Talkingbooksandstuff's podcast: Recent Episodes
Dennis Rimmer
Dennis Rimmer is talking about books, and writing and stuff.
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Tong Ge was born and raised in China and moved to Canada in 1988. She began writing the China China trilogy in 2004 with the first book: The House Filler. Although she was challenged by learning to write in English and by her long- term disability, she persevered and since 2012 has published poetry and prose in English and Chinese in publications such as Prism, Ricepaper, Flow, Canadian Stories, and The Polyglot.
Revered science reporter and radio host Bob McDonald has devoted his career to turning our attention away from everyday perspectives and outward to the vast, intricate wonders of our planet and universe. Now, in this revealing and captivating memoir, he looks within, offering an intimate view of the path that brought him from a blue-collar background to his long-standing role as Canada’s foremost explainer of all things scientific.
David Roche is an inspirational humorist, keynote speaker and performer who has transformed the challenges and gifts of living with a facial difference into a compelling message that uplifts and delights audiences around the world. With the publication of his first book, The Church of 80% Sincerity, he is also an author.
Adelle Purdham is a writer, teacher, and parent disability advocate. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from the University of King’s College and is a writing instructor at Trent University.
In her new book, Cross offers practical and hopeful ideas for how each of us can engage in the vital work of eradicating intimate partner violence. This is a call to action for the all-of-society, revolutionary response to gender-based violence needed to build communities that are safe and healthy for everyone.
Ron Base has written and produced a number of screenplays. A former journalist, magazine writer, and movie critic, Base spent four years in Los Angeles researching and writing" Magic Man." He now lives in Montreal with his family.
Dennis interviews Thomas F Pedersen about his book, "The Carbon Tax Question", described as "A timely and insightful exploration of the implementation and impact of British Columbia’s carbon tax, delving into the political and economic considerations behind the tax, and addressing misconceptions."
Rebecca Hendricks is a writer and author of the new novel Hound Dogged.
Rebecca has made a career doing accounting and Judicial Assistant work, but her passion has always been writing and creating colorful and exciting stories. Starting at a young age, Rebecca could be found in her room, spending countless hours writing stories in long hand or typing her work with one finger on her father’s antique typewriter.
Gitz is a Canadian Indigenous Author, Actor, Activist and Youth Educator. His debut novel, 'Secret of the Stars' is quickly heating up and has caught the attention of national and international media such as the CBC and Australia's Indigenous Radio Station.
Chase Joynt is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, video artist, actor, and professor. He attracted acclaim as co-director with Aisling Chin-Yee of the documentary film No Ordinary Man (2020), and as director of the film Framing Agnes (2022). He won two awards at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival for his work on the latter. In 2024, Joynt received a nomination for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction for Vantage Points: On Media as Trans Memoir.
Dennis interviews Scott Ryan about his book Last Decade of Cinema, where Scott argues that the 1990s was the last decade in which films were made for grownups, with complex, adult-based plots, nuanced characters, and meaningful themes.
Wren makes literature, performances, and exhibitions. His books include Revenge Fantasies of the Politically Dispossessed ; Polyamorous Love Song (finalist for the Fence Modern Prize in Prose and a Globe and Mail best book of 2014); Rich and Poor (finalist for the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and a Globe and Mail best book of 2016); and Authenticity is a Feeling.
Dave Margoshes is a Saskatoon-area writer whose work has appeared widely in Canadian literary magazines and anthologies, including six times in the Best Canadian Stories volumes. He was a finalist for the Journey Prize in 2009. He's published fifteen books of poetry and fiction, including Bix's Trumpet and Other Stories, which won two prizes at the 2007 Saskatchewan Book Awards, including Book of the Year
Farzana Doctor is a writer, activist, and psychotherapist. Her ancestry is Indian, and she was born in Zambia while her family was based there for five years, before immigrating to Canada in 1971
Rod is the award-winning author of four works of literary fiction: RUFF (September 2024), GRIN REAPING (long listed for the 2023 Leacock Medal for Humour, 2022 Bronze Winner for Humour from Foreword Review INDIES, a Finalist for the 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Humor/Comedy, and long listed for the ReLit Group Awards for Best Short Fiction of 2023); KINMOUNT (long listed for the 2021 Leacock Medal for Humour and Winner of the 2021 Silver Medal for Best Regional Fiction from the Independent Publishers Book Awards); A Matter of Will (Finalist for the 2018 Northern Lit Award for Fiction).
A university professor and mystery novelist, originally from the US East Coast, Margot writes two crime fiction series: the Joel Williams series, and now, the Patricia Stanley series.
Dennis meets with Marlis Wesseler about The Beech Forest---Lisa Braun struggles to understand both her own life and the tragic historic events that haunt her in this engaging new novel written in Marlis Wesseler’s characteristically understated, confiding prose.
Connie Gault is a Canadian novelist, playwright and short story writer. She is best known for her novel A Beauty, which was a longlisted nominee for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Dennis meets with Caroline Woodward about her book "Have You Ever Heard a Whale Exhale?"
He writes the Please Advise! column and other effluvia as required. He is a former CBC host and author of the 2011 book Who Killed Mom? from Greystone Books. He has won two National Magazine Awards and three Western Magazine Awards, and received the Community Mic Award at the 2023 Websters for his work with The Tyee.
At daybreak on January 6, 1986, a couple on a camping trip in the Mojave Desert set out for a stroll and never returned. The local sheriff eventually discovered that Barry and Louise Berman had been murdered. As years passed and the double homicide remained unsolved, the Berman case spawned speculation and conjecture. To date there’s never been an arrest in the case—let alone a conviction. Doug Kari tells the story in "The Berman Murders"
Rita Miceli, a seasoned educator, and award-winning author, provides the compass for this journey. Her memoir, "Giaci and Me: A Mother’s Journey of Loving and Raising an Autistic Child," offers a lifeline of empathy and understanding, extending a hand to caregivers and professionals alike. It's a reflection of decades of love, lessons, and learning, from the initial days of diagnosis to embracing the unexpected joys of life.
Dennis talks with Myriam Chancy about "Village Weavers", A deeply reflective book about the resilience of the relationship between two women, which evolves from an innocent childhood friendship to a spiritual kinship
John Bemrose is a Canadian arts journalist, novelist, poet and playwright. His arts reviews have appeared in Maclean's, The Globe and Mail, the National Post and on CBC Radio. His debut novel, The Island Walkers, was published in 2003. It was a nominee for that year's Giller Prize, as well as making the longlist for the Man Booker Prize.
We meet with Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti and discuss their debut murder mystery, Bury the Lead.
John MacLachlan Gray is a writer-composer-performer for the stage, film, television, radio and print. Dennis talks Mr. Good-Evening with John MacLachlan Gray. The case of the Fatal Flapper just won’t stay closed in this thrilling novel of 1920s Vancouver.
Brooke Lockyer holds a BA from Barnard College and an MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. She was the winner of the 2009 Hart House Literary Contest and a co-recipient of both the Peter S. Prescott and the Lenore Marshall Barnard prizes for prose. Her work has been published in Toronto Life, carte blanche, the Hart House Review, White Wall Review and Geist. Born in Southwestern Ontario, she’s lived in rural Japan, New York City, Bristol and the Mojave Desert. Lockyer currently resides with her family in Toronto. Burr (Nightwood Editions) is her first book.
Amanda Swinimer’s deep love of the ocean brought her to the west coast of Vancouver Island, Canada where she started her own business, Dakini Tidal Wilds, in 2003. For two decades, Amanda has been sustainably harvesting, by hand, wild, edible seaweeds. She shares her passion for the wild seaweeds of her coastline and their continued health with a diverse audience. Check out her book The Science & Spirit of Seaweed.
She is a regular on CBC’s Winnipeg Comedy Festival, LOL and is an accomplished author of four books, Reality is Overrated and That Which Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Funnier, and Out Running Crazy. Deb’s new book Window-shopping for God will be published in spring 2022. She was nominated twice for the National Magazine Award for Humour. As well, she has been shortlisted for the Governor-General Award for her play Miracle Mother in 1984.
Caroll Simpson is the author and illustrator of Coastal Spirit Tales—a series of children’s books that take inspiration from the art, mythology, and environment of the Pacific Northwest—and two board books for younger children, Creatures of the Land and Sky and Creatures of the Sea. She is also an educator who taught Indigenous art and drama to elementary school children for over twenty years.
Steven Joseph is a first-generation American, veteran attorney, negotiator, prolific speaker, and a modern humorist. He’s a real New Yorker. A fully cured overweight person, Steven is a five times Boston Marathon runner and 16 times NYC Marathon runner – balancing it all perfectly through the art of Zen.
In his award-winning masterpiece “A Grownup Guide to Effective Crankiness: The CrankaTsuris Method,” we learned how to navigate and celebrate our grouchy moments. Now, in “Cranky Superpowers: Life Lessons Learned from the Common CrankaTsuris Chronicles,” our journey to mastering our moodiness takes a humorous twist that is guaranteed to have you chuckling out loud.
Michael Redhead Champagne is working towards a revolution that dismantles harmful systems and builds up new ones based on justice, equity and love. A community leader from Winnipeg's North End with family roots in Shamattawa First Nation, Michael is host, helper, published author, on-screen personality and sought after public speaker. Michael happily shares his words, wisdom and welcoming energy across Canada and around the world.
Michael's first children’s book, We Need Everyone, was released bu HighWater Press in January 2024.
