October 27, 2007
Derek McCormack's last novel, The Haunted Hillbilly, was named a best book of the year by both the Globe & Mail and the Village Voice. It was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Best International Gay Fiction. His newest novel, The Show That Smells, is forthcoming from ECW Press in 2008. He will be reading from the new novel for the first time at the Fictitious Reading Series!
Trevor Strong is a writer/singer/comedian. As one third of the music/comedy group The Arrogant Worms, he has toured across the world, performed with symphonies, and had one of his songs used to wake up astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavour. He has also published a self-help book -- Get Stupid! with the Ignorance IS Bliss Method! -- that has helped dozens of people reclaim their inner idiot, and had some of his Very Grimm Fairy Tales printed in This Magazine. He is currently working on his first novel, Edgar Gets Going: the rise and fall and rise and fall of a fairly decent bass player. He lives in Toronto with his wife, two kids, a good cat, and a bad cat.
September 30, 2007
Marianne Apostolides is a Toronto-based writer whose work has appeared in The Walrus, The Globe & Mail, and on CBC Radio One. Her current work takes its inspiration (and sometimes frustration...) from literary and critical theory. Her first book was published by WW Norton and translated into Spanish and Swedish; Marianne is inordinately proud of the fact that she has received fan mail from Stockholm and Santiago.
Brian Panhuyzen's collection of short stories The Death of the Moon was published by Cormorant Books. He has worked as a publisher (Tortoiseshell & Black), a typesetter (House of Anansi Press), and an acquisitions editor (Descant Magazine). He is currently at work on a novel entitled The Sky Manifest.
May 27, 2007
Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, and performer. His published books include collections of poems and short stories, novels, and picture books. Seeing Stars, a YA novel, was a finalist for both CLA YA book of the year, and an Arthur Ellis Award. His most recent books include frogments from the frag pool (with derek beaulieu) and Doctor Weep and other strange teeth. Gary has a PhD in Music Composition and he teaches music at Hillfield Strathallan College. He lives in Hamilton with his family. When he dies, he intends to leave his body to fiction.
Maggie Helwig is a Toronto-based poet, essayist and novelist. Her most recently published book was the novel Between Mountains, but she'll be reading from a new, unpublished novel, currently titled Girls Fall Down. A human rights activist as well as a writer, Maggie has worked for the East Timor Alert Network in Toronto, the Women in Black network, and War Resisters' International.
March 25, 2007
Born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, the son of Italian immigrants, Salvatore Difalco attended the University of Toronto, where he completed an M.A. in English. After several years of writing poetry, Difalco turned to short fiction in 2004. He has since released one chapbook of stories, Outside (Black Bile Press), and has had short fiction published in a variety of literary magazines. His first full-length fiction collection, Black Rabbit & Other Stories, is forthcoming from Anvil Press this spring. He currently lives in Niagara Falls.
Leona Theis grew up in a small town in eastern Saskatchewan. At various times she has lived in Vancouver, Denmark, France, and Australia. She is the author of two books of fiction: Sightlines, a linked short story collection that won two Saskatchewan Book Awards in 2000, and most recently a novel, The Art of Salvage. Theis was recently awarded first prize in the creative nonfiction category in the 2006 CBC Literary Awards. She is a past member of the board of the Sage Hill Writing Experience and currently serves on the committee for the SWG writers and artists colonies. Theis is also associate fiction editor for the literary magazine Grain. She lives in Saskatoon.
February 25, 2007
Beatriz Hausner is a poet and the translator of some 20 titles of poetry, fiction and children's literature, principally from Spanish into English. Her poetry is rooted in the traditions of Spanish America and international Surrealism and most of her translations have focused on the writers of those literatures, including Rosamel del Valle, Enrique Molina, Olga Orozco, César Moro, the poets of Mandràgora, Alvaro Mutis, and her stepfather, Ludwig Zeller, one of the principal exponents of contemporary Surrealism. She has also published essays and articles in various fields, including local history, bibliography and translation. Beatriz is one of the four organizers behind Toronto WordStage, a monthly reading series, which recently expanded into Quattro Books, a publishing house specializing in novellas, poetry and international literature in translation. Beatriz was twice President of the Literary Translators' Association of Canada (1994-1997 and 2001-2003), and was one of the founders of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre. She works as a public librarian in Toronto.
