Ralph Keyes, The Courage to Write Author and speaker Ralph Keyes will inspire you to find and maintain The Courage to Write. The author of fourteen books, Keyes has made numerous television appearances including on Oprah Winfrey, The Today Show, and The Tonight Show. His book, The Courage to Write, has been called essential reading for writers. This is his first Canadian engagement.

 

 

Ian Ferguson,  Make 'em Laugh, Eh?  Writer and humourist Ian Ferguson will share his perspective on the Canadian writer's life. Ian Ferguson is an award-winning playwright and humorist whose commentaries have been widely broadcast on radio and television. He is the creator of the live improvised soap operas Die-Nasty and Sin City. With his brother Will, he is co-author of the runaway best-seller How to Be a Canadian.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Jay Bardyla - Hot Trends, Hot Markets (panel)

Jay has been reading comics for nearly 30 years and is the founder of Happy Harbor Comics, a growing chain of stores that goes beyond the selling of comics and was named Canada's Best Comic Store in 2007. Between offering free visits to schools to teach kids about the craft, offering twice monthly artist jam sessions, publishing local creators, sponsoring "Artist Alleys" at local pop culture events and much more, Happy Harbor and its staff has been recognized for their development and promotion of the comic community. And they have no intention of stopping any time soon.

 

 

 

Matthew Bin - moderator, All Good Writing is Re-writing: The Surprising Joys of Multiple Drafts (panel)

Matthew Bin is a writer, novelist, freelance writist, and technical documentatist of the first order. His latest book, On Guard for Thee: Canadian Peacekeeping Missions, was published by Bookland Press in 2007. He lives in Cambridge, Ontario, with his extremely patient wife and two idiotic beagles. This may or may not be Matthew's actual photo.

 

 

 

 

 

Sharon Budnarchuk - Hot Trends, Hot Markets (panel)

Sharon Budnarchuk has been in the book industry for 38 years. She started her career as assistant manager of Classic Bookshops in Winnipeg, and went on to became a book sales rep. In 1981 she began her own agency doing sales and promotion for such publishers as McClelland & Stewart, Macmillan, Harper Collins and Penguin. In 1988 Sharon returned to retail bookselling as co-owner, with her husband Steve, of Audreys Books Ltd. in Edmonton. Audreys Books is the founding sponsor of the 11-year-old Edmonton Book Prize, and in 2006 won the Mayor’s Award for Sustainable Support of the Arts.

 

 

Tim Bowling - All Good Writing is Re-writing: The Surprising Joys of Multiple Drafts (panel)

Tim Bowling is an Edmonton writer who has published eleven books since 1995: seven collections of poetry, three novels, a work of non-fiction and a book of interviews with Canadian poets. A two-time finalist for the Governor General's Award for Poetry, recipient of the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Award and three Alberta Book Awards (two for poetry, one for fiction), he writes and parents fulltime. His most recent books are a novel, The Bone Sharps (Gaspereau Press 2007) and a work of non-fiction, The Lost Coast: Salmon, Memory and the Death of Wild Culture (Nightwood Editions 2007).

 

 

 Nik Burton - Doing the Write Thing  (panel)

Nik Burton has been the managing editor at Coteau Books in Regina since 1996. Prior to his publishing job, Burton served for six-and-a-half years as the executive director of the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. He also worked at the literary officer at the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and as the first executive director of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. Burton was a founding member of the Alberta Books Awards, the Canadian Reprography Collective (Access Copyright) and the Saskatchewan Council of Cultural Organizations, and has served on the boards of many other cultural organizations, both national and provincial.

 

 

Ken Davis - moderator, Hot Trends, Hot Markets (panel)

Ken Davis is host of “Bookmark,” broadcast each Sunday on the CKUA Radio Network. The program covers authors, books, and the Alberta literary scene. Ken is director of marketing and promotions for Lone Pine Publishing of Edmonton. The former treasurer of the Book Publishers Association of Alberta also has been a leading lobbyist of the Alberta government in seeking improved financial support for book publishing in the province. Ken previously spent 25 years in the radio broadcasting industry, as a journalist, news anchor, talk show host, network news executive and finally as program director and then general manager of CKUA Radio.

 

 

Michael Gravel is a writer based in Edmonton, Alberta. He's a founder and the frontman of Edmonton's Raving Poets, and is the Festival Producer of The Roar Spoken Word Festival. He is the founder and past editor of Daily Haiku.org, an international online haiku journal. He is a freelance writer, web designer, professional presenter, and a master of the dance move known as "the typewriter shuffle". He lives in a wee house with his wife, stepdaughter, and two incorrigible hounds. He lives to write, code, and spend time with his family.

 

 

Louise Halfe - Poetry: Searching for the Source, Searching for the Song

Cree poet Sky Dancer Louise Bernice Halfe’s first book of poetry, Bear Bones & Feathers, was nominated and short-listed for numerous awards. Her second book, Blue Marrow, was short-listed for the 1998 Governor General's Award. Her latest work, The Crooked Good, was released in November 2007. Halfe has a Bachelor of Social Work and a certification in drug and alcohol prevention education. She has traveled nationally and abroad giving readings, key-note presentations and workshops. Originally from the Saddle Lake First Nations Reserve of Alberta, she currently resides in Saskatchewan with her life partner and writes from her straw bale home.

