Writing the Terrain (by )

Erín Moure's most recent book of poems is Planetary Noise: The Poetry of Erín Moure, edited and introduced by Shannon Maguire (Wesleyan University Press). No one alive now knows who Toots is.

Sid Marty is a poet, author and musician based near the communities of Pincher Creek and the Crowsnest Pass. He is the author of five books of poetry and five nonfiction works. Though best known as a nonfiction author, he began his career as a poet. His first book, Headwaters (1973 ) was published to widespread national acclaim. Over the years, he has continued to publish poems in books, school texts, anthologies and magazines. The culmination of all that dedication to the “crafte so longe to lerne” is this collection of poems both published and new.

Tim Lilburn is the author of six books of poetry, including the Governor Generals Award-winning collection Kill-Site. He is also the author of a book of essays, Living in the World as if It Were Home, and the editor of two anthologies, Thinking and Singing and Poetry and Knowing.

Steven Scobie is a professor in the Department of English at the University of Victoria. He has received the Governor General’s Award for poetry and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Joan Crate was born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and was brought up with pride in her Indigenous heritage. She taught literature and creative writing at Red Deer College, Alberta, for over 20 years. Her first book of poetry, Pale as Real Ladies: Poems for Pauline Johnson, has become a classic. Her first novel, Breathing Water, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Award (Canada) and the Books in Canada First Novel Award in 1989. She is a recipient of the Bliss Carman Award for Poetry and her last book of poetry, SubUrban Legends, was awarded Book of the Year by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. She lives with her family in Calgary.

Ken Rivard was born and raised in Montreal where he obtained a Master’s degree from McGill University. Ken is the author of ten published books of poetry, fiction, and children’s literature. His writing has appeared in numerous anthologies, in many regional and national publications, and on the CBC. Ken’s books have been finalists for the Writers Guild of Alberta Book Awards and the City Of Calgary, W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. In 2005, he was nominated for the inaugural Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards. Ken has presented many successful readings and writing workshops across Canada and has helped in the editing of other writers’ manuscripts. He has worked as a juror for both the Alberta and Saskatchewan book awards and has been the Writer-in-Residence for The Calgary Public Library and the Writers Guild of Alberta. He lives in Calgary.

Allan Serafino was born in Sudbury, Ontario. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, where he is an executive with Scouts Canada. His poems have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the U.S. and Canada. He has been a poetry editor and is now President of the Dandelion Magazine Society.

Nancy Holmes is an award-winning poet and editor, and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan. She also collaborates on eco art projects both locally and internationally.

Gerald Hill lives amid the leafy confines of downtown Regina. His forty-year teaching career took him across western Canada and to Papua New Guinea as a CUSO volunteer, finally to Luther College at the University of Regina, where Hill taught English and Creative Writing until 2018. Meanwhile, he maintained an active literary life as writer published in over 35 journals, literary festival presenter, event organizer, editor, leader, conference speaker, grant recipient, and mentor. Among the highlights: Instructor, Writing With Style, The Banff Centre, 2011; Writer-in-Residence, Convento São Francisco de Mértola, Portugal, February, 2010; Fellow, Hawthornden Retreat for Writers, Lasswade, Scotland, April, 2010; Resident, Leighton Studios, The Banff Centre, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013; Resident, Wallace Stegner House, Eastend, Sask., 2007, 2009; Poetry Editor, Grain, 2003-2008. A two-time winner of the Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry, Hill was Poet Laureate of Saskatchewan in 2016. Crooked at the Far End is his 7th poetry collection. Gerald Hill lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Sally Ito was born in Taber, Alberta and grew up in Edmonton and the Northwest Territories. She studied at the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta, and travelled on scholarship to Japan, where she translated Japanese poetry. Her first book of poems, Frogs in the Rain Barrel (Nightwood, 1995) was runner-up for the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award. Her second book, Floating Shore (Mercury Press), won the Writers Guild of Alberta Book Award for short fiction, and was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Literary Prize and the City of Edmonton Book Prize. Her work has appeared in numerous periodicals such as Grain, Matrix and the Capilano Review and in the anthologies Breathing Fire: Canada's New Poets and Poets 88. Ito lives in Edmonton with her husband and son.