Steve Venright is a writer and visual artist whose books include Spiral Agitator (Coach House Books 2000) and The Sleepy Turbine (LyricalMyrical 2003). Through his Torpor Vigil Industries CD label he has released several unique recordings, including Songs of Elsewhere by Samuel Andreyev and A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario by Christopher Dewdney. Examples of his work, as well as audio selections from TVI releases, can be found at torporvigil.com. Steve was born in the fictional land of Sarnia and now resides in a large consensual reality domain called Toronto, Ontario.
November 26, 2006
John Degen is the author of two books of poetry, Animal Life in Bucharest and Killing Things. His first novel, The Uninvited Guest, was recently published by Nightwood Editions. John is the former editor/publisher of ink magazine, and he writes political commentary for This Magazine. He lives in Toronto where he is the executive director of the Professional Writers Association of Canada.
Jennifer LoveGrove is the author of two books of poetry, The Dagger Between Her Teeth and I Should Never Have Fired the Sentinel. She is currently at work on a novel with the working title Watch How We Walk. Jennifer lives in Toronto where she is the editor/publisher of wayward armadillo press and of the literary zine dig.
October 29, 2006
George K. Ilsley is the author of two books of fiction, the acclaimed short story collection Random Acts of Hatred and, most recently, the novel ManBug. ManBug was lauded in the Globe and Mail as "an elegantly accomplished postmodern love story" that "delivers keen intellectual and aesthetic pleasures," while Xtra! pronounced it "touching and quite steamy." ManBug is one of three nominees for the litblog co-op's Autumn 2006 Read This! Selection. George is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School but rather than settling into the life of a lawyer thereafter, he opted to travel the world and take on such diverse jobs as wok cook, props-maker, and rabbit rancher. He is originally from Nova Scotia and currently lives in Vancouver.
Susan Kernohan is currently at work on a short story collection titled Dead Man's Pyjamas. Her stories have been published in several Canadian magazines including subTerrain, The New Quarterly, and This Magazine, and in the anthology All Sleek and Skimming. Susan works as a teen services librarian. She grew up in Sarnia, and lived in Thunder Bay, Guelph, London and Montreal before making her home in Toronto.
September 24, 2006
John Lavery is the author of two collections of short fiction. His first, Very Good Butter, was a Hugh MacLennan prize finalist. His most recent collection, You, Kwaznievski, You Piss Me Off, was described in The Montreal Review of Books as "the literary equivalent of a Dali painting." The Danforth Review credited it with "integrat[ing] traditionalist excellence with inspired innovation" and opined that it was one of the best books of 2004. John is a founding member of the Orchestre de la société de guitare de Montréal. He lives in Gatineau, Quebec.
Marnie Woodrow is the author of two acclaimed collections of short fiction and a novel. Her novel, Spelling Mississippi, was short-listed for the Books In Canada/amazon.ca First Novel Award. The Vancouver Sun pronounced it "a spellbinding tale," and Books in Canada described it as an "original, sexy" story that "presents an unforgettable portrait of New Orleans." Marnie teaches at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies for which she recently earned an Excellence in Teaching Award. She is a co-director of The Word Lounge, an online and in-person coaching and editing program for creative writers. Marnie is currently completing a new novel and a short story collection.
May 28, 2006
Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer is the author of two books of fiction. Way Up was shortlisted for the 2004 ReLit Awards and won a Danuta Gleed Award. The Nettle Spinner was described in Books in Canada as "a marvellous novel with something of the magic of the best fairy tales in its structure, its timing, and in its richly textured narrative terrain," and as one which does "a wonderful job of taking the reader on a journey both wondrous and terrible." Kathryn teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and is an editor at Bookninja.
Richard Truhlar is the author of seven books of poetry and fiction, the most recent of which is The Hollow and other fictions. His work was described in the following terms in Prairie Fire Magazine: "This is distinctive and compelling writing... A reader senses that Truhlar likes to set himself challenges, either intentionally or intuitively, and then revel in the discovered possibilities of fiction, in an inventive, skilled, and evocative way." Richard is also a composer, performer, and visual artist. He was a member of the sound poetry group Owen Sound and a founding editor/publisher of Underwhich Editions. Since 1987, he has worked as the production manager of the Centrediscs recording label of the Canadian Music Centre.
