Ascent Aspirations Magazine Print Anthology Contributors

Will Adam works as a copywriter in New York City, lives in Brooklyn, and was raised in Kansas.

Becky Alexander is a Cambridge, Ontario poet. She has been published in Pegasus, Country Woman, Tower, People’s Political Letter, Zygote, Canadian Writer’s Journal, The Amethyst Review, and many other journals. She has four poetry publications. Her work has won many awards and has been included in national and international anthologies. In 2000 she founded Craigleigh Press, which has published eight collections to date. Becky has edited books for fellow writers, and served as a literary judge for various groups. She was the 2002 recipient of the Bernice Adams Cultural Awards for the City of Cambridge, and won for best poem in the 2004 One Book, One Community writing contest for the Kitchener Waterloo Region, based on Jane Urquhart’s book, The Stone Carvers.

Merle Amodeo is a retired teacher who has spent ten years writing and rewriting a novel and has recently begun to write poetry. Poems appeared in the Liaison anthology published by the Haliburton Highlands Writers and Editors Network, 2006.

Lene Andersen is a writer who grew up in Denmark and moved to Canada quite some time ago. She lives in Toronto and shares her home with a cat and too many books.

Richard Arnold lives on a modest acreage near Errington, BC. He teaches English at Malaspina University College in Nanaimo. Besides writing and reading poetry, he likes spending time with his family, hiking, canoeing, and camping. His work has been published in many print and electronic places across North America. He has two collections of poetry to his credit: a chapbook from Leaf Press (2002) and a haiku pamphlet from Island Scholastic (2003).

Bill Ashwell: A native of Cambridge, Bill Ashwell has been a member of the Cambridge Writers Collective since 1995 and a volunteer tutor with the Literacy Group of Waterloo Region since 1992. He is also an arts correspondent for a local radio station and a freelance writer. His poetry and prose have been published in the Cambridge Reporter, several editions of the Writers Undercover Anthologies (Vols. IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and X), and The Cambridge Wartime Scrapbook. In addition, he was Associate Anthology Coordinator for the Writers Undercover Anthologies Vols. VI and VII. In 2004 he won second place in the Poetry category of the Anthology’s Tenth Anniversary Issue for his poems “New Jerusalem Road”, and “Intifada”, and received an Honourable Mention in the Short Story category for his story “Portrait of Elvis Weeps Real Tears”. In 2001 Bill published Moments of Clarity, a collection of his poetry. He has participated in numerous public poetry readings, most recently The Voices of Spring, and In Autumn We Remember—both local celebrations of the spoken word, and at the 2004 Remembrance Day Service in Cambridge. Bill Ashwell is an avid photographer and a graduate of the journalism program at Conestoga College.

Peter Austin lives with his wife and 3 daughters in Toronto, where he teaches English at Seneca College. His poems have appeared in over a dozen magazines, in Canada, the US and the UK. He also writes plays, and the third production of his musical adaptation of THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS will be mounted by Vancouver’s Carousel Theatre in the spring of 2006.

David B. Axelrod, a three-time Fulbright Award recipient, is Suffolk County, Long Island Poet Laureate. His most recent of seventeen books, The Impossiblity of Dreams, was just published by AhadadaBooks. He maintains a website atPoetry Doctor

Beebe Barksdale-Bruner has an MFA in poetry from Queens University and a forth-coming book of poetry from Press 53 in 2007. She has a background in fine arts, a BFA in painting from UNC-Greensboro and work and awards in ceramics.

Penny-Anne Beaudoin has worked as a freelancer for religion and spirituality journals since 1997. Her articles have been published in Canada and the United States and she was nominated for the Canadian Church Press Award in 2000. Her fiction has appeared in Writers On Line, Quantum Muse, Lorraine and James, FreeFall Magazine, and the Canadian Writers’ Journal. Her poetry has appeared in Room of One’s Own, On Spec Magazine, and the Windsor Review. She has won or placed in a variety of competitions, and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2005.

Judith Bilodeau is an Adult Education teacher, currently teaching ESL, and living in Ottawa. She is married, with two grown children, five grown step-children and a ten year old dog. She loves traveling, gardening, reading, and walking.

Marina Blokker is a new writer. After growing up in northern BC, she obtained a BA from UBC. She is currently taking writing classes and is a caregiver.