Tim Blackett is a Canadian writer whose work has appeared in Briarpatch, [spaces], Grain Magazine and a small Saskatchewan journal called Swift, Flowing. He holds a Bachelor of Theology and a BA in English from the University of Regina, as well as a certificate in creative writing from Humber College. His short story collection, Grandview Drive, was shortlisted for two Saskatchewan book awards, and a pre-publication version placed second in the John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award (2019). The titular story, “Grandview Drive” was longlisted for the Carter v. Cooper Short Fiction Award (2012). Blackett lives in Regina, SK.
A professional writer since late teens, Wilson has written film, television, theatre - even radio - and yet "A Feast of Wolves" is his first novel. It's the story he wrote, because it was the story he wanted to read; a big, fast-paced, adventurous tale about the political craziness that has taken over the world in the last seven years or so, yet a story that entertains and leaves the reader with real hope.
Kelly Anne Manuel is the good kind of contagious. She is an eternal optimist who strives to see the good in all her days and throughout all aspects of her life journey. She has a unique voice that Children respond to because it is characterized by her own actively vibrant Inner Child.
After becoming a mom she wanted to feed her children well, as all mothers do. She began learning about the impact of processed food and started cooking differently.
Dennis and Rob dive in to his new book, Brave Face - about hockey's earliest maskless warriors.
Dennis meets again with Joel to talk his new book Drums and Demons - The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon
Going Steady was created by Jacinta and Taylor – mother-daughter divorce lawyers, who work together! They were sick of breaking people up and thought that they must have learned something from their years of working with families in conflict that could help people stay together.
Samantha is an author, actor and award-winning filmmaker living in Toronto, Canada. She is a certified Dr. Shefali Conscious Parenting Coach and received her MFA in film production from The University of Southern California. When not creating, Samantha can be found spending time with her husband, son and mini Poodle.
In her book Help Me Be Me, she wants parents to be able to let go of their fantasies of who and what their child should be and simply observe and listen. It isn’t always easy to do but this is when the magic of self-discovery happens.
Dennis interviews Hana Shafi about her latest book, People You Know, Places You’ve Been, a collection of peoms and illustrations.
Dustin Galer is an award-winning writer, biographer, and historian.
He is known for his exceptional contributions to the world of disability history and labour. He earned his doctorate in History from the University of Toronto and has solidified his reputation as a prominent figure in the field.
Dennis and he discuss his book, Beryl.
Lori writes fiction about love, loss, longing, music, history, and the lives of women. Her first novel was loosely based on the formative experience in her teen years of playing in Calgary band The Virgins, in the context of the male-dominated world of 1980’s punk music. She is fascinated by outsiders, misfits, the strange, and the forgotten.
Rona Maynard had lost her spark. Then she agreed to let a dog into her life—and found a whole new way to meet the world.
Meg Braem’s plays have won the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama at the Alberta Literary Awards and the Alberta Playwriting Competition, and Blood: A Scientific Romance was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama. Her work has been presented at the Citadel Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Lunchbox Theatre, the Belfry Theatre, Sage Theatre, Sparrow & Finch Theatre, Theatre Transit, Atomic Vaudeville, and Intrepid Theatre.
Bruce Gerald Belland was born in Chicago, Illinois on October 22nd, 1936, the second son of Rev. Stanley G. Belland, a Fundamentalist minister and his wife Hertha, a Gospel radio singer. It was in 1954 that Bruce convinced Glen Larson, a friend since grammar school, to co-found a vocal group for that year’s student talent show. Bruce, Glen and two pals from the school choir, stole the show with the Crew Cuts’ “Sh-Boom.” Convinced they were on to something special, Bruce and Glen enlisted two classmates—Bruce’s friend 6’4” bass and high school football star Ed Cobb, and high tenor and former boy soprano in the famed Mitchell Boys Choir, Marv Ingram—to permanently fill the other two slots.
And THE FOUR PREPS were born.
Nick Bantock is a British artist and author based in Saltspring Island, British Columbia, known for his series, The Griffin and Sabine Trilogy.
In 1993, he won the Bill Duthie Bookseller's Choice Award for Sabine's Notebook.
In 2006, he adapted the Griffin and Sabine series into a play, also called "Griffin and Sabine", which premiered in Vancouver at the Granville Island Stage and ran from 5 October – 4 November 2006.
In 2007, he resumed painting full-time, and opened a studio-gallery, 'The Forgetting Room', on Saltspring Island. Between 2007 and 2010, Bantock was one of the twelve committee members responsible for selecting Canada's postage stamps.
Rupert Adams specializes in growing medicinal herbs and runs his own medicinal herb and tincture business, Kairos Botanicals. Adams worked for three years as a coordinator and advisor to the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security. He currently resides and grows at Abundance Community Farm in Agassiz, BC.
Stephen has written ten books on the history of exploration, science, and ideas--including books on the medical mystery of scurvy, the Treaty or Tordesillas, the lives of Captain George Vancouver and of Roald Amundsen and a doomed Russian sea voyage. His books have been published in multiple English-speaking territories, translated into nine languages and shortlisted for many awards. Dennis interviews him about his newest book Dominion, about the transconinental railroad.
Dennis meets with Tara Sidhoo Fraser about her book When My Ghost Sings, a brave tale of of disability and queerness.
Charlotte Gray is one of Canada’s best-known writers of literary non-fiction. Born in Sheffield, England, and educated at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, she began her writing career in England as a magazine editor and newspaper columnist. After coming to Canada in 1979, she worked as a political commentator, book reviewer and magazine columnist before she turned to biography and popular history.
Steve Ivings is a comedian, impressionist, actor, MC, radio announcer, public speaker, recording artist, comedy writer, playwright, author, lyricist, director and producer. Individually or all at the same time.
Dennis meet with Ken again to discuss "Blood on the Coal", the riveting true story of one of Canada’s worst mining disasters, told in the voices of the men who survived it.
Vancouver writer and arts policy consultant, and one of Canada’s leading cultural commentators. Born and educated in England, he spent several years as a journalist in London before emigrating to Canada in 1967. He was dance, music and drama critic for The Vancouver Sun and CBC Radio for over 30 years, and is the author of a number of books on the arts in Canada, among them Dance Canada: An Illustrated History (named as one of the “165 Great Canadian Books of the Century” in 2000), a biography of ballerina Evelyn Hart, a collection of his dance writings over three decades, and The Defiant Imagination: Why Culture Matters, a passionate manifesto asserting the central importance of the arts and culture to modern Canada.
Catherine Graham started to write poetry as a way to explore and make sense of the death of her parents, whom she lost while she was an undergraduate student at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. But what began as an outlet for her grief transformed into a passion of its own.
The PNE (Pacific National Exhibition) is a Vancouver tradition, an annual fair started in 1910 that is famous for its farm animals, dog trick shows, and amusement park - highlighted by Canada's oldest wooden roller coaster still in existence. In 1980, when Nick Marino was twelve years old, he started working at the PNE and quickly learned that there was more to the fair than winning stuffed animals and eating mini donuts. He had to contend with belligerent bosses, unhinged carnies, and teenage hustlers.
Buffy Cram’s fiction and non-fiction have appeared in multiple literary publications on both sides of the border as well as in the best-selling anthology, Darwin’s Bastards: Stories From Tomorrow. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and has attended residencies at Hedgebrook and the Banff Centre for the Arts. She has been a fiction finalist for the Western Magazine Awards, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has won a National Magazine Award for her non-fiction. Her first book, Radio Belly, was published in 2012 by Douglas & McIntyre. Her new novel is forthcoming with them soon.
Jon Klassen is a Canadian-born author/illustrator. He has written and illustrated three picture books of his own and illustrated many other author’s texts. His own books are called I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat and We Found A Hat. Highlights of his illustrated books are Sam & Dave Dig A Hole by Mac Barnett, The Dark by Lemony Snicket, and his latest is The Wolf, The Duck & The Mouse also by Mac Barnett. His books have won a Caldecott medal and two Caldecott honors and other international awards.
Naomi Hansen is an author, writer, and editor. Her first book, Only in Saskatchewan: Recipes & Stories from the Province's Best-Loved Eateries, was published by TouchWood Editions in spring 2022. Naomi is the recipient of two 2023 Saskatchewan Book Awards for Only in Saskatchewan: the First Book Award and the Book of the Year Award. She is a regular contributor for many publications, including Canadian Living and Chatelaine, and is also the Saskatoon Bites food columnist for CBC Saskatchewan.
Tim Ryan has published stories in The Write Launch, The Prairie Journal, Prometheus Dreaming, Short Editions, Chaleur Magazine, Alberta Views Magazine and the Short Story Dispenser. His story “Scottie” won the 2017 Alberta Views Annual Short Story contest and was a finalist for the 2018 AMPA Fiction award. In 2020, his short story “Karen” was nominated by the Prairie Journal for the 2020 Journey Anthology Prize. In 2022, his story “Chrysalis” was nominated for a Canadian Online Publishing Award. His short stories “The Cabin” and “Persistence” were both published in the anthology Tap, Press, Read published by Loft 112 Press.
Tim’s first novel, East Grand Lake, was published by the University of Calgary Press in their Brave and Brilliant series May 15, 2023.
Natalie MacMaster is a Canadian fiddler from Troy, Inverness County, Nova Scotia who plays Cape Breton fiddle music. MacMaster has toured with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana, and Alison Krauss, and has recorded with Yo-Yo Ma. She has appeared at the Celtic Colours festival in Cape Breton, Celtic Connections in Scotland, and MerleFest in the United States.
Amy Stuart is the #1 bestselling author of three novels: Still Mine, Still Water, and Still Here. Shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award and winner of the 2011 Writers’ Union of Canada Short Prose Competition, Amy is the founder of Writerscape, an online community for hopeful and emerging writers. Amy lives in Toronto with her husband and their three sons.
