January 25th, 2007

Eliza Gardiner

January 25th, 2007

David Fraser lives in Nanoose Bay, on Vancouver Island. He is the founder and editor of Ascent Aspirations Magazine, http:// www.ascentaspirations.ca, since 1997. His poetry and short fiction have appeared in over 40 journals including Three Candles, Regina Weese, Ardent, Quills and Ygdrasil. He has published a collection of his poetry, Going to the Well (2004), a collection of short fiction, The Dark Side of the Billboard (2006 )and edited and published the print issues of Ascent Aspirations Magazine Anthology One (2005) , Anthology Two - Windfire (2006), and Anthology Three, AguaTerra (2007) http://www.ascentaspirations .ca/aapublishing.htm A second collection of poetry, Running Down the Wind will appear in 2007. David is currently the Federation of BC Writers Regional Director for The Islands Region. His latest passion is developing Nanaimo's newest spoken word series, WordStorm.

January 25th, 2007 & April 26th, 2007

Cindy Shantz has been published in several newspapers including The Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun, and The Times Colonist. Her stories have won awards at The Santa Barbara Writer's Conference. In Switzerland her works have appeared in newspapers and magazines and in an anthology of short stories, essays and poetry.

January 25th, 2007 & May 31st, 2007

Pat Smekal is a Canadian-born teacher/educator who returned to B.C. in 1989, after twenty-nine years in Australia. Her two micro-mini books, Grief ...Feeling Your Way Through, and Some Reflections on Being There, published in 1996 and 1997, together have sold over 12,000 copies. In 2001, Pat joined two local writers’ groups and began to devote more time to poetry. She has attended three summer sessions of the Victoria School of Writing, as a student of Kate Braid, Sue Wheeler and George Bowering. Ms Smekal has won several minor prizes for poetry and prose, and was shortlisted for the Ray Burrell Award for Poetry in 2004.

January 25th, 2007 & February 22nd,

Andrew Brown has been writing poetry since his youth and has found it to be a sustaining joy in his life. He's been published in several literary magazines over the years. In addition to poetry, Andrew has published short stories, essays and travel articles in a variety of magazines from Western Living to Travel Scoop. He looks forward to putting together a book of poems as soon as he retires from teaching high school english and drama. Andrew and his wife Lili currently reside in Qualicum Beach with their ancient cat Dr. Dre.

February 22nd, 2007

Lorna McNeil is involved with theatre all around Nanaimo, most recently playing 3 minor roles for Western Edge's Night of Shooting Stars, and playing Little Sally in the Bard to Broadway/Schmooze co-production of Urinetown, the Musical. Last year, she took on Lucille Ball in Brian March's Lucy and Tarzan. She's played major roles in Accomplice, The Affections of May and Much Ado About Nothing (Nanaimo Theatre Group), in The Vagina Monologues and Titanic, the Musical (Malaspina University-College), played Clara Kinsey in PROK (Schmooze Productions). When not on stage, she likes to design and build costumes.

February 22nd, 2007

Mary Ann Moore is a poet and a writer of fiction, personal essays and book reviews. She is currently working on a non-fiction book called Writing Home. Mary Ann has taught creative writing classes; creativity and poem making workshops; and lead workshops for the mental health community, adult literacy programmes, a First Nations reserve and conferences and retreats. Mary Ann's poem "Unpacking" won third place in the Federation of B.C. Writers poetry contest in the fall and she has recently returned from a master poets retreat with acclaimed Vancouver Island poet, Patrick Lane.

February 22nd, 2007

Mike Matthews

February 22nd, 2007

Kim Goldberg is still one step ahead of the law somewhere on Vancouver Island. She is believed to be camped out along the scrubby margins of poetry and other indeterminate art forms. Do not approach without a tranquilizer dart. Innocent readers of Prism, Dalhousie Review, On Spec, The New Quarterly, Cahoots and other magazines have all been subjected to her ravings in recent months. (She has always maintained her innocence in the matter of "Spirit Mop" and the other unchained appliances that began springing up in Nanaimo's historic Old Quarter during the Spirit Bear invasion of Fall 2006.) Prior to her life of aesthetic crime she was a journalist for many years reporting on politics, media and environment. FBI profilers believe that a Chi Gong overload may have super-heated her synaptic pathways, leading to her subsequent unraveling. Despite her life on the lam, she somehow managed to organize and curate the Urban Eyes Art Exhibition in 2006, held at two Nanaimo galleries and featuring the work of 52 local artists and architects on the theme of urban development. She has reportedly launched a publishing enterprise under the baffling moniker of Pig Squash Press (suspected to be code for some future barnyard uprising) to further disseminate her brain-addled, photo-poetic manifestos.