March 26, 2006
Clint Burnham is the author of several books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction including Airborne Photo and Buddyland.
Of his new novel, Smoke Show, the Calgary Herald said: "His ear for conversation is impeccable and often hilarious, as quintessentially low-brow Canuck as a squashed Kokanee can...What makes this book work is it spaciousness, creating a kind of post-modern mad-lib where the reader supplies the narrative connective tissue, not unlike an actual overheard conversation." Clint lives in Vancouver where he teaches at Emily Carr Institute and writes on contemporary art.
Elyse Friedman is the author of two novels, a book of poetry, and several feature length film scripts. Her first novel, Then Again, was short-listed for the 2000 Trillium Award. In a review of her second novel, Waking Beauty, Now Magazine said: "Think Kafka's Metamorphosis meets Extreme Makeover as interpreted by Robert Altman and you have an idea how brilliant Friedman is." Elyse lives in Toronto where she is currently at work on a collection of short stories.
February 26, 2006
Lee Gowan is the author of three books of fiction, including the Trillium short-listed Make Believe Love and, most recently, The Last Cowboy. His screenplay Paris or Somewhere was nominated for a Gemini. He teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies. The Globe and Mail described The Last Cowboy as "an engaging book that is at once funny, poignant and a razor-sharp image of that most tender and terrible of entities: the family" while The National Post lauded it for "resist[ing] sentiment and simplicity" and "restor[ing] the rural West's complexity."
Hal Niedzviecki is the author of six books including the novels Lurvy: a farmer's almanac, Ditch, and, most recently, The Program. He is co-founder of Broken Pencil, the magazine of zine culture and the independent arts, and of the annual Canzine festival of Underground Culture. The Globe and Mail pronounced The Program "fascinating," "quite strange" and "original in every way" while Now Magazine praised its "soulful, beautifully written moments."
January 29, 2006
Jason Anderson's first novel, Showbiz, was recently published by ECW Press. Anderson was inspired by the true story of Vaughn Meader, a JFK impersonator whose career ended abruptly with the President's assassination. In Showbiz, Anderson spins this tale into an alternate fictional universe, "a dark comedy about the cost of fame, the story of a man who became a walking punchline and a writer who'll do anything to hear the rest of the joke." In a review in Quill & Quire, Adair Brouwer described the novel as "nervy, funny ... as flash as a pinkie ring and as sharp as a sharkskin suit." Jason writes on music and film for the Globe and Mail, Toronto Life, and eye Weekly.
Alexandra Leggat is the author of two collections of spare, dark short stories, both published by Insomniac Press. The first, Pull Gently, Tear Here, was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed First Fiction Award. The second, Meet Me in the Parking Lot, was praised by Wendy Banks in a Globe & Mail review as "a success, unified by its cars and bars and imploding marriages, and above all by the rich, spooky washes of mood it invokes." Banks concluded: "You feel you're in good hands with Leggat in the driver's seat; she knows where to go." Alexandra teaches writing courses at Brock University through the Continuing Education Department. She lives in Niagara Falls
December 4, 2005
Heather Birrell is the author of the excellent short story collection I know you are but what am I? which was lauded in Books in Canada as "a series of witty, well wrought, yet deliberately off-kilter stories that [...] shed far more light on the absurd conundrums of Canadian-ness than your average award-winning intergenerational family saga." Heather works as a teacher and a book reviewer in Toronto.
Harold Johnson's first book, Billy Tinker, was praised in the University of Toronto Quarterly in the following terms: "Johnson delivers a fully realized life in the earnest depiction of Billy, a large angry labourer who confronts the world with an oddly endearing mix of grace and rage. [...] Billy Tinker bears not a trace of sentimentality or cliché, and I hope Johnson continues to write him more fully into a world of longer fictions." Johnson's new novel Back Track takes place in the same northern Saskatchewan setting but introduces a new cast of characters. It is an original blend of social realism, Cree mythology, and suspense novel. Harold is a trapper, fisherman, storyteller, and lawyer. He lives in a log cabin in northern Saskatchewan.
