Nancy Jo Cullen is the fourth recipient of the Dayne Ogilvie
Prize for Emerging Gay Author. She has
published collections of poetry with Calgary’s Frontenac House Press. Her short
story collection, Canary is the
winner of the Metcalf-Rooke 2012 prize and was long-listed for the Frank
O’Connor International Short Story Award.
Koom
Kankesan is a writer with a background in English Literature and Film Studies.
He has written short stories and small anecdotal pieces for various journals,
and has published film and book reviews with newspapers such as the Montreal
Gazette. The Panic Button was his first book. The Rajapaksa Stories is his new
one. Visit koomkankesan.webs.com.
Elizabeth
Ruth's first novel, Ten Good Seconds of Silence was a finalist for the Writer's
Trust of Canada Fiction Prize, the Amazon.ca Best First Novel Award and the
City of Toronto Book Award. Her second novel, Smoke, was chosen for the 2007 One
Book One Community program. In April, 2013 Elizabeth Ruth published her third
novel, Matadora, to critical acclaim. In addition to Matadora, Elizabeth will
also publish a GoodReads novella this year, entitled, Love You To Death.
Elizabeth Ruth teaches creative writing at UofT and mentors within the Humber
School for Writers. Visit www.elizabethruth.com.
Ania Szado's new novel, Studio Saint-Ex, is a national bestseller in Canada and is forthcoming in the U.S., Russia, Italy and Poland. Her first novel, Beginning of Was, was regionally shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Best First Book. She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and an AOCA from Ontario College of Art. Ania currently mentors writers one-on-one. She is the 2013 Writer in Residence for Whistler, B.C., and will be teaching creative writing at University of Toronto in 2014. Visit her website: www.aniaszado.com.
With
music by ...
Bocelli
is an urban vocalist, DJ, and producer. His creative focus however is his
unique form of sinjaying, a reggae infused blend of singing and rapping. Native
to and living in Toronto, Bocelli is currently working on his first official EP
that will feature a variety of urban genres from dance to hip-hop. Though not
one to express lofty ideas in his music - preferring instead to stick to feel
good, love, and even erotic lyrics - Bocelli is a philosophy professor outside
the world of music, recently obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa.
As a doctor and an urban artist it perhaps comes as no surprise that Bocelli
sometimes confuses himself as Clark Kent, turning into full superhero form only
on the mic.
With
emcees …
Michelle Alfano is a co-organizer of the (Not So) Nice
Italian Girls & Friends Reading Series and a Co-Editor with Descant. Her
novella Made Up of Arias (Blaurock Press) won the 2010 Bressani Prize for Short
Fiction. Her short story “Opera”, on which her novella Made Up of Arias is
based, was a finalist for a Journey Prize anthology. Her fiction and
non-fiction work has been widely published in major literary publications. She
was recently featured in the documentary Saturnia featured on OMNI-TV and at
the Moving Images Film Festival. She is currently at work at a new novel
entitled Vita’s Prospects. She blogs at alitchick.blogspot.ca.
Terri Favro is a freelance writer and copywriter whose work
has been published in magazines and anthologies, and broadcast on CBC Radio.
She has won second and third-place in the Accenti Magazine Writing Contest,
Honourable Mentions in the Prism Non-Fiction and Room Fiction contests, and was
a Broken Pencil Deathmatch finalist. Terri has also been shortlisted for three
CBC Literary Awards, the FISH Publishing Memoir, EVENT Magazine Non-fiction and
Vanderbilt-Exile Short Fiction contests. Her novella, The Proxy Bride (2012),
received a Ken Klonsky-Quattro Books Award. Terri collaborated on the graphic
novels Bella and the Loyalist Heroine (Grey Borders, 2012) and Waiting For
Mario Puzo (forthcoming). She blogs at terrifavro.ca