 

 

 

Ronna Jevne - Dr. Ronna Jevne holds two Masters degrees, one in Philosophy and one in Theological Studies and a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology. Her career has grown from being a public school teacher and counsellor, a psychologist in private practice, the Head of the Department of Psychology at the Cross Cancer Institute, to professor at the University of Alberta with an international reputation. Now a professor emeritus, she is again in private practice, consulting, speaking and counselling. Author of eight books, she has used therapeutic writing in schools, private practice, medical settings and prison. Dr. Jevne received numerous awards including the Dick Pettifor Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession of Psychology.

 

 

Richard Helm has been The Edmonton Journal's Books editor since April 2006. Prior to that he was the editor in charge of Sports, and before that, the Entertainment section. He was the Journal's TV columnist for several years and a news reporter covering a variety of beats since joining the newspaper in 1980.

 

Myrna Kostash is a fulltime writer in Edmonton, author of classics All of Baba’s Children, Long Way From Home: The Story of the Sixties Generation in Canada, and of the award-winners No Kidding: Inside the World of Teenage Girls and Bloodlines: A Journey Into Eastern Europe. Her most recent books are The Doomed Bridegroom: A Memoir (1998), the national best-seller The Next Canada: Looking for the Future Nation (2000), and the award-winning Reading the River: A Traveller's Companion to the North Saskatchewan River. She has just finished a literary nonfiction about a Byzantine saint. She is the founder and current president of the Alberta-based Creative Nonfiction Collective.

 

 

Reinekke Lengelle is a published poet and playwright. She is also a visiting-graduate professor with Athabasca University where she designs and teaches courses that connect writing with transformative learning. She was a writer in residence with the Artists on the Wards program for three years and served as Writer in Medicine with the Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine program. Her self-help book Bath Oil for Heartbreak is an apt example of how she used words to aid her own recovery; her current project is a book of poems that includes an essay on how poetry heals.

 

 

Debbie Marshall has worked as a freelance writer and editor for over twenty years. Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous local and national magazines and anthologies. For eight years, she was editor of the national Exchange Magazine for Adult Learners. She is the co-author of Candles to Kilowatts: 100 Years of Edmonton’s Power Company, and editor of the Edmonton bestseller Big Enough Dreams an anthology describing the compelling lives of developmentally disabled Albertans. Marshall’s first biography, Give Your Other Vote to the Sister: A Woman’s Journey into the Great War, was released in 2007.

 

 

Currently the President of the Alberta branch of the Canadian Authors Association, Margaret Macpherson is a professional writer from the Northwest Territories. She has been short-listed for a Manitoba book award for her sixth book and first novel, Released, (Signature Editions, 2006). An eclectic collection of short stories, Perilous Departures, garnered the same nomination in 2004. Twice the literary bridesmaid and not yet the bride, Margaret has also published four non fiction books including award-winning Nellie McClung: Voice for the Voiceless. Margaret has an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and has represented Alberta in the CBC National Poetry face-off

 

 

Susan Musgrave has been labelled everything from eco-feminist to anti-feminist, from stand-up comedian to poet of doom and gloom, from social and political commentator to wild sea-witch of Canada's northwest coast.  Her first book of poetry was published when she was 19, Songs of the Sea Witch, about which her grandfather said, "Even Shakespeare had to write a lot of rubbish to begin with." Susan lives near Sidney, British Columbia where she works as a poet, novelist, columnist, reviewer, editor and non-fiction writer. She has published 20 books.

 

 

Following broadcast training at Conestoga College, George worked at several radio stations doing news reporting, hosting, and interviewing. He has been the staff interviewer for the University of Waterloo's public affairs radio broadcasts and was the co-creator/writer/host of InterBytes, a syndicated radio feature on computing and the internet. In addition he did audio publishing through his company Stuffed Moose Audio. George has a double MA in philosophy and has taught at York University, Washington University, and Rutgers University. He has been an instructor at Vancouver Film School, and for several years conducted public workshops on the voice-over industry.

 

 

 

 

James Rout is the Head of Library and Archives Services at The Banff Centre, one of North America's leading institutions for professional development in the Arts. As a librarian, James works closely with writers in residence at the Centre, helping them navigate through the ever-expanding universe of information. James doesn't write books, but does tend to read them – usually ones with soft, puffy, waterproof pages for his young children.  

 

 

Gloria Sawai - The Long Goodbye: Self-editing Your Fiction
Gloria Sawai’s short fiction has been published in anthologies in several countries, including the USA, Denmark, Spain, and Japan. Her collection of short stories, A Song For Nettie Johnson, published by Coteau Books, received several awards including the Danuta Gleed Award for best first book of short fiction published in Canada in 2001, and the City of Edmonton Book Award. A Song For Nettie Johnson also won the 2002 Governor General’s Literary Award. Sawai was the first writer-in-residence at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton and has conducted writing workshops at The Banff Centre and at the Saskatchewan School of the Arts.