Eric Bonholtzer is an award-winning author whose work has appeared in numerous publications, and his short story collection, The Skeleton’s Closet, is now available at Amazon.com and Bn.com (Barnes and Noble). His poetry collection, Remnants & Shadows, is also available. A recent recipient of first place prizes in both the short story and poetry categories of the College Language Association (CLA) Creative Writing Contest/Margaret Walker Prizes for Creative Writing, Eric resides in the Los Angeles area. For more information visit www.ericbonholtzer.com

Carla Braun is a suburban mother of a son and four cats and dogs. In her spare time she studies and writes non-fiction and poetry. Her employment background is in hospitality and business, and she has an academic background in theology. A former Vancouver resident, she now lives in Langley, B.C.

Howard Brown lives with his wife, Alice, in Falkland, BC. He has published two collections of poetry: Light Through the Cracks: poems light and Dark (2003) and This Is My Table (2005). He has had several poems published in Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine and was a finalist for the 2004 Ralph Gustafson Prize. A chapbook entitled In the 1950s and Other Disrespectful Pieces, was launched in October 2006.

Ronnie R. Brown: Ottawa writer, Ronnie R. Brown, has had work published in over 100 journals and anthologies in Canada and beyond. Her fourth collection of poetry, States Of Matter (Black Moss, 2005) was awarded the Acorn-Plantos People’s Poetry Award. A fifth collection, Night Echoes (Black Moss, 2006), was launched in the fall of 2006. “Found” is from a manuscript-in-progress entitled Rocking On The Edge.

April Bulmer has four books and a chapbook. She holds graduate degrees in creative writing, religious studies and theology. She is interested in women’s spirituality. She recently won first prize in the TOPS, “Second Time Around Contest.” April lives in Cambridge, Ontario with her puppy, Lichee.

Jean L. Burbidge has written articles, poetry, stories and feature columns published in Canadian Stories, Eco-Farm and Garden ( Winter 2000), Between Us, a Hamilton,Ontario Regional Cancer Centre publication, Canadian Writers’ Journal, The Future Looks Bright poetry anthology, Poetry Canada Magazine, and in local newsletters. She was a winner in the Inkspot.com Book Challenge and The Oakville Writers’ Poetry contest (2006), and has performed her poetry at the Burlington Art Centre celebrating the work of local artists, at local Open Mikes and at the Burlington Central Park Labyrinth events. Jean is a member of an editing team that produces the newsletter for the Burlington Branch of the Retired Women Teachers of Ontariio. Jean is a member of the Canadian Authors Association and the Canadian Federation of Poets. Find out more at www.JLBurbidge.com

Ian Burgham is an associate of the League of Canadian Poets. In 2004 he won the Queen’s University Well-Versed Poetry Prize. His poems have been published in a number of literary journals and magazines including the Literary Review of Canada, dANDelion, Queen’s Quarterly, Scottish Arts Journal and Harpweaver. Ian Burgham has had one poetry book published in the United Kingdom: Confession of Birds, (2003 chapbook). His first full collection of poems, The StoneSkippers, will be published in Australia and New Zealand by Sunline Press, Perth (Introduction by Newcastle Prize winning poet, Roland Leach) and, in the UK by MacLean Dubois Publishers in February, 2007 (Introduction by novelist and poet, Alexander McCall Smith). He is currently working on his third collection. Ian works as a volunteer to further the efforts of the Griffin Prize for Excellence in Poetry.

“Here’s a gifted new poet, madly dashing his love-torn heart against the poetic stones of the universe. Impetuous, inspired, wild, unadorned, unrepentant, desperate, occasionally eloquent – this is a voice you don’t want to miss” Di Brandt

“These poems mark the emergence of a mature and distinctive poetic voice. The language is sure and elegant; most importantly, it is infused with a quiet musicality which is a rare and remarkable gift. This is the work of one who has an ear for the possibilities of language, and who has a natural understanding of cadence and rhythm.” Alexander McCall Smith

Heather Campbell is a new writer. She much prefers the term emerging writer, which makes her think of insects and ponds. She writes poetry and flash fiction in a style that is free and contemporary. She has lived coast to coast in many Canadian cities and towns but has settled now in Surrey, BC where she works part time at a library and writes when she can. She was born in Winnipeg and raised in Winnipeg, Victoria and Ottawa. At Carlton University she studied Art History and Philosophy.

Heather Cardin lives in Gatineau, QC with her family. She received a Master’s degree in English from Carleton University (2005) after twenty years as a high school and college instructor. She has published a number of poems in a variety of magazines, has had a poetry manuscript accepted for publication in the U.K., has published a non-fiction book entitled Partners in Spirit (2006) and has another, A Warm Place in My Heart, forthcoming in fall 2007. Her blogs can be found at Book Woman and Poet.

Kim Clark writes from the heart of the Sunshine Coast. Disease and desire, mothering, and the mundane propel her ongoing journey between poetry and prose. Kim has had work published in The Malahat Review, Portal, Artistry, Coffee Bean