin's play 'Saddles in the Rain' won the John V. Hicks award in 2002 and was published by Playwrights Canada Press in the anthology'The West of all Possible Worlds in 2004. Her other stage plays include Barefoot and The Passage of Georgia O’Keeffe. Three of her radio dramas have aired on CBC and her short fiction has appeared in The New Quarterly, Spring andTransitions. Pam Bustin was raised in a host of small towns across the prairies and lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Mostly Happy is her first novel.

Sharon Butala is the author of twenty-one books of fiction and nonfiction, numerous essays and articles, some poetry and five produced plays. She published her first novel in 1984, Country of the Heart, which was nominated for the Books in Canada First Novel Award, followed closely by a collection of short stories, Queen of the Headaches (shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award). Sharon’s books have been on the Canadian bestseller lists, including her memoir The Perfection of the Morning, which reached #1 in July 1994. Her work has been nominated for, and received, numerous awards. Most recently, her story collection Season of Fury and Wonder was nominated for the Rogers Trust Fiction Prize and won the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize for 2020. Sharon is an Officer of the Order of Canada. She lives in Calgary.

Teacher turned author, Kristin Butcher’s professional writing career began in 1997 with the publication of her novel, The Runaways. Fourteen more books have since followed including CLA honour book, The Gramma War (Orca Book Publishers), and Chocolate Lily Award winning Zee’s Way (Orca Book Publishers). Whether she’s writing for a younger audience or for teens, Butcher is totally devoted to drawing her readers into her books so that they become a part of the story. Butcher lives in Campbell River, British Columbia.

Darci Bysouth was raised in the ranchlands of British Columbia, and studied literature at the University of British Columbia and creative writing at the University of Edinburgh. She has been an artist, a naturalist, and a rather tuneless pianist, and has regularly imposed these gifts upon her students during her many years as a teacher. Above all, she is a lifelong reader and writer. Her stories have appeared in The Antigonish Review, The Bridport Prize Anthology, New Writing Scotland, The Bristol Prize Anthology and The Cutthroat Journal of the Arts.