Alice Major, Edmonton’s first poet laureate, has published 11 books of poetry and essays, many of which explore her long-standing interest in the sciences. She is the recipient of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta 2017 Distinguished Artist Award. Her most recent publications with UAP are Standard candles and Intersecting Sets: A Poet Looks at Science. You can find her online at www.alicemajor.com

Margaret Avison (1918-2007) completed research or editorial assignments for the Canadian National Commission for UNESCO, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Canadian Association for Adult Education, and the Indian School of International Studies. She was also a poet, and her first collection, Winter Sun, received the Governor General's Award for Poetry in 1961.

Anne Campbell is an author of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, and was a co-editor of Regina's Secret Spaces.

Sheri-D Wilson, aka Mama of Dada, is the award-winning author and creator of 13 books, 4 short films, and 4 albums that combine music and poetry.

Known as the High Priestess of Spoken Word in Canada, Sheri-D is an international artist celebrated for her electric performance style, making her a favorite at festivals around the world.

In 2019, Sheri-D was appointed one of the country’s highest civilian honors, the Order of Canada, for her contributions as a Spoken Word Poet and her leadership in the community. In 2017, she received her Doctor of Letters—Honoris Causa from Kwantlen University.

Awards include: The City of Calgary Arts Award, the prestigious Stephan G. Stephanson Award for Poetry, the Women of Vision Award, and the USA Heavyweight Champion Title.

Sheri-D Wilson, aka Mama of Dada, is the award-winning author and creator of 13 books, 4 short films, and 4 albums that combine music and poetry.

Known as the High Priestess of Spoken Word in Canada, Sheri-D is an international artist celebrated for her electric performance style, making her a favorite at festivals around the world.

In 2019, Sheri-D was appointed one of the country’s highest civilian honors, the Order of Canada, for her contributions as a Spoken Word Poet and her leadership in the community. In 2017, she received her Doctor of Letters—Honoris Causa from Kwantlen University.

Awards include: The City of Calgary Arts Award, the prestigious Stephan G. Stephanson Award for Poetry, the Women of Vision Award, and the USA Heavyweight Champion Title.

Tom Wayman’s prolific literary career includes writing more than twenty poetry collections, three collections of critical and cultural essays, three books of short fiction and a novel, as well as editing six poetry anthologies. He received British Columbia’s 2022 George Woodcock Award for Lifetime Achievement in the literary arts. In 2015, he was named a Vancouver Literary Landmark, with a plaque on the city’s Commercial Drive commemorating his championing of people writing for themselves about their daily employment. He won the Western Canada Jewish Book Awards prize for fiction in 2016 (for the short story collection, The Shadows We Mistake for Love) and for poetry in 2023 (for Watching a Man Break a Dog’s Back: Poems for a Dark Time). His memoir, The Road to Appledore (or How I Went Back to The Land Without Ever Having Lived There in the First Place), was published in 2024. Wayman lives in Winlaw, BC, and his website is www.tomwayman.com.

Tim Bowling has published numerous poetry collections, including Low Water Slack; Dying Scarlet (winner of the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry); Darkness and Silence (winner of the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry); The Witness Ghost and The Memory Orchard (both nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award); and his Selected Poems (winner of the Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize). Bowling's work in poetry and prose has been honoured with two Canadian Authors Association Awards; two Writers' Trust of Canada nominations; a Guggenheim Fellowship; five Alberta Book Awards; the Acorn-Plantos People's Poetry Award; and a Roderick Haig-Brown Award nomination. Bowling served as the 2015 Canadian judge for the Griffin International Poetry Prize.

Carol Ann Sokoloff is a poet and singer-songwriter who conducts poetry workshops in schools. She is the author of the poetry book Eternal Lake O'Hara and the picture book Colours Everywhere You Go, also illustrated by Tineke Visser.