Marq de Villiers is a journalist and author who never found a real job and so just kept on writing, a few million words by now, for newspapers, magazines and books (14 and counting, with a few ghost-writing gigs tacked on). Along the way he has lived in some interesting places (Cape Town, Moscow, Asturias in northern Spain, London and a short stint in Timbuktu), picked up a few awards (among them the Alan Paton Award for writing about South Africa, a Governor General’s Award for Non Fiction for his first book on Water and another GG short-list for an appreciation of pinot noir, plus the Canadian Science Writers Association Award and a nod from the Julia Child and James Beard awards for literary food writing) and, not incidentally, married the art director and editor Sheila Hirtle, who has saved his ass on numerous occasions with pointed advice and sometimes ruthless editing.
Wanda John-Kehewin is a Cree writer who uses her work to understand and respond to the near destruction of First Nations cultures, languages, and traditions. When she first arrived in Vancouver on a Greyhound bus, she was a nineteen-year-old carrying her first child, a bag of chips, a bottle of pop, thirty dollars, and a bit of hope. After many years of travelling along her healing journey, she shares her personal life experiences with others to shed light on the effects of trauma and how to break free from the "monkeys in the brain". She is now a published poet, fiction author, and film scriptwriter, she writes to stand in her truth and to share that truth openly.
Robert Bringhurst is a Canadian poet, typographer and author. He has translated substantial works from Haida and Navajo and from classical Greek and Arabic. He wrote The Elements of Typographic Style, a reference book of typefaces, glyphs and the visual and geometric arrangement of type. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in June 2013.
Amid the tension of the Cold War, caught between capitalism and communism, Canada and the Soviet Union, young Canadian diplomat Gary J. Smith must navigate the rink, melting the ice between two nations skating a dangerous path.
In the autumnal darkness of October 6, 1894, an unseen figure rang the doorbell at the Parkdale home of a well-to-do Toronto family and then shot Frank Westwood in his doorway.
Weeks later, Clara Ford, a Black tailor and single mother known for her impeccable work ethic, resolute personality, and predilection for wearing men’s attire, was arrested for the killing.
Carolyn Whitzman tells the compelling story of a courageous Black woman living in nineteenth-century Toronto and paints a portrait of a city and a society that have not changed enough in one hundred twenty-five years.
Dennis interviews Tommy John and Rob Ehman at Shyster's Tavern in Langham, Saskatchewan.
What happened in 1907 that led to racist and violent demonstrations against the Asian immigrant communities in Vancouver? How can we make sure something like it doesn’t happen again?
Based on his 360° Riot Walk, Henry Tsang has curated a book that combines essays and photography to shine a light on the darkness of Vancouver's past and its uncertain future: White Riot.
Jade Wallace’s poetry, fiction, and essays have been published or are forthcoming in literary journals across Canada, the USA, England, Ireland, Sweden, New Zealand, and India, including This Magazine, Canadian Literature, and Hermine. They are the author of several chapbooks, most recently the collaborative A Trip to the ZZOO (Collusion Books) and A Barely Concealed Design (Puddles of Sky Press), and the solo Rituals of Parsing (Anstruther Press). Their debut full-length poetry collection, Love Is A Place But You Cannot Live There is forthcoming from Guernica Editions in 2023. Their writing has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the City of Windsor, has won the Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize, Coastal Shelf‘s ‘Funny & Poignant’ Poetry Contest, and the Anita and Alistair MacLeod Prize, has been a finalist for the Wergle Flomp Humour Poetry Contest and the Writers of the Future Contest, and has been nominated for The Journey Prize. They are currently the Reviews Editor for CAROUSEL, an organizing member of Draft Reading Series, a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada and The League of Canadian Poets, and the co-founder of MA|DE, a collaborative writing entity.
Andrea Menard is an accomplished Métis singer/songwriter, actor, speaker, wellness trainer, retreat host, and the founder of the Sacred Feminine Learning Lodge. As seen in USA Today, Andrea is an influencer in Feminine leadership and was named one of Women Executive Network’s (WXN) Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winner in 2020. An advocate for rematriation and reconciliation, Andrea trains women to “Lead Like a Goddess” and helps all-gendered people to name, reclaim and embody the qualities of the Sacred Feminine. She is also the author of the Seeds from the Sacred Feminine Wisdom Cards, to be launched with Mango Publishing on May 9th, 2023.
Charles “Charlie” Demers “Just Demers” is a Juno-nominated stand-up comedian, BC Book Prize-nominated author, & co-star of two Emmy-winning Netflix animated series, Beat Bugs and The Last Kids on Earth.
Growing up in Eastern Ontario, Leo become a regular tourist of Tatooine, Middle Earth, and that barn in Charlotte’s Web by the age of eight. He first trained to work in museums before taking up the pen as a journalist, newspaper editor, and then corporate business writer. His passion for the fantastical and the historical, as well as finding the root of a story, fuel him in creating worlds of his own.
Fascinated by ghost stories and crime fiction, she had been writing both for well over 20 years, drawing on close to two decades as a crime reporter. She enjoys reading, portrait drawing, travel and spending time with family and friends.
She is the author of The Sullivan Gray Series, a paranormal mystery series featuring a young man who can see the ghosts of homicide victims. The only way for Sullivan to find his own peace is to find theirs. The series focuses not just on him, but on his family and friends—particularly his older brother Dez, whose fear of ghosts is overshadowed only by that of failing to protect his family.
John Brady McDonald joins us about his new book "Carrying It Forward: Essays from Kistahpinânihk"
Having "turned pro" 35 years ago, he has fifteen full-length books, 100+ published stories and 15 major anthology appearances to his name. He has also written for the radio and stage.
Miguel A. Fenrich is a Saskatchewan writer, photographer, and storyteller who engages the questions of our time by tackling thought-provoking topics while educating and entertaining via genre fiction novels.
He is the author of Blue: A Novel, owner of Battleford’s newset publishing company Supernova Press, and finished his first body of photographic work in 2020 titled Prairie Perspectives.
He currently works as a reporter for the Battleford’s News-Optimist, and is writing his second book, The Homesteaders, a 1930s prairie horror novel set to release on Friday the 13th, January 2023.
Raised on country music and Rock 'n' roll, and with a consistent professional career spanning multiple decades as a multi-award-winning solo recording artist, Heidi is well known in the music industry. Heidi has also produced and performed the highly acclaimed sold-out Passion of Amy Winehouse, along with headlining many successful show bands, covering multiple genres. This musical history has influenced her gutsy, energetic, emotional, and passionate performances.
Eric Alper is a Canadian music correspondent, blogger, radio host and former director of media relations, at eOne Music Canada based in Toronto, Ontario. Since 2016, Alper has run a music public relations company, That Eric Alper, and is the host of @ThatEricAlper show on SiriusXM.
Lynn Johnston is a Canadian cartoonist and author, best known for her newspaper comic strip For Better or For Worse. She was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award.
Michael Gates has worked in the cultural resource field in the Yukon for more than 40 years. He was the curator of collections for Parks Canada in Dawson City for 20 of them. He has written numerous technical papers on museology and cultural resource management, hundreds of articles and three books on Yukon history.
Derek Hayes has a passion for old maps and what they can reveal about the past.
He is the author of the best-selling Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest, which sold over 30,000 copies; the Historical Atlas of Canada, and Canada: An Illustrated History, and other fascinating historical books. Renowned historian, he brings colourful past to life through stunning maps, rare historical documents and rich stories.
Trained as a geographer at the University of Hull in England and at the University of British Columbia, he worked for a time as a planner with the Vancouver City Planning Department. Derek Hayes was for a number of years a columnist for Fine Books & Collections Magazine.
He lives in White Rock, British Columbia.
He began drawing cartoons on washroom walls as a kid. After being expelled from his first (and last) art class at the age of 15, he moved with his parents to England, then to Canada. While there, he worked at various jobs, from loading grain ships in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to surveying on the West Coast. Illustrating his mother Joan Raeside's children's books got him his start in the art business. Raeside began drawing editorial cartoons for the Times Colonist in Victoria, British Columbia in 1979.
Tamar Glouberman has spent much of her life working as an outdoor guide. That career has given her opportunities to work and travel in exotic places such as the Galapagos, Zambia and Peru, but she’s most grateful that it’s allowed her to enjoy many adventures in remote areas of North America, among wild rivers and grizzly bears. When she’s not off exploring the wilderness, she can often be found in Whistler, Montreal or on Vancouver Island. Tamar is a graduate of the Creative Writing MFA program at UBC.
When Bambi Sommers started writing romance thrillers, she felt like she’d come home. Years in a career which included writing ads for radio and television, along with loads of press releases, coupled with her voracious reading led her in the direction of her own stories. Diving into them with heart and humor, characters continue to take shape for each book and she continually hopes you’ll find entertainment, comfort and family in all.
Matt had always wanted to become a novelist, but held off too concerned about the prospect of failure. After a meeting with author David Baldacci, Matt asked him at 39, if he was too old to write his first novel. David, stopped mid-signature, looked up and him and said, “Oh, hell no. The industry could use some good young writers!” Upon hearing those words, Matt didn’t know if he should be more excited that he thought forty-years-old was still considered to be young or that this legendary man of the industry was telling him to go forth and his dream.