March 29th, 2007

Linda Thompson is a Port Alberni writer who has discovered that performance is the most darned fun she's had in years! In the glare of the spotlight her alter-egos have been known to bust out and blurt a poem or warble a song. In her spare time Linda buys books and travels, not necessarily in that order. She has studied with Derek Hanebury, author, poet and writing instructor extraordinaire at North Island College & Sheri-d Wilson, "one of North America's most compelling Spoken Word...poets" at the Victoria School of Writing.

March 29th, 2007

Naomi Wakan: Born in London, England. Graduated with a degree in Social Work from Birmingham University. Emigrated to Canada and brought her family (Beverly Deutsch, a graphic artist and Adam Deutsch, a computer systems analyst) up in Toronto. Worked as a psychotherapist specializing in early childhood traumas. Remarried to the sculptor, Elias Wakan, and travelled extensively including living two years in Japan.

March 29th, 2007

Ann Graham Walker is a writer and journalist who moved to Vancouver Island in the summer of 2002, after living and working in Nova Scotia for twenty-five years. She had many wonderful experiences in Nova Scotia - raising three children, working as a CBC radio producer, getting a front-row seat on the political world as speech writer to former Nova Scotia premier, Dr. John Savage, publishing a book about Halifax, and enjoying many friendships. However being a cold-weather wimp at heart, she was very happy to leave her snow shovels behind and swap them for the West Coast’s blissful gardening and majestic landscapes. She still works as a freelance journalist, hikes and gardens profusely, and lives in Nanoose Bay with her husband, a Border collie and three cats. Since coming to BC she has published a story - “Categories” in Word Works, and had a poem published on the “Monday’s Poem” segment of the Leaf Press web site.

March 29th, 2007

Tracy Myers has been performing spoken word as a soloist on Vancouver Island since 1993. She is also a studied drummer/percussionist with formal education and travel to study musical cultures in Cuba, Brazil and Ghana, West Africa. Currently, Tracy puts words to the funky rhythms of the local, political trio- Tongue and Groove.

Tongue and Groove Music

March 29th, 2007

Boca Duo Bonnie Stebbings (flute / piano) Karen Withers-Janssen (flute)

April 26th, 2007

Bill Perry is a British Columbia west coast writer originally from Connecticut who has spent his life in the outdoors as a ski jumper, ski instructor, mountaineer and forestry specialist. Currently he shares his time in Ucluelet, Mount Washington and Vancouver. He is the owner and operator of Green Wave Adventures that specializes in guided hikes and seaside scrambles along the Wild Pacific Trail.

April 26th, 2007

Pamela Lynn:Acknowledged as an accomplished World Percussionist, composer and educator, Pamela Lynn is building a successful career in the field of World Music. Pamela's unique and captivating sound was developed by fusing the interwoven sounds of West African and Middle Eastern rhythms with her own contemporary style. Her concept of "Freestyle Drumming" evolved from a strong desire to share her passion for drumming with people of all ages. Pamela's natural sense of artistry enables her to be a dynamic entertainer and an inspirational teacher, compelled to share her gifts with an ever-growing audience.

April 26th, 2007

Christine Langford was born ages ago in Switzerland, daughter of an Irish father and a Swiss mother. She studied Early Music (with the recorder as her main instrument), at the Basel and Zürich conservatories. After achieving her degree she started teaching at the conservatory in Zürich, and engaged in further recorder studies in Amsterdam and courses in "Aufführungspraxis" (how to interpret and perform Early Music properly) and in Renaissance and Baroque Dancing. Ten years later she set up her little private business in Aarau, Switzerland, in a studio where she teaches the recorder and ensemble playing to people aged 5 to 80.

May 31st, 2007

Trish Shields studied creative writing at the Algonquin College in Ottawa and with Matt Hughes in BC. Her first book of poetry, Soul Speak, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in 2001. Her first novel, Inferno, was published in 2003 and was on the Open Book's Best Sellers List the following year. Her short stories and poetry have been published internationally. She is the past editor/co- ordinator for the CPA's 20th Anniversary Anthology, published in 2006. Her new chapbook, Coast Lines, is co-authored by Katherine Gordon, published in 2007.

May 31st, 2007

Kim Clark most often writes from the heart of BC's Sunshine Coast. Disease and desire, mothering and the mundane propel her ongoing journey between poetry and prose. Kim's work can be found in The Malahat Review, Portal, Ascent Aspirations, as well as e-zines and other publications in Canada and the U.S. She is currently pursuing a Creative Writing degree at Malaspina University College.

May 31st, 2007

Elizabeth Bartel has lived with her husband between the mountains and the sea on Vancouver Island since 1980. She has however, one foot firmly planted in the prairie soil of her childhood. She writes from the richness of her cultural heritage that celebrates the lives of ordinary people by showing them to be much more than that. Her work spans many years as she takes the reader on a journey of life and death, laughter and tears vividly reflecting upon her personal life from youth to the present. Her poems and short stories have been published in Geist, Praire Fire, Room of One's Own and other literary magazines. Her first novel Even Such is Time was published in 2002.