Authors

Born in Montréal, Quebec in 1962 to Indian parents, Baldwin is a Canadian citizen by birth, who was raised in New Delhi, India. She moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States in order to obtain her MBA from Marquette University. She has worked as an independent radio producer, an IT consultant, a web-designer, and as an ESL teacher. She met her husband, a non-Sikh of Irish descent, with whom she owns a spy-themed restaurant, “Safe House,” in Milwaukee. She is a landed immigrant in the United States.

Born on May 17, 1946, Joan Barfoot spent her first 18 years on a “thin-soiled, gorgeous, rocky farm just outside the small city” of Owen Sound, Ontario, situated on Georgian Bay. Her career in letters was facilitated in part by a degree in English from the University of Western Ontario, where she developed an interest in journalism. Barfoot has been writing novels since the late 1970's, though she spent a number of years in the publishing industry as an editor and reporter for several newspapers, including the Toronto Star.

Christian Bök is the author of Crystallography (Coach House Press, 1994), a ’pataphysical encyclopedia nominated for the Gerald Lampert Award for Best Poetic Debut, and Pataphysics: The Poetics of an Imaginary Science (Northwestern University Press, 2001). His book Eunoia won the 2002 Griffin Poetry Prize and is the best-selling Canadian poetry book of all time. Bök has created artificial languages for Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict and Peter Benchley’s Amazon.

Part Native Canadian and part Irish, Joseph Boyden was born to a large family in 1966. He grew up the third youngest of eleven children in Willowdale, Ontario. Before his father’s death when Boyden was eight, he grew up hearing his father’s war stories and his uncle’s relation of Ojibwe life and myths; both of which would later influence his writing. He began traveling to the United States at the age of 16, although he frequently returned to Ontario. To fund his travels, Boyden worked numerous off jobs, including that of a gravedigger and groundskeeper at a cemetery.

Dionne Brand was born in Guayaguayare, Trinidad and Tobago in 1953. As a young girl growing up, she submitted poems to the newspapers under the pseudonym Xavier Simone, an homage to Nina Simone, whom she would listen to late at night on the radio. Brand moved to Canada when she was 17 to attend the University of Toronto, where she earned a degree in Philosophy and English, a Masters in the Philosophy of Education and pursued PhD studies in Women's History but left the program to make time for creative writing.

Stephen Cain was born in 1970. He received his H.BA in English Literature from Queen’s University in 1993, before going to York University to obtain both his MA (1995) and PhD (2002) in English Literature, writing his dissertation on the developing identities of Coach House Press and Anansi Press. In addition to his work as an academic, Cain found time to publish two poetry collections before completing his PhD, as well as writing numerous chapbooks and broadsides.

Born in Vancouver in 1939, Wayson Choy was raised as an only child in Vancouver’s Chinatown by his adoptive parents. He studied Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia before moving East, where he took a position teaching English at Humber College, Toronto.

Margaret Christakos was born in Sudbury, Ontario in 1962 and is the award-winning author of seven acclaimed poetry collections and a novel, Charisma, shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award. She teaches creative writing and runs ‘Influency: A Toronto Poetry Salon’ at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. Her most recent collection, What Stirs, was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award. Some of the themes in her work include the intersections of sexuality and identity, particularly within the gender and motherhood identities.

Afua Cooper was born in 1957 in Whithorn, Westmoreland, Jamaica. One of nine children, she moved to Kingston at the age of eight where she began to learn about Black Power in the late 1960’s. The political violence in Jamaica led Cooper to move to Canada in 1980. She attended the University of Toronto, where she obtained a B.A. in African Studies and Women’s Studies in 1986, an MA in Black Canadian History in 1991, and her PhD in Black Canadian History in 2000. She has taught sociology at Ryerson University and York University, and has taught history at the University of Toronto.

Gil Courtemanche was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1943. He is a journalist in international and third-world politics, and an author of several non-fiction works. Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali spent more than a year on Quebec bestseller lists. A film version directed by Robert Favreau was released in 2006.

Bibliography
Douces colères (1989)
Trente artistes dans un train (1989)
Chroniques internationales (1991)
Québec (1998)
Nouvelles douces colères (1999)

Born in 1948 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Lorna Crozier grew up in a sports-enthusiastic community, where she never considered the possibility that she would grow up to become a prominent poet. She graduated university in 1969 and became a high school English teacher and guidance counselor. Her first published piece of poetry, however, inspired her to continue writing, and since then has published many collections of poetry.

Since childhood, Marilyn Dumont has been aware of the possibilities, as well as the limitations, of language. Dumont is of Cree and Metis ancestry but in the family home, her parents would use English for everyday matters. However, they would default to Cree in times of crisis – but never taught this language to their children. Today, Dumont writes in English, but finds that this one language alone is inadequate to give voice to her very autobiographical subject matter. “I'm talking about things to do with an Aboriginal worldview,” she has explained.