He started the first draft of Surviving the Lion’s Den, which was originally named The Iranian Plot, immediately after he got home.
dee Hobsbawn-Smith is equally at home writing essays, poetry, novels, short fiction, and journalism. Her award-winning writing is at times influenced by her earlier career in the food industry as a Red Seal chef, educator, Slow Food member and locavore advocate, editor, and mentor. Her work has appeared in literary journals, newspapers, magazines, websites, on the airwaves, and in numerous anthologies in Canada, the USA, and Scotland. Her literary books include Wildness Rushing in: poems; What Can’t Be Undone: stories; a chapbook, Jeanne Dark comes of age on the prairie; Bread & Water: essays (winner of the SK Book Awards Nonfiction Award); Danceland Diary: a novel; and Among the Untamed: poems (coming in 2023).
Jake Vaadeland is a self taught multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from Saskatchewan, Canada. His traditional sound and unique style could be defined as a blend of Bluegrass and 50s Rockabilly, with Jake also specializing on guitar and banjo in addition to his impressive vocals. Jake strives to write and play with a focus on storytelling and messages that he hopes his audience can relate to, all packaged in foot stomping, high energy performances with The Sturgeon River Boys.
Tara McGuire is a writer, voice-over actor, and former broadcaster. She is a graduate of The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University and holds an MFA from The School of Creative Writing at The University of British Columbia. She also holds an Honours Diploma in Radio Journalism from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
Tara’s first volume-length work: Holden After and Before, is a hybrid work in memoir and fiction exploring grief and the opioid crisis in the aftermath of the death of her son, Holden. It will be published by Arsenal Pulp Press in September 2022 in Canada, and October 2022 in the US.
Tree Abraham is a book designer, illustrator, writer, & maker of things. Born in Ottawa, based in Brooklyn.
Cary Fagan is a Canadian writer of novels, short stories, and children's books. His novel, The Student, was a finalist for the Toronto Book Award and the Governor General's Literary Award. Previously a short-story collection, My Life Among the Apes, was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and his widely praised adult novel, A Bird's Eye, was shortlisted for the 2013 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. His novel Valentine's Fall was nominated for the 2010 Toronto Book Award. Since publishing his first original children's book in 2001, he has published 25 children's titles
Laura Kalpakian is the author of sixteen novels and four collections of short fiction published in the US and the UK. Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and nominated for the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, her work has garnered acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Her short stories have appeared in the Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, and the US, UK, and India Good Housekeeping, as well as many other magazines and literary journals.
Scott Blackburn is an English instructor and a 2017 graduate of the Mountainview MFA program. He lives in High Point, North Carolina with his wife and two children. When he is not writing and teaching, Scott enjoys training in combat sports such as boxing, Muay Thai, and Ju-jitsu, in which he holds a black belt. His debut novel, IT DIES WITH YOU, released on June 7, 2022. Scott has also contributed to publications such as Crime Reads, Mystery Tribune, and Shotgun Honey.
Beautifully shot guitar photos, documenting the legendary instruments of B.B. King, Kurt Cobain, St. Vincent, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and more than one hundred and fifty icons of rock.
Lisa S. Johnson is taking the world of fine art photography on a rock and roll ride with her keen eye for detail. Johnson's work conjures the abstract yet possesses a sensual and ethereal aura, illustrating the intimate wear of each instrument featured.
Raising the bar, capturing the imagination of music fans everywhere each intimate photograph is accompanied by a touch of musical history or an anecdote or personal storytelling moment.
Connor Jackson is an avid fan of video games and fantasy/sci-fi stories. Inspired by such tales, and tired of encountering stories that import real-world politics and agendas into their narratives and development, he finally decided to write a fantasy story of his own in the hopes of telling a captivating tale that anyone, from any group or walk of life, can enjoy. Connor lives in British Columbia, Canada, with his wife.
Gary Goldstein writes for TV, film and the stage—and is now also a novelist.
He has written more than 15 produced telefilms including the comedies "The Wish List," "Hitched for the Holidays," "This Magic Moment" and "My Boyfriends' Dogs," and the first two movies in the "Flower Shop Mystery" series starring Brooke Shields. Gary's latest TV movie, "Lights! Camera! Christmas!" will premiere on Hallmark Channel in late 2022.
Tasnuva Hayden is a Canadian writer based in Calgary, Alberta, where she works as a consulting engineer and editor for filling Station, Canada's experimental literary magazine. Her work has appeared in Nōd Magazine, J'aipur Journal, Anti-Lang, carte blanche, Qwerty, and more.
Author of "My Mama is a Superhero!", a story inspired by a bedtime conversation between Lindsey and her daughter. They were discussing her day at school when her daughter, Ella, recounted a pre-school classmate had asked her about Lindsey’s wheelchair. Ella explained that she expressed to her friend that Lindsey’s disability in her eyes was not a limitation but a super power and how unique her mom’s wheelchair is. It was at that moment that Lindsey knew she needed to use her experience and inspiration along with her passion for writing to help educate other children and offer Ella’s unique perspective. Lindsey hopes that her story will allow readers to open up to the possibility of embracing individual differences to gain greater acceptance and understanding.
Dharma writes gritty crime thrillers about queer women who kick ass. Known for the Jinx Ballou Bounty Hunter series and the Shea Stevens Outlaw Biker series, they are one of the only openly transgender authors in the crime fiction genre. Dharma's action-driven thrillers explore the complexities of social and criminal justice in a world where the legal system favors the privileged.
Russell Wangersky was raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where his father was a professor of oceanography at Dalhousie University and his mother, a marine biologist, ran a tight ship.
His youth was spent exploring Halifax, with travel to Barcelona and Trondheim, Norway, when his family travelled on university sabbaticals.
After more than a decade of writing columns for Atlantic Canadian newspapers, Russell pulled up stakes and moved west. Today, Russell lives in Saskatoon, where he's married to author Leslie Vryenhoek. If managing two newspapers wasn't enough, he also has an active writing career and finds true joy in cooking. His seven books include short stories, novels and non-fiction.
Donna Gartshore lives in Saskatchewan, Canada .Donna has two books published with Love Inspired and a third one is coming soon. She has also published several short stories and poems with various literary publications and writes devotions. Donna loves family time, walks, coffee and movies with friends, serving in various capacities at the church she attends and talking about books and writing with her friends and the writing community.
Chelene Knight is the author of the Braided Skin and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award, and long-listed for the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature. Her essays have appeared in multiple Canadian and American literary journals, plus the Globe and Mail, the Walrus, and the Toronto Star. Her work is anthologized in Making Room, Love Me True, Sustenance, The Summer Book, and Black Writers Matter, winner of the 2020 Saskatchewan Book Award.
Madeline Sonik is an award-winning and eclectic writer, anthologist, and teacher, who lives in Victoria, British Columbia. Her books include a novel, Arms; short fiction, Drying the Bones; a children’s novel, Belinda and the Dustbunnys; two poetry collections, Stone Sightings and The Book of Changes. Her volume of personal essays, Afflictions & Departures, was nominated for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, was a finalist for the Charles Taylor Prize, and won the 2012 City of Victoria Butler Book Prize.
Meet Debbie Burke, crime novelist. She writes Montana thrillers infused with psychological suspense. Her quirky characters, witty dialogue, and breakneck plot twists are hallmarks of the Tawny Lindholm Thrillers with Passion series. In The Job Interview, Tawny Lindholm, 50, hopes to embark on a new career as a novice investigator for brilliant but bombastic attorney Tillman Rosenbaum. Tawny is inexperienced but whip-smart. Tillman has seen too much evil and trusts no one. Their meeting starts off on the wrong foot and careens downhill from there.
Laurie writes fast-paced thrillers set in the Pacific Northwest featuring a trifecta of malice and the pursuit and cost of justice. and the pursuit and cost of justice. She is a photographer and avid reader, carrying a laptop, book, and camera with her wherever she goes.
Brendan McLeod is a Canadian spoken word artist, musician and novelist. His work often deals with the exploration of social and political commentary, family histrionics, surreal love poems, obscure adventure stories, and powerful personal stories.
Emma Côté is from a small town in Northern Ontario, where the winters were long but the books were aplenty. As a result, she went on to study journalism, English literature and creative writing and most recently completed a postgraduate certificate in publishing. When Emma isn’t re-reading or re-writing a novel, she can be found taking walks in the forest, and asking people if she can pet their dog. Unrest is her debut novel.
Suspense, thriller and mystery author. Traveler. Art collector. Foodie. Dog owner. Party giver.
Michael Barclay is the author of the 2018-19 national bestseller The Never-Ending Present: The Story of Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip and co-author of 2001's Have Not Been the Same: The CanRock Renaissance 1985-95, both on ECW Press. He's a broadcaster and award-winning magazine journalist with work in Maclean's, the Globe and Mail, the New York Times and more. He blogs at Radio Free Canuckistan.
Rick Mofina is a Canadian author of crime fiction and thriller novels. He grew up in Belleville, Ontario, and began writing short stories in school, selling his first short story at the age of fifteen. As a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, the International Crime Writers Association, and the Crime Writers' Association and Crime Writers of Canada, Rick continues to be a featured panelist at mystery conferences across the United States and Canada.
Drawing inspiration from his family, friends and the world around him, Glenn creates the stories that will capture the imagination and inspire young readers. He is thrilled to bring the 5-book series of “Dorie Daydream in the land of Idoj” to everyone, and hopes that readers will find it as exciting and motivating to read it as it was to write it.
At times funny, at other times sad, and more than often a mixture of the two, Giving Up by Mike Steeves is a deeply felt account of what goes on in the inner sanctum of a modern couple’s apartment.
With an unrelenting prose style and pitch-black humour, Giving Up addresses difficult topics—James’s ruinous ambition, and Mary’s quiet anguish—in a funny and relatable way.