Peter Stevens (1928-2009) was a professor emeritus of English at the University of Windsor.

dennis cooley was born in Estevan, Saskatchewan. He later moved to Manitoba, where he helped to start the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and was a founding member of Turnstone Press. He taught Canadian literature, poetry, creative writing, and literary theory at the University of Manitoba. He has published widely, including well over a dozen volumes of poetry, notably Bloody Jack (2002), and the bentleys (2006). A recipient of the Manitoba Writers' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, dennis cooley lives in Winnipeg.

Rita Wong is a writer, teacher, and waterkeeper. She is the author of three books of poetry and the co-author of several collaborative works, most recently, beholden: a poem as long as the river (2018), with the poet Fred Wah. With Dorothy Christian (Secwepemc and Syilx Nations), Wong edited downstream: reimagining water (WLU Press, 2017). She is an associate professor of Critical + Cultural Studies at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she teaches classes in the humanities and creative writing.

Born in England, but raised in Red Deer, Alberta, P.K. Page was a Canadian poet and author of over 30 published books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, essays, children's books, and an autobiography. She was also a well-known visual artist, who exhibited her work as P.K. Irwin both in and outside of Canada. Her works are in permanent collections of National Gallery of Canada and Art Gallery of Ontario. P.K. Page spent the last years of her life in Victoria, British Columbia, where she died in January 2010.

Roberta Rees lives in Calgary where she has taught high school and university English courses and now teaches Creative Writing for Women.

Doug Beardsley is the author of seven books of poetry, the most recent a volume of selected poems, Wrestling with Angels. He has been shortlisted for the BC Book Prize for poetry and the George Woodcock poetry prize. He collaborated with Al Purdy on No One Else is Lawrence! and The Man Who Outlived Himself.

D.C. Reid was born in 1952 in Calgary. He has written nonfiction books on fishing, most notably How To Catch Salmon published by Orca Books. Reid’s previous book of poems, Love And Other Things That Hurt, was short listed for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 1999. He lives in Victoria, B.C.

Kim Maltman was born in Medicine Hat and grew up in a small town nearby He has previously published six books of poetry, and has given readings across Canada, in Australia, and in the United States. He lives in Toronto, where he pursues research in particle physics and teaches mathematics at York University.

Laurence Hutchman teaches Canadian literature at the Université de Moncton, Edmundston. His most recent book is Beyond Borders.

Poet, philosopher, and family farmer, Charles Noble divides his time between Banff and Nobleford, Alberta. His most recent books are Sally O: Selected Poems and Manifesto (2009) and Death Drive Through Gaia Paris (2007).

ryan fitzpatrick is the author of Coast Mountain Foot (Talonbooks, 2021), Fortified Castles (Talonbooks, 2014), and Fake Math (Snare/Invisible, 2007), and fifteen chapbooks. With Jonathan Ball he edited Why Poetry Sucks: An Anthology of Humorous Experimental Canadian Poetry (Insomniac, 2014). He has participated in the literary communities of Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto. In Calgary, he was on the collective of filling Station magazine and was the organizer of the Flywheel Reading Series. In Vancouver, he earned his doctorate at Simon Fraser University, where he worked on contemporary Canadian poetry and space. In Toronto, he recently completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Toronto Scarborough and was a co-organizer of the East Loft Salon Series with Rajinderpal S. Pal and Nikki Sheppy.

Phyllis Webb won the Governor General's Award for poetry in 1982 with her selected poems, The Vision Tree. She has taught at the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, and the Banff Centre, and now lives on Salt Spring Island, B.C.

Karen Solie was born in Moose Jaw and raised in southwest Saskatchewan. Her first collection of poems, Short Haul Engine, won the BC Book Prize Dorothy Livesay Award and was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Gerald Lampert Award, and the ReLit Award. She lives in Toronto.

George Bowering is a distinguished novelist, poet, editor, professor, historian and tireless supporter of fellow writers. He has authored more than one hundred books and chapbooks, including works of poetry, fiction, autobiography, biography and fiction for young readers. His writing has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese and Romanian. His novel, Burning Water, won the Governor General’s award for fiction and his memoir, Pinboy, was short-listed for the BC National Award for non-fiction in 2013. George Bowering is a two-time recipient of the Governor General’s Award, Canada’s top literary prize, and served as Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate. He is an Officer of both the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.

