SFU Writer's Studio 15th Anniversary Celebration May 7th

I am honoured to be one of the featured readers at the Simon Fraser University's Writer's Studio's 15th Anniversary Celebration on May 7th at the Cottage Bistro, 4470 Main Street, Vancouver, BC 8 pm to 10 pm. My most beloved writing mentor Betsy Warland will also be reading. Click here for the line-up of readers or see below. Author of eleven books, BETSY WARLAND’s most recent book is Breathing the Page ¬– Reading the Act of Writing. For excerpts from her work-in-progress Oscar of Between, along with Guest Writers’ and Artists’ work and readers' comments, visit Oscar’s Salon, www.betsywarland.com.Betsy is the Director of Vancouver Manuscript Intensive.

JOAN MCEWEN (TWS 2006) is a lawyer, arbitrator and the author of Innocence on Trial (Heritage House 2014). Joan is involved in helping long-term inmates—innocent or guilty—transition back into society. Joan speaks publically regarding criminal justice issues, including Correctional Service of Canada’s mandate to ensure not just public safety, but also the rehabilitation of offenders.

JÓNÍNA KIRTON, a prairie-born Métis/Icelandic poet, currently lives in the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people. Her first collection of poetry, page as bone ~ ink as blood, described as dark and delicate, was released in April 2015 with Talonbooks. Visit her at joninakirton.wix.com/poet.

CARRIE SAXIFRAGE is an avid outdoorswoman and former lawyer. Her sustainability reporting helped The Vancouver Observer garner a Canadian Journalist Foundation award in 2012. Her first book, The Big Swim, pioneers the “climate memoir” genre. The Globe and Mail called it “a fine balance between the ecstatic and the level-headed.”

CHELENE KNIGHT was born in Vancouver and is a 2013 TWS graduate. She has been published in a variety of Canadian and American literary magazines. Chelene is the Poetry Coordinator at Room Magazine. Her debut book, Braided Skin, (Mother Tongue Publishing), is now available and has given birth to numerous writing projects, including her second manuscript, Dear Current Occupant.

KATE MCCANDLESS (TWS 2001) has published poetry in several journals, essays on Zen practice, and translations from Japanese, most recently A White Tea Bowl: 100 haiku from 100 years of life by Mitsu Suzuki (2014).

RAOUL FERNANDES was a finalist for the 2010 Bronwen Wallace Award and a runner-up in subTerrain’s Lush Triumphant Awards in 2013. He is an editor for the online poetry magazine The Maynard. His first collection of poems, Transmitter and Receiver is out now from Nightwood Editions.

CATHIE BORRIE graduated from TWS in 2005 (creative non-fiction), under the excellent tutelage of Betsy Warland. Her memoir, The Long Hello, released on January 6, 2015, by Simon & Schuster Canada, has been adapted for stage, and is currently being marketed to theatres in Canada and the USA.

Author of eleven books, BETSY WARLAND’s most recent book is Breathing the Page ¬– Reading the Act of Writing. For excerpts from her work-in-progress Oscar of Between, along with Guest Writers’ and Artists’ work and readers' comments, visit Oscar’s Salon, www.betsywarland.com.Betsy is the Director of Vancouver Manuscript Intensive.