Sami Jo Small is a Canadian former ice hockey goaltender. As a member of the Canadian national team, she was a three-time Olympic medalist and four-time World Championship medalist. One of the founders of the now defunct Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL), she served in the role of vice-chair during the league's inaugural season and went on to play ten seasons in the league.
Alice Kuipers is a British-born author living in Saskatchewan, Canada who is best known for her young adult novels. Life on the Refrigerator Door won the Grand Prix de Viarmes, the Livrentête Prize, the Redbridge Teenage Book Award in 2008 and the Saskatchewan First Book Award in 2007. Yann Martel is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize–winning novel Life of Pi, an international bestseller published in more than 50 territories. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and spent more than a year on the bestseller lists of the New York Times and The Globe and Mail, among many other best-selling lists. It was adapted for a film directed by Ang Lee, garnering four Oscars including Best Director and winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.
Dennis joins them both to discuss the life of writing.
His books, first published in the early 1990’s as contemporary fiction, achieved critical acclaim and his first novel One Oblique One was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association John Creasy Award for the best debut crime novel of the year in 1991. This was the first year that the award was opened up to global competition and Keith was pipped to the award by the fabulous Walter Moseley’s Devil in a Blue Dress.
The author was fortunate to publish three further Inspector Stark novels to some critical approval:
Trace and Eliminate
Addressed to Kill
*Fair Means or Foul
Something To Hold, a book filled with inspiration from Jane’s lifelong experiences as a clear and direct channel for Spirit Guides.
Katie Hyslop writes about education and youth issues for The Tyee.
They are interested in the social justice aspects of education, and how youth adapt and respond to our rapidly changing world. Their work has appeared in Megaphone, the Vancouver Sun and Yes! magazine, as well as CBC Radio shows On The Coast, Daybreak North and The Current.
Jeffery Straker grew up taking piano lessons in small-town Saskatchewan and has gone on to perform over 100 shows per year across Canada, Europe and Latin America. The rootsy-storytelling of his songs has the power to transport a listener – out onto a lake in Canada’s North or to the main street of a prairie town. A clever lyricist with an energetic piano style, his song writing has drawn critical comparisons to the likes of Harry Chapin, Kris Kristofferson & Billy Joel, while maintaining a style distinctly his own.
KATHRYN BARNETT lives in Hampshire, England. She is a qualified homeopath and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Homeopathy from Middlesex University. Her interest in natural medicine inspires her writing, having had an article published by THE GREEN PARENT MAGAZINE on homeopathy and pregnancy, which motivated her to write her debut novel: TRUST ME ON THIS ONE, EMILY.
Born in Denzil, Saskatchewan, the eldest of six children her parents were farmers. Her first passion was reading, reading every Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Bobbsey Twins book ever published. Sneaking off to the outhouse with a book was a favorite trick - sometimes it worked for an hour or so till she was discovered.
She had recipes scribbled on restaurant napkins, the inside of envelopes, all manner of scraps of paper. Soon the piles became unmanageable when looking for a recipe. The progression to cookbook seemed natural. Initially published in 1989, Cooking Country Style has been revised and is in its fifth printing.
Jill started life in Lamlash street, moved on to Grammar school, got numerous ‘O’and ‘A’ levels and after a few years working in London in a solicitor’s office decided that she would emigrate to Canada. She spent 30 years working there as an Occupational Therapist and Hospital manager, and towards the end of her career when other people were slowing down their lives, she sped everything up. She divorced, moved to Edmonton for 3 years, and finished writing her Masters of Occupational Therapy thesis. On one of her many trips to see family in Bexleyheath, she was listening to her Uncles war stories and dreamed of writing a book about family life at Lamlash Street and WWII. When Uncle died suddenly, she decided it was to time to put this dream into action. The most rewarding aspect of writing this book, has been the time spent with her mother talking about the early days and looking through the family photographs. It is in effect a celebration to a way of life long gone.
Canadian novelist and short story writer, best known for his Western novel trilogy, The Englishman's Boy, The Last Crossing, and A Good Man set in the 19th-century American and Canadian West. Vanderhaeghe has won three Governor General's Awards for his fiction, one for his short story collection Man Descending in 1982, the second for his novel The Englishman's Boy in 1996, and the third for his short story collection Daddy Lenin and Other Stories in 2015.
Lindsay Zier-Vogel is a Toronto-based writer, arts educator and the creator of the internationally-acclaimed Love Lettering Project. After studying contemporary dance, she received her MA in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. Her writing has been widely published in Canada and the U.K. Since 2001, she has been teaching creative writing workshops in schools and communities. Her hand-bound books are housed in the permanent collection at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in Toronto. As the creator of the Love Lettering Project, Lindsay has asked people all over the world to write love letters to their communities and hide them for strangers to find, spreading place-based love. Lindsay also writes children's books. Because of The Love Lettering Project, CBC Radio has deemed Lindsay a "national treasure." Letters to Amelia is her first book.
Chris Austin Hadfield OC OOnt MSC CD is a Canadian retired astronaut, engineer, singer, fighter pilot and author. The first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in space, Hadfield has flown two Space Shuttle missions and served as commander of the International Space Station (ISS). Prior to his career as an astronaut, Hadfield served in the Canadian Forces for 25 years as an Air Command fighter pilot. Dennis and he discuss his book, The Apollo Murders.
Jenna Greene is a middle school teacher, dance enthusiast, dragonboat coach, and semi-professional napper. She lives with her husband, Scott, and daughter, Olivia, in Alberta, Canada.
Raphael "Ralph" Benmergui (born 1955) is a Canadian television and radio personality, a writer, an ordained spiritual director, and a strategic advisor in political, environmental, and academic realms. Dennis talks with Ralph about his book, "I thought he was dead".
Born in Kamloops, British Columbia, Adam currently lives in Saskatoon.
He was educated at the University of Northern BC (BA, 2006; MA, 2008) and the University of Saskatchewan (PhD, 2016).
He was born deaf in both ears, and sensory calibration helped him become a writer by stoking my imagination and lending me a unique relationship with language. He was inspired by Mordecai Richler, John Steinbeck, Toni Morrison, Elie Wiesel, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Albert Camus, Hunter S. Thompson, Richard Van Camp, Brad Fraser, and Margaret Laurence.
Cassandra Gay Peterson (born September 17, 1951) is an American actress, writer, and singer. She is best known for her portrayal of the horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Peterson gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ-TV in her stage persona as Elvira, hosting Elvira's Movie Macabre, a weekly B movie presentation.
Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Jacqueline D'Acre had an old-fashioned childhood: playing in the street, milk delivered by horse-drawn wagons. From age three, She was riding horses every day. She moved to San Francisco and went to Lone Mountain College, an adjunct to the University of San Francisco, on a Drama scholarship. She then worked in Alaska at an ad agency as a media buyer and copywriter. Later, she moved to New Orleans and worked as writer/director on over 100 productions. She published her first novel, Between Extremities. In 2004 she moved back to Thunder Bay and published her second novel—a mystery, set in Louisiana, titled Hot Blooded Murder.
Elisabeth de Mariaffi is a Canadian writer, whose debut short story collection How to Get Along With Women was a longlisted nominee for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a shortlisted nominee for the ReLit Award in 2013.
Her poetry and fiction have been published in literary magazines including CV2, Descant, The Fiddlehead, This Magazine and The New Quarterly. Her first poetry chapbook, Letter on St. Valentine's Day, was published in 2009. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Guelph.
In 2015, she published her debut novel The Devil You Know.
Originally from Toronto, Ontario, she is currently based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Dawn Dumont is a Plains Cree writer, former lawyer, comedian and journalist from the Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Her first book, Nobody Cries at Bingo (2011), is a fictionalized, humorous account of her own life growing up on a reserve. Dumont says that the book was inspired by the writing of David Sedaris. In 2012 it was shortlisted for an Alberta Readers' Choice Award and a Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Award, and selected for the Canadian Children's Book Centre's Best Books for Kids and Teens. In 2021, the French translation of the book (On pleure pas au bingo, translated by Daniel Grenier) was nominated for the Governor General's Award for English to French translation at the 2020 Governor General's Awards.
Born to the 1958 Cape Breton coal town road of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and primarily raised in Halifax, RON JAMES moved to Toronto after graduating from Acadia University with a BA in History. Once in Toronto, he joined the premiere breeding ground of North American comedy, the Second City.
Canada's most verbally virtuosic comic makes his literary debut—and he's just as richly, gloriously funny on the page as on stage.
John Patrick "Jack" Perconte (born August 31, 1954) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. Perconte played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1986.
Perconte has authored four books - “The Success Trail: Learn to Win with a Marathon Runner’s Mindset” "Creating a Season to Remember: The New Youth Sports Coaching Leadership Handbook"The Making of a Hitter- A Proven and Practical Step-by-Step Baseball Guide" and "Raising an Athlete- How to Instill Confidence, Build Skills and Inspire a Love of Sport"
Don spent pretty much his entire working career at the Ottawa Citizen. Hired right out of journalism school and he worked there for over 40 years.
In his book, A Life of Bliss, Bliss Browning has few friends, a failed marriage and a pathological fear of adventure. His sole claim to fame is his vast knowledge of the late opera diva Maria Callas. When someone purporting to be Callas contacts him from beyond the grave with an astonishing proposition, Bliss’s humdrum world is turned upside down.
Quinn Kayser-Cochran lives in Colorado. He was a 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Writer semi-finalist. Widowmaker is his second novel and the first in a planned series following Shepard Sunday through America's pre-Depression West.
Lover of nature and chocolate, and a student of life Joann spent most of her life on the Plains of Nebraska. She is the author of the Pepperville Stories, about 50 years in the town of Pepperville, Iowa.