Tammy Armstrong has published two novels and four collections of poetry. Her first collection of poetry, Bogman’s Music, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Recent work has won the iYeats International Poetry Prize, and Prairie Fire’s Bliss Carman Poetry Prize. In 2018, she was a finalist for the National Magazine Awards. She lives in southwestern Nova Scotia.

Robert Kroetsch was born in 1927 to the village of Heisler, in central Alberta. He taught at SUNY Binghamton, where he co-founded the journal boundary 2, and at the University of Manitoba. Kroetsch developed a significant reputation as an early adopter of postmodernism through his poetry, fiction, and critical essays.

Eva Tihanyi has published five poetry collections, the most recent of which is Wresting the Grace of the World (2005). Truth and Other Fictions is her first collection of stories. She is the literary editor of In Retro magazine, and for many years was a freelance fiction reviewer for the National Post and Toronto Star. She was also the first novels columnist for Books in Canada from 1995 to 1999.

Gary Geddes has written and edited more than forty books of poetry, fiction, drama, non-fiction and criticism and has received numerous literary awards, including the British Columbia Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence and Chile's Gabriela Mistral Prize. He is the author of two best-selling travel memoirs, The Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things and Sailing Home. He lives on Thetis Island, British Columbia.

Leslie Greentree is the author of the award-winning short story collection A Minor Planet for You. Her second book of poetry, go-go dancing for Elvis, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. Leslie co-wrote the play Oral Fixations with her life partner Blaine Newton, which was produced in 2014 by Ignition Theatre. She has won CBC literary competitions for poetry and fiction, and has been shortlisted for Writer’s Guild of Alberta and Humber Creative Nonfiction awards

Poet and scholar, E.D. Blodgett has published seventeen books of poetry two of which were awarded the Governor General’s Award. He is an Emeritus Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta. His research has varied from mediaeval European romance to Canadian Comparative Literature and his publications include Five-Part Invention: A History of Literary History in Canada (2003) and Elegy (2005).

Douglas Barbour is the author of several books of poetry and criticism, including Continuations and Continuations 2 (UAP). A long-time resident of Edmonton, he was inducted into the City’s Arts & Culture Hall of Fame in 2003.

Cecelia Frey was born in northern Alberta, grew up in Edmonton and now lives in Calgary. Her short stories and poetry have been published in dozens of literary journals and anthologies as well as being broadcast on cbc radio and performed on the Women’s Television Network. Her last novel, A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing, was shortlisted for the 2009 Writers Guild of Alberta Fiction Award and she is a three-time recipient of the wga Short Fiction Award. She has also won awards for play writing. Cecelia is the author of poetry collections: the least you can do is sing; Songs Like White Apples Tasted; And Still I Hear Her Singing; Reckless Women; and Under Nose Hill; short story collections: The Nefertiti Look; The Love Song of Romeo Paquette; and Salamander Moon; and novels: Breakaway; The Prisoner of Cage Farm; and A Fine Mischief. Her play, The Dinosaur Connection, was produced on cbc’s Vanishing Point series.

Aislinn Hunter is a poet, essayist, and novelist. She is the author of six books, including the novel The World Before Us, which won the Ethel Wilson Prize. She lives in British Columbia.

Robert Hilles won the Governor General’s Award for Poetry for Cantos from A Small Room. His second novel, A Gradual Ruin, was published by Doubleday Canada. He has published seventeen books of poetry, three works of fiction, and two nonfiction books. His latest poetry collection is Shimmer.

Jan Zwicky’s books of poetry include Songs for Relinquishing the Earth, which won the Governor General’s Award, Robinson’s Crossing, which won the Dorothy Livesay Prize, and, most recently Forge, which was short-listed for the Griffin Prize. Her books of philosophy include Wisdom & Metaphor, Lyric Philosophy, and Alkibiades’ Love (forthcoming 2015).

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