 

 

Shirley A. Serviss is an Edmonton writer, editor and educator. She teaches for the University of Alberta's Faculty of Extension and MacEwan College, serves as Writer in Medicine with the Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine program and works as an Artist on the Wards at the U. of A. Hospital. Hitchhiking in the Hospital (Inkling Press), her third poetry collection, is based on that experience. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies including Dropped Threads, Volume 2. She also co-edited an anthology on women and depression, Study in Grey.

 

 

Carolyn Swayze - Doing the Write Thing (panel); Hot Trends, Hot Markets (panel)

Carolyn Swayze established her literary agency in 1994, when W. P. Kinsella persuaded her to leave her law practice and to sign him as her first client. Her background included a previous life as a freelance writer, (humour, business, literary fiction), a novelist (a genre mystery published in 1977 in the US and a literary novel, publication of which was aborted when the Canadian publisher declared bankruptcy in 1984), and a rather scholarly biography, published in 1987. For almost fifteen years the agency assisted emerging and established authors such as Governor General's Award-winner Miriam Toews, military historian Mark Zuehlke and Canadian literary fixture Will Ferguson.

 

 

Cheryl Kaye Tardif - Hot Trends, Hot Markets (panel)

Cheryl Kaye Tardif is a Vancouver-born suspense author now residing in Edmonton. Her bestselling novels include: Whale Song, The River, and Divine Intervention. In 2004, Cheryl was nominated for the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award. In 2006, she was a contestant on A Total Write-Off!, a reality TV show. Cheryl’s next novel is in the hands of a major New York literary agent. A full-time writer and self-promoter, Cheryl has presented at many events, discussing writing, publishing options and marketing.

Kit Pearson has written eight novels for children. She was born in Edmonton and grew up there and in Vancouver. She worked for ten years as a children's librarian in Ontario and B.C. Her books have been published in Canada in English and French, in the U.S. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Korea, the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain and France. She has won fourteen awards for her writing, including the Governor-General's Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award for her body of work. Kit's newest novel, A Perfect Gentle Knight, is set in Vancouver in the 1950s. She lives in Victoria.

 

 

 

 

Sheri-D Wilson - Poetry Surge

Poet, playwright, performer, film-maker, essayist, and educator, Sheri-D Wilson is internationally renowned for her jazz-infused performance style laced with a dangerous wit. Her sixth collection of poetry: Re:Zoom (Frontenac House) won the 2006 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. She has produced two CDs and three award-winning VideoPoems. Of the beat tradition, she studied at Naropa, The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Her work is often featured on CBC. In 2003 she won Heavyweight of Poetry (USA). She is the Artistic Director of the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival and head faculty of the Spoken Word Program at the Banff Centre.

Deborah Windsor is Executive Director of The Writers’ Union of Canada. She has twenty-five years of community development experience. Deborah is passionate about Canadian literature and firmly believes Canadian writers are unsurpassed in the world and they have earned a prominent place within our society. Deborah designed "The Business of Writing" Professional Development series as a Writers’ Union initiative, to assist Canadian writers in the financial management of their careers.

 Other

Terri offers a reflective approach to yoga with an emphasis on self-discovery and improved quality of life. Certified by Yasodhara Ashram in BC, she is part of a Radha Yoga group in Edmonton, one of many across Canada based on the tradition of Swami Sivananda Radha. Terri teaches as a form of karma yoga (yoga in action); funds raised are donated to Ashram youth projects. With a background including a communications career, marriage and caretaking, Terri now chooses an eclectic mix of yoga, gardening, childcare, and contract work. Above all, she continues to be a student of yoga and life. Terri is leading A.M. Enlightenment

 

 

 

 

Mildred Thill is a practitioner of Brain Gym and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). She has given presentations from Sherwood Park, Alberta, to York, England, and has been a regular presenter at Literacy & Learning conferences here in Edmonton. Mildred believes that we can more easily achieve our full potential using techniques from Brain Gym, EFT, and other similar modalities. Mildred is leading Get Your Morning Tune Up with Brain Gym on Friday morning, and Tap Away Your Writer`s Block (and perhaps a few other stresses in your life) on Saturday morning.

 

 

 

 

The Spoken Word Youth Choir (SWYC) of Edmonton, Canada, was born at YouthWrite 2007 and had its world premiere at Axis Cafe in Edmonton on September 21, 2007, as part of The Roar Spoken Word Festival and the Edmonton Poetry Festival. The group was also an integral part of the Edmonton Cultural Capital Word! Gala on September 22, 2007 and the 2007 Creative City Network Conference in Edmonton on October 11, 2007. SWYC is under the direction of creator Gail Sidonie Sobat. They will be performing at the literary awards readings, Friday evening.