She also wrote a series of mystery books.
The "J" is for Jo-Anne. Her memories are sitting in her father's lap with a picture book from the library while her Dad would help her sound them out. Known for her Blood Mark series, where life has always been a battle for her protagonist Jane Walker. She and her best friend, Sadie,fight to survive Vancouver’s cutthroat underbelly.
Originally from Lancashire, she now lives with her husband and two cat overlords in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire. After many years of teaching very small children, she decided to finally put her degree in Classical Studies, along with decades of re-enacting 16th and 17th century life, to constructive use authoring the Ships of Britannia series.
Kent Allen is a Saskatoon actor, and has done a series of shows with Persephone, Dancing Sky and Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan theatres.
John Brady McDonald is a Nehiyawak-Metis writer, artist, historian, musician, playwright, actor and activist born and raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is from the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and the Mistawasis Nehiyawak. The great-great-great grandson of Chief Mistawasis of the Plains Cree, as well as the grandson of famed Metis leader Jim Brady, John’s writings and artwork have been displayed in various publications, private and permanent collections and galleries around the world, including the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
John is the author of several books, and has had his written works published and presented around the globe. John has studied at England’s prestigious University of Cambridge, where in July 2000 he made international headlines by symbolically ‘discovering’ and ‘claiming’ England for the First Peoples of the Americas. John is also an acclaimed public speaker, who has presented in venues across the globe, such as the Anskohk Aboriginal Literature Festival, the Black Hills Seminars on Reclaiming Youth, The Appalachian Mountain Seminars, the Edmonton and Fort McMurray Literary Festival, the Eden Mills Writers Festival and at the Ottawa International Writers Festival. John was honoured with the opportunity to speak in Australia in April of 2001. John was also included in the Aboriginal Artists and Performers Inventory for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC.
Science fiction fantasy author Tobin Marks has created an alien watery world called Aqueous. Orbiting a Red Dwarf 1187 light years from Earth, Aqueous is teeming with dangerous reptilian life…and one long forgotten human colony.
Marks is a world traveler who grew up in a household of rocket scientists. As a boy he had a front row seat observing many NASA and NOAA projects and always dreamed of reaching the stars. Now from his home in north west Baja he has written the trilogy: The Hope Prophecy. Book one: Endeavors Run, is a blend of real science, science fiction, and fantasy. Book two: Katana Red, and book three: Drakon Rus, are exciting continuations to the series.
His prequel to the Hope Prophecy: Ark of the Apocalypse, was released by Boyle & Dalton on March 12, 2021. Marks is now working on the second trilogy: The Hope Progression.
Alan Strachan is a Canadian sports author and journalist. A former sports columnist for The Globe and Mail, Montreal Gazette, and Toronto Sun, he won the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1993 and is a member of the media section of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He is also a former panelist on Hockey Night in Canada and analyst on The Score.
The eldest of eight siblings, Catherine was born and raised in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Her parents are William Earl Gourdier and Mary Wanita (Neta) Tuepah. She moved to the ‘big city’ of Toronto at eighteen years old to attend Seneca College. After taking their Cosmetics Technique and Management course, she became a certified esthetician and cosmetician. Two years later, bored with filing nails and waxing women’s body parts she enrolled at Humber College to study Sales Management and Marketing. For sixteen years Catherine enjoyed a successful career as an independent sales agent under her company name, Ladyhawke Ventures Inc.
In 1991, an unexpected event finally led her to follow her dream of working in the film and television industry. Initially her jobs were in front of the camera; background extra, actress and stand- in. Within eighteen months she found out her strength (and regular income!) would be in the detail-oriented job of the second assistant director. A full list of the productions she worked on can be found on IMDB. Her two favorite gigs were as the Rehearsal Manager/A.D. for the musical Chicago and producing and writing the screenplay for a low budget film entitled, Some Things That Stay, based on the book by Sarah Willis.
Dafydd Rhys Williams OC OOnt CCFP FCFP FRCPC FRCP (born May 16, 1954) is a Canadian physician, public speaker, CEO, author and a retired CSA astronaut. Williams was a mission specialist on two space shuttle missions. His first spaceflight, STS-90 in 1998, was a 16-day mission aboard Space Shuttle Columbia dedicated to neuroscience research. His second flight, STS-118 in August 2007, was flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station. During that mission he performed three spacewalks, becoming the third Canadian to perform a spacewalk and setting a Canadian record for total number of spacewalks. These spacewalks combined for a total duration of 17 hours and 47 minutes
Jeffrey Morgan is a Canadian writer and photographer who is best known for being the authorized biographer of both Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop and The Stooges. He is also the writer of the graphic novel The Brides of Mister X and Other Stories[4] which Rolling Stone called "one of the 50 best non-superhero graphic novels". In 2021, New Haven published Morgan's autobiography Rock Critic Confidential as a hardcover coffee table book containing over fifty years of Morgan's writing and photography
Anvil are a Canadian heavy metal band from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 1978. The band currently consists of founding members Steve "Lips" Kudlow (vocals, guitar) and Robb Reiner (drums), and Chris Robertson (bass). As of 2021, the band has released eighteen studio albums, and has been cited as having influenced many notable heavy metal groups, including Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica.
Arthur Douglas was the son of a lawyer and schoolteacher. He was an active child. Doing was more important than reading. Arthur told his 11th grade English teacher, “I don’t have time to read, I’m too busy having adventures. One day people read about my adventures.”
Later, Arthur became very fond of reading. The author has chronicled his experiences all his life. Literary influences were John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Jeffrey Archer, and W.E.B. Griffin.
The Motel: Lessons in Regret is the first of the books set to release over the next few years. The novel is loosely based upon the author and his life experiences and for these first novels, Arthur spent 8 years managing motels. Follow the adventures of Jack as he discovers what really matters in life.
James Donaldson, independent author and disabled veteran, is realizing his lifelong dream of writing speculative fiction. James’ writing philosophy revolves around “...eldritch styled adventure stories I’d enjoy reading.”
James crafts his books (novels, novellas and novelettes) in a continuing series referred to as "The Corsair Adventures". The series follows a single protagonist, Nash (Code Name: The Corsair), through his different mysterious, exciting and sometimes supernatural adventures.
James Donaldson is a former police officer and decorated combat veteran. He currently lives in Utah with his family where he continues to write.
Robert Lawson is a lifelong fan of The Guess Who, starting with his very first concert at age two. He has spent years tracking the band's recording history and consulted closely with many Guess Who experts to compile this comprehensive guide. He is the author of Razama-Snaz! The Listener's Guide to Nazareth and Still Competition: The Listener's Guide to Cheap Trick. He lives in Toronto with his wife.... --This text refers to the hardcover edition.
Marion Mutala has a master’s degree in educational administration and taught for 30 years. With a passion for the arts, she loves to write, sing, play pickle-ball, play guitar, travel and read. Marion is the author of the National Bestselling, Award-winning Children’s Books series, Baba’s Babushka.
Joel Selvin (born February 14, 1950) is an American San Francisco-based music critic and author known for his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle, which ran from 1972 to 2009. Selvin has written books covering various aspects of pop music—including the No. 1 New York Times best-seller Red: My Uncensored Life In Rock with Sammy Hagar—and has interviewed many musical artists. Selvin has published articles in Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, Billboard, and Melody Maker, and has written liner notes for dozens of recorded albums. He has appeared in documentaries about the music scene and has occasionally taken the stage himself as a rock and roll singer.
Canadian country singer-songwriter, Tommy John Ehman joins us again. He released his new single, a new take on the Bruce Springsteen classic hit, “Hungry Heart”.
Linwood Barclay, a New York Times bestselling author with twenty novels to his credit, spent three decades in newspapers before turning full time to writing thrillers. His books have been translated into more than two dozen languages, sold millions of copies, and he counts Stephen King among his fans. Many of his books have been optioned for film and TV, a series has been made in France, and he wrote the screenplay for the film based on his novel Never Saw it Coming. Born in the US, his parents moved to Canada just as he was turning four, and he’s lived there ever since. He lives near Toronto with his wife, Neetha. They have two grown children.
Avanti Centrae is the author of the international multi-award-winning and #1 best selling VanOps thriller series. An instant Barnes and Noble Nook bestseller, The Lost Power took home a genre grand prize ribbon at the Chanticleer International Book Awards, a bronze medal at the Wishing Shelf Awards, and an Honorable Mention at the Hollywood Book Festival. Solstice Shadows also released as a Barnes and Noble bestseller, and quickly became a #1 Amazon bestseller, before winning a bronze medal at the Readers' Favorite book awards and nabbing the Chanticleer Global Thrillers Genre Grand Prize. Her father served as a U.S. marine corporal in Okinawa, gathering military intelligence during the first decade after the Korean War. Her work has been compared to that of James Rollins, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, and Clive Cussler. When not travelling the world or hiking in the Sierra mountains, she resides in Northern California with her family and German shepherds.
Glenn Dixon's fourth book, Bootleg Stardust, is about a band in 1974, and for it the author created a full soundtrack of songs. Recorded on the legendary Rolling Stones Mobile Studio and then mastered at Abbey Road Studios, the project was the dream of a lifetime. His previous book, Juliet's Answer was published in twelve countries and translated into five languages including Chinese, Spanish and German. His second book, Tripping the World Fantastic, was a travelogue about music around the world. He has written for the New Yorker, National Geographic magazine, Psychology Today and the Globe and Mail. He lives In Calgary.