Rishma Dunlop’s teaching and research interests are multidisciplinary and include post structural and feminist theory; contemporary fiction and poetry; creative nonfiction; English and World literatures; Canadian literature; literary translation; postcolonial and diasporic literatures; literature of witness; creative writing; cultural studies; aesthetics; fine arts practices and cultural production; women and literature; environmental writing, and documentary photography.

Born in the city of San Fernando in Trinidad in 1948, Espinet migrated to Canada in the 1970's. She worked as a taxi driver in order to pay for her education. She obtained her first degree from York University, and earned her PhD in Colonial Literature from the University of the West Indies.

In addition to her work as a poet and author of youth and adult fiction, Espinet is a noted academic and activist. She has written performance pieces which have been staged in Toronto, and contributes essays and commentaries to the newspaper Indo Caribbean World.

Born in 1967, Caitlin Fisher obtained her BA from the University of Toronto, her MA from Carleton University, and her PhD from York University. A theorist, creative writer, and a web artist, Fisher is breaking ground in the field of augmented reality and literature at York University, where she currently holds a Canada Research Chair in Digital Culture. Co-founder of York’s Future Cinema Lab, Fisher researches the future possibilities for interactive storytelling and cinema.

Camilla Gibb is the author of three novels and several short stories. One of the themes that pervades her work is that of belonging. Gibb moved to Toronto from London, England with her family when she was a child, and knows “what it is to grow up in a place you have no historical connection to, no family beyond the immediate, no real attachment to a place beyond what you experience in the here and now.”

Douglas Herschel Glover was born on November 14, 1948 near Waterford, Ontario.

Bibliography
The Enamoured Knight (Oberon Press, Dalkey Archive Press 2004, 2005)
Bad News of the Heart (Dalkey Archive Press, 2003)
Elle (Goose Lane Editions, 2003)
16 Categories of Desire (Goose Lane Editions, 2000)
Notes Home from a Prodigal Son (Oberon Press, 1999)
The Life and Times of Captain N. Knopf (Goose Lane Editions, 1993, 2001)
A Guide to Animal Behaviour (Goose Lane Editions, 1991)
The South Will Rise at Noon. (Viking, Goose Lane Editions, 1988, 2004)

Born in Chiba-Ken, Japan in 1966, Hiromo Goto moved with her family to British Columbia in 1969 where they stayed for eight years before settling in the quaint Alberta town of Nanton. Studying English Literature at the University of Calgary, Goto participated in the Creative Writing program offered at the university.

Rawi Hage was born 1964 in Beirut. In 1982, he moved to New York City, studying at the New York Institute of Photography. He came to Montreal in 1991 to study arts at Dawson College and Concordia University. He is a writer and a visual artist. His novel De Niro's Game, was a finalist for numerous prestigious national and international awards, and won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Born in 1961 and raised in Toronto, Steven Heighton attended Queen’s University where he earned both his B.A. and his M.A. (1986) in English Literature.

A novelist, poet, and short-story writer, Heighton moves through different topics and settings in his literature as seamlessly as he moves through these different genres. He has been compared to fellow Canadian author Michael Ondaatje for his ability to convincingly and gracefully write in times and nations outside of his own.

Born in 1963, Karen Hines is an actor, writer and director most known for the creation of the character Pochsy and the subsequent series of plays involving this character.

Sonnet L’Abbé is a Toronto-born writer of French-Canadian and Guyanese descent. She received a BFA in Film and Video from York University and completed a Master's Degree in English Literature from the University of Guelph. She is the author of two collections of poetry, A Strange Relief and, most recently, Killarnoe. Her work has been internationally published and anthologized. In 2000, she won the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award for most promising writer under 35.

Larissa Lai was born in California in 1967. Her father was a scholar, and her mother was an intellectual and a writer. Growing up in St. John’s, Newfoundland, she gradually made her way west through her early adult years. She graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in honors sociology in 1990. She obtained an M.A. in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England in 2001, and her Ph.D. in English from the University of Calgary in 2006.

Tessa McWatt was born in 1959 in Georgetown, Guyana. Her family migrated to Canada when she was three, and she grew up in Toronto where she pursued her love of writing and music. As an adult, she worked as an editor in Toronto and then moved to Montreal where she taught English as a Second Language at McGill University. McWatt then went to London, England, where she now lives, dividing her schedule between England and Canada. In London, she is a Senior Lecturer and Program Leader in Creative and Professional Writing at the University of East London.

Lisa Moore was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1964. She spent most of her childhood in this area, and the connection she has with her surroundings is reflected in her detailed descriptions in her writing. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and has an attention for fine detail which is evident in her writing style. She also studied creative writing at Memorial University in Newfoundland. She wrote radio plays for the CBC by the age of 20, and had short stories published in various anthologies.

Born in Montreal in the 1970's, Heather O’Neill moved to Virginia to live with her mother when her parents separated. However, when O’Neill was nine years old, her mother sent the children back to Montreal to live with their father. O’Neill earned a B.A. from McGill University in 1994 before becoming a poet and a novelist.

Emily Pohl-Weary is a Toronto-based author and editor. Her works include Violet Miranda (Kiss Machine, 2005-on-going), a girl-pirate graphic novel, Strange Times at Western High (Annick, 2006), a novel for young adults, Iron-on Constellations (Tightrope Books, 2005), a collection of poetry and a novel A Girl Like Sugar (McGilligan Books, 2004).

Bibliography
Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril (2002)
A Girl Like Sugar (2004)
Strange Times at Western High (2006)

Awards

Though relatively young by literary standards – born in Stratford, Ontario in 1968 – Andrew Pyper has managed to release a long line of books in a short span of years, while maintaining both popular and critical appeal. With both a B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from McGill University, Pyper is well trained for the literary arts. Perhaps more surprisingly, Pyper also holds a law degree from the University of Toronto. Though ostensibly engaged in academic pursuits for most of his twenties, Pyper was busy writing even when a career as a lawyer was imminent.

Angela Rawlings grew up in Sault Ste. Marie. She moved to Toronto to attend York University. A multi-disciplinary artist, Rawlings blends her talents in dance, literature and theatre. In addition to her personal artistic works, Rawlings donates time to community projects such as the poetry series lexiconjury, hosting Heart of a Poet, and supporting Toronto’s Scream Literary Festival. Rawlings also assists with the Mercury Press and has worked as co-editor for the avant-garde poetry anthology Shift & Switch.

Nino Ricci was born in Leamington, Ontario in 1959, to parents from the Molise region of Italy. He studied at York University, Concordia University, and the University of Florence. Ricci has taught literature and creative writing, and was the Writer-in-Residence at the University of Windsor in 2005-06. He has also served as president of PEN Canada. He now lives in Toronto, where he writes full time.

Bibliography
Lives of Saints (1990)
In a Glass House (1993)
Where She Has Gone (1997)
Testament (2003)

Awards

Eden Robinson was born in Kitamaat, British Columbia in 1968. She is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria and a Creative Writing MA at the University of British Columbia.

Laura Robinson is a Toronto-based writer, but divides her time between Ontario and Winnipeg, where she is co-writing and co-producing a feature film with Buffalo Gal Pictures. She got a Social Science BA from the University of Western Ontario. She has been a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail since 1990. In the spring of 2004, HarperCollins published her first children’s book, Great Girls: Profiles of Awesome Canadian Athletes, which she co-wrote with her fourteen-year-old niece Majia.

FrontRunners is a play written by Laura Robinson, a sports journalist who has also written Crossing the Line (1998), Great Girls with Maija Robinson (2005) and Black Tights (2002).

Funny Boy, to be a comment on the human rights violations and political turmoil that have long plagued his native Sri Lanka. But as he was writing he realized that he couldn't tell Arjie's story “without the political context, given that the communal situation was so complex and so volatile.” Since Funny Boy was published to wide acclaim in 1994, Selvadurai has published two more novels (one for young adults) all of which are set in Sri Lanka, at various points during the 19th and 20th century.

Makeda Silvera was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1959 and immigrated to Toronto at the age of 12. She received a Masters degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from York University and is currently working on her PhD in Women’s Studies. Silvera became actively involved in Black, feminist, lesbian and gay organizations and politics early on in life. She was a member of the editorial collective of Fireweed, a feminist journal. She was also a member of Zami, a Toronto based community organization for Black and Caribbean gays and lesbians, started in 1984.

Souvankham Thammavongsa was born in Thailand and grew up in Toronto. Her writing has appeared in Acta Victoriana, The Fiddlehead, Fireweed, Grain, The Malahat Review, Other Voices, Prairie Fire, Rice Paper Magazine, as well as on CBC Radio. She is part of the editorial collective for big boots, a zine for and by women of colour. Small Arguments (Pedlar Press, 2003) is a collection of thirty tiny poems originally produced as chap books. Residual follows Souvankham Thamavongsa's award-winning debut, Small Arguments.

Born in Saskatoon in 1941, John Unrau attended school in Saskatchewan and Alberta. A Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, he obtained his Ph.D. in 1969 with a thesis on Ruskin’s architectural drawings and writings. In addition to his focus on Ruskin and the two books he published on him, Unrau established himself as a poet in Ireland in his mid-forties, and published his first collection of poems in 2000.

Priscila Uppal was born in Ottawa in 1974 and currently lives in Toronto where she is a poet, fiction writer, academic, and professor of Humanities and English at the undergraduate and graduate levels at York University. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Arts Council.

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, R.M. Vaughan is a noted novelist, poet, playwright and essayist. He obtained a Masters Degree in English/Creative Writing from the University of New Brunswick, and gradually made his way west, where he settled in Toronto.

Poet, nonfiction writer, essayist, teacher and editor Betsy Warland was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa in 1946. She obtained her BA in Art and Education at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa in 1970. Warland emigrated to Canada in 1973, becoming a citizen in 1980. Over the past twenty-five years she has been one of Canada's leading feminist writers as well as influential innovative writers.