STEPHEN R. BOWN has written ten books on the history of exploration, science, and ideas--including books on the medical mystery of scurvy, the Treaty or Tordesillas, the lives of Captain George Vancouver and of Roald Amundsen and a doomed Russian sea voyage. His books have been published in multiple English-speaking territories, translated into nine languages and shortlisted for many awards. He has won the BC Book Prize, the Alberta Book Award, the William Mills Prize for Polar Books. His previous book, The Island of Blue Foxes, about Vitus Bering's voyage to Alaska, was shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize. Born in Ottawa, he now live near Banff in the Canadian Rockies.
Genevieve went to university to be a professional oboe player, and she had never planned to be a writer. Writing her first story after turning forty she is proof that you’re never too old to try something new.
If anyone understands that life is what you make it, it’s Darci. She quite literally went out and built the life she wanted. She has worked for great leaders and not so great leaders, built three award-winning businesses and let them go when the time was right. All she has accomplished has been done on her own terms and by Focusing on the 90% - on the positive in her world.
Informed by his direct experience with stigma and the mental health care system, Mark Henick dedicated his life from an early age to opening minds and creating change.
He has previously served as the youngest president of a provincial Canadian Mental Health Association division in history, the youngest member of the board of directors for the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and a national spokesperson for the Faces of Mental Illness campaign. He has worked as a front line mental health counsellor, and the manager of a national workplace mental health training program. Prior to his present role, Mark oversaw the Fund Development and Marketing & Communications portfolios for the Canadian Mental Health Association as National Director of Strategic Initiatives.
Erik Raschke received an M.A. in Creative Writing from the City College of New York. His first novel, The Book of Samuel (St. Martin's Press in 2009) was translated into Italian and nominated for the prestigious Printz award. His short stories and essays have been published in, among others, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, Hazlitt, Georgia Review, De Volkskrant, and Guernica.
Starting as a reporter in the early nineties Erik covered the violence that marked the end of The Troubles. He also worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Armenia. Originally from Colorado, he became a dual Dutch and American citizen in 2013. He has three boys, one who is autistic.
David More is a historical novelist from Kingston. He is known for the Smithyman Saga, a military-historical fiction series set in the 18th century.
Helen Humphreys is a Canadian poet and novelist. Humphreys's first novel, Leaving Earth, was a New York Times Notable Book in 1998, and a winner of the City of Toronto Book Award.
Deana Driver is an award-winning author, editor, book publisher, and retired journalist. She was a freelance journalist for 30 years and, in 2008, founded DriverWorks Ink publishing, which specializes in inspiring non-fiction books about Prairie people and publishes other genres connected to non-fiction stories. Deana (pronounced dee-na) has written five non-fiction books: The Sailor and the Christmas Trees - A True Story; Never Leave Your Wingman: Dionne and Graham Warner's Story of Hope; From The West to the World: The Story of Underwood McLellan/UMA Group; Never Give Up: Ted Jaleta's Inspiring Story; and Just a Bunch of Farmers: The Story of Weyburn Inland Terminal 1976-2001.
Kaj Hasselriis is a Canadian journalist, community activist and politician. Kaj has a journalism degree from Toronto's Ryerson University. Kaj worked as a reporter and producer for CBC Television. Hasselriis served as the Manitoba campaign manager for Jack Layton's leadership bid in 2002. He also played a key role as a member of Toronto mayor David Miller's 2003 campaign team.
Todd Downing is the primary author and designer of over fifty roleplaying titles, including Arrowflight, RADZ, Airship Daedalus, and the official Red Dwarf RPG for Deep7 Press. He has written for stage, screen, comics, audiodrama, short-form and long-form, interactive and narrative, in a career spanning three decades.
Morgan Murray grew up on a farm near the same backwoods central Alberta village as figure-skating legend Kurt Browning. He now lives in the backwoods of Cape Breton with his wife, cartoonist Kate Beaton, Mary the baby, Agnes the dog, Reggie the cat, Peggy the ditch kitten, and six chickens without names because they all look alike. He has a BA in Canadian Studies from the University of Calgary, a Certificate in Central and Eastern European Studies from the University of Economics, Prague, a MPhil in Humanities from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a participation ribbon for beef calf showmanship (incomplete) from the Little Britches 4-H Club, Caroline, Alberta.
Larry Stone is a Seattle Times sports columnist and Co-author of "Edgar: An Autobiography".
Kevin Major (born September 12, 1949) is a Canadian author who lives in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador with his wife. He writes for both young people and adults, including fiction, literary non-fiction, poetry, and plays. The novels were usually set on the island of Newfoundland. In 1992, he was awarded the Vicky Metcalf Award for his body of work.
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Melissa was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario. When she was 19, she was returning home from a night out with her friends in Detroit, Michigan. She became stranded on the freeway just minutes away from the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. She was subsequently robbed at gunpoint, kidnapped and over a terrifying twelve hour period, gang raped repeatedly.
Working closely with the Detroit police, the perpetrators were brought to justice and three of the men remain incarcerated today.
Melissa’s Canadian best-selling book The Queen's Daughter describes in detail the assault and the aftermath of being a rape victim.
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H. Paul Doucette is a widower living Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He spent his life travelling and working in dozens of countries as a transportation specialist. A self described 'hippie' he hitch hiked all over North America and parts of Mexico. He was active during the civil rights and anti war movements of the late sixties and early seventies.
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Kathryn Valentine (born January 7, 1959) is an American musician (guitar and bass) and songwriter. She made music history as a member of the Go-Go's, the first all-female band to have a #1 album in the U.S.
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Billy Newton-Davis grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and as a teenager he was one of two lead singers in a local soul band called “The Illusions”.
Billy received Junos for best R&B/soul recording for his first two albums "Love Is a Contact Sport" (1986) and "Spellbound" (1989), and more recently a Juno for best dance recording of the year for his work with deadmau5 on “All U Ever Want.” Billy is featured on releases by The Boomtang Boys, Nino Anthony, and MelleeFresh. From 1991-93, he was a member of Canadian super singing group, The Nylons.
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Mary Harelkin Bishop has lived in Canada for most of her life, she was actually born in Hillsdale, Michigan, on April 30, 1958.
Even though Mary has authored four books about the adventures of a contemporary teenager, Andrea Talbot, and her younger brother, Tony, in the tunnels below Moose Jaw, SK in the 1920's, Mary did not specifically intend to become a children's writer. She says that her various writings have always ranged from things of interest to kindergarten to grade two children right through to adult materials. However, after during a family visit to the tunnels of Moose Jaw, Mary became fascinated by the tunnels and their stories and decided to write about them.
Clint Malarchuk is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1981 and 1992. He has been a coach for four NHL teams and two minor league teams, most recently the Calgary Flames. He was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, raised in Edmonton, Alberta, and lives in Alberta and Nevada.
Raised on a farm just outside of Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, Kevin went off into the world and fulfilled many of his childhood dreams, which included working in the film business as a screenwriter, director, producer, and film editor and also establishing himself as a freelance writer and editor in the world of book publishing.
Jeff Hutcheson (born April 15, 1954 in Toronto, Ontario) is a former Canadian weather and sports anchor for Canada AM.
McLauchlan was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland;[ he immigrated to Canada with his family when he was five years old. He grew up in suburban Toronto. At 17, he began playing at coffeehouses in Toronto's Yorkville area and later attended Central Tech as an art student before deciding to become a full-time musician.
Diane Bator has been a writer since she was able to hold a pencil and tell a story. An avid hiker, Reiki Master and martial artist, she loves to make a mess in the kitchen and putters in the garden at will. Joining the Headwaters Writers' Group in 2007 was the catalyst for unearthing several old writing projects. Her first murder mystery, Murder on Manitou, was published after winning a writing contest in 2010. Diane lives in Ontario.
KEN CUTHBERTSON is a veteran journalist with forty years' experience writing for publications in Canada, the US and the UK. A finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award, he is the bestselling author of five books, including the critically acclaimed The Halifax Explosion: Canada's Worst Disaster.
About Jane Jane Johnson is a British writer and publisher who writes historical fiction set mainly in Cornwall and Morocco. Her novels include The Tenth Gift, The Salt Road, The Sultan's Wife, Pillars of Light, Court of Lions and The Sea Gate
In her book "Extraterrestrial Contact" she helps any "Contactee" or "Experiencer" come to terms with their encounter and gives a lot of advice on how to deal with these, sometimes, deeply unsettling experiences. Kathleen spearheads a new frontier into ET contact and actually helps you come to terms with the psychological affects many encounter, and something which is largely due to a complete lack of understanding from a vast majority of the population.
Author of Owl Eyes: A Fairy Tale (Fire & Ice YA, 2018) and Lentils in Black Rice: Myths and Fairy Tales (2019), Molly holds a Bachelor's degree in Theatre Arts and English from the University of Pennsylvania. From 2004 until 2008, she was an editor at Marvel Comics, where she worked on comic books such as Fantastic Four, Captain America, and New Avengers and was the editor of cult favorite comic book Spider-Girl.
Andrew Pyper (born March 29, 1968) is a prize-winning Canadian author. He has published many short stories and novels, which have been translated in to several languages.
Fleury was born on June 29, 1968, in Oxbow, Saskatchewan. Fleury is of Métis heritage, as his grandmother Mary was Cree. Fleury was subject to racism for being of the Metis descent throughout his playing career. A Canadian former professional ice hockey player, Fleury played for the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL)
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There are plenty of "oldies but goodies" shows on the radio that like to countdown the hits. Dave the Rave's Relics and Rarities Show doesn't count down anything. Most of the tunes played on Dave's show are not focused on the same repetitive oldies that placed in the Top 20.
Dave is not simply trying to play obscure music simply for the sake of being obscure. Quite the opposite! Dave the Rave is giving credit to music that deserves a chance to be heard. The 45's that simply fell through the cracks and will leave you scratching your heads in disbelief that what you just heard never became a Top 40 hit.
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Wide Mouth Mason is a Canadian blues-based rock band, consisting of Shaun Verreault (Lead Vocals, Guitar) and Safwan Javed (Percussion, Backing Vocals). Former bassist Earl Pereira was also co-founder of Wide Mouth Mason. The band hails from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and has been active since 1995.
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Jonathan Manthorpe is the author of three books on international relations, politics, and history, including the national bestseller and Globe and Mail Top 100 Books of 2019, Claws of the Panda: Beijing's Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada. Over his fifty-year career as a journalist, he has been the foreign correspondent in Asia, Africa, and Europe for Southam News, the European Bureau Chief for the Toronto Star, and the national reporter for The Globe and Mail.
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Gord Hume is recognized as one of Canada’s leading voices on municipal government, sustainable urban development, cultural planning, and creative cities. He is a passionate and provocative public speaker, an advisor to civic governments, and a respected and thoughtful author and commentator on local government and community issues.
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It's been some time since the release of the podcast, and the initial interview with Dennis himself. Let's catch up with him.
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Known for the Rising Son trilogy, Dennis interviews R.L. Pace.
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A journalist by trade and nature, passionate about newspapers, magazines and even some websites. Diving into the fight between good and evil.
She didn't set out to write the Great Canadian novel (or notebook). She writes something fun to read, fast-paced, with a salting of morality, a dash of peppery sex.
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We interview blogger Ruth Adams, who blogs as Widow's Endorphins. Endorphins are natural pain and stress relievers. She writes and photographs for her own healing and joy.
Allan Kehler joins us again in a follow up interview.
It's one year later and we catch up with Allan Kehler again since the release of his new book "MENtal Health...It's Time to Talk". Men and mental health is the focus and Allan shares stories from some very brave men.
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Kim Mitchell is a rock musician. He was the lead singer and guitarist for the band Max Webster, before going on to a solo career. His 1984 single, "Go For Soda", was his only charted song on the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 86. He put out six other singles, "Patio Lanterns", "Rock and Roll Duty", "Rockland Wonderland", "Expedition Sailor", "America", and "Some Folks".
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Eric Wilder grew up in Louisiana listening to his grandmothers' tales of ghosts and voodoo. He is the author of the French Quarter Mystery Series featuring sleuth Wyatt Thomas, and the Buck McDivit Mystery Series. He is also the author of several best-selling regional cookbooks, including Lily's Little Cajun Cookbook, in which he shares both recipes, stories, and even a few tall tales. He lives in Edmond, Oklahoma where he continues to write and fantasize about his next spicy dish of etouffee.
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She is a poet, and the author of 25 books, and co-founder of FPoint Collective, a photography collective; and Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal, a magazine that promotes uplifting and positive poetry, no matter the topic. She is the former Head of Marketing and Communications at Connexion Franco Coop.
Ashley Morin was a Saskatchewan woman last seen July 10, 2018. Police announced that she is the victim of a homicide, which they announced on the one-year anniversary of her disappearance. Two years after she disappeared friends and family of Ashley Morin, are on a journey to keep her memory alive. Ood Galifrey from the Occultae Veritatis Podcast sits down with her family, to discuss this tragic story. If anyone has any information about what happened to her, we urge you to please to come forward with what you know.
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Jenn joins us to learn about Saskatchewan's outstanding food artisans and local food system.
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John Mighton is a Canadian mathematician, author, and playwright. He was awarded the Order of Canada. He founded JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies) Math, a charitable organization that works to educate students in mathematics. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Toronto.
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Anne Nelson (born 1954) is an American journalist, author, playwright, and professor. From 1980 to 1983, Nelson served as a war correspondent in El Salvador and Guatemala. She currently teaches at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.
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David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett, 13 September 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and in 2007 his jazz/rock composition "Spinning Wheel" was enshrined in the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame. In 2010 Clayton-Thomas received his star on Canada's Walk of Fame.
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Beth Torbert (born June 15, 1971) is an Indo-Canadian singer-songwriter, actress, and motivational speaker best known by her stage name Bif Naked. Between 1995 and 2016, Bif Naked was among the Top 150 selling Canadian artists in Canada.
Bif played with punk bands Gorilla Gorilla and Chrome Dog. She has toured Europe, the United States, and Canada as a headlining act, and has performed on bills with: Snoop Dogg, Billy Idol, Dido, Devin Townsend, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Chrissie Hynde, Foo Fighters, The Cult, Prodigy, Smashing Pumpkins, Ministry and Green Day.
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Growing up in Montreal, Andy Kim is known for his 1960s and 1970s musical hits. He co-wrote "Sugar, Sugar" in 1968 and sang on the recording as part of The Archies; it was #1 for four weeks and was "Record of the Year" for 1969.
Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada. Mr. Towstego entered this world with an audience watching! Nurses and doctors in training watched the delivery! Anthony has dedicated his life to the production of quality television and film production. He likes to be involved in programs of "significance" that are earthly bound, but with heavenly meaning. He Produced the first feature film in Saskatoon in the fall of 1996. This was the first major feature film shot in that city, with a modest budget of 1 million dollars, called Crisis.
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Theo Tams is a Canadian singer. His debut album, Give It All Away, was released on 19 May 2009 by Sony Music Canada. He auditioned for Canadian Idol in February 2008, and would later win. Tams came out as gay during the show's run by referring to a male partner during one of his post-performance interviews.
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John Peter "Jay" Semko is a singer/songwriter and bassist with Canadian band, The Northern Pikes. He is also a music composer for numerous film and television productions, most notably the successful Canadian television series Due South. Semko has been nominated for a Juno Award eight times as a member of the Northern Pikes, and also been nominated twice for a Gemini Award, and once for a Canadian Screen Award, and received two awards from the Canadian Music Publishers Association for his songwriting. His hometown is Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
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A prairie naturalist, activist, and writer living on the northern edge of the Great Plains in Regina, Saskatchewan. Trevor's fifth book, Towards a Prairie Atonement, came out in October, 2016, published by the University of Regina Press.
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Bill Jones is creating an educational documentary/film that focuses on the positive support African Americans experienced in the 1950's, coming to Canada to play semi-pro baseball.
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The typewriters lined up at Thom Cholowski's home resembles a display in a museum. These are a few of the machines he has restored and hopes to sell at a pop-up shop at a stationery store on the weekend.
Cholowski has about 80 typewriters at his home in Saskatoon, but he's not a collector — he's one of only a few typewriter repair people in North America.
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Collective Voice is an integrated Grade 9 program combining the subjects of Social Studies, English Language Arts, and Arts Education. The focus of the program is learning in community, investigating the roots of inequality and injustice, and empowering students to find their voice and share it!
Collective Voice students share their learning with Saskatoon in two ways: a weekly thirty minute radio show on Saskatoon’s community radio station CFCR 90.5 and a weekly column in The Star Phoenix newspaper and online blog. Other highlights include a collaborative and democratic learning environment and out-of-school experiences, including a week-long out-of-province trip.
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Antony Botting was born in London, England. Graduating from the University of Hull with a Masters in International Law, he now works in the field of anti-slavery for a local council.
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Author Bill Waiser is a western Canadian historian. He has published over a dozen books–-many of them recognized by various awards. A World We Have Lost: Saskatchewan Before 1905 won the 2016 Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction.
Bill is a frequent public speaker and contributor to radio, television and print media. He has also served on a number of national, provincial, and local boards.
Bill has been appointed to the Order of Canada, awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, named a distinguished university professor, and granted a D.Litt. He is the 2018 recipient of the Royal Society of Canada J.B. Tyrrell medal, presented for “outstanding work” in Canadian history, as well as the 2018 Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media: The Pierre Berton Award.
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The author of THE KINCAID STRANGE NOVELS (Random House Canada), a paranormal mystery series about a voodoo practitioner living in Seattle with the ghost of a grunge rocker, she has a BSc and Msc from Simon Fraser University in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and a PhD in Zoology from the University of British Columbia. Her focus is genetics, cell biology, and molecular biology, all of which she draws upon in her books.
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Joseph Kertes (born 1951) is a writer who escaped from Hungary with his family to Canada after the revolution of 1956.
He studied English at York University and the University of Toronto, where he was encouraged in his writing by Irving Layton and Marshall McLuhan. Kertes founded Humber College's distinguished creative writing and comedy programs. He was for 15 years Humber's Dean of Creative and Performing Arts and was a recipient of numerous awards for teaching and innovation.
His first novel, Winter Tulips, won the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour in 1989. Boardwalk, his second novel, and two children's books, The Gift and The Red Corduroy Shirt, met with critical acclaim.
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Jim Beaver is an American character actor, best known for his leading roles on the TV series Deadwood (2004) and Supernatural (2005). Born in Laramie, Wyoming a minister's son, he was raised in and around Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Following high school and a year of college, he joined the Marines.
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BWL Publishing Inc. is a Canadian publisher of popular fiction actively working with International and Canadian authors to publish their fiction in a worldwide marketplace.Nancy is the author of multiple books including young adult and adult series novels and stand alone novels. Nancy is a proud Albertan and lives near Balzac, Alberta with her husband and various critters. She is an animal rights advocate and has worked with and fostered rescue animals. Nancy is a member of The Writers Union of Canada and the Writers Guild of Alberta.
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Summer Success is a United Way initiative that takes an upstream approach in helping vulnerable children move towards grade level reading by tackling their summer learning loss. When Jayce’s kids fell behind in reading the Summer Success program helped them improve their skills – and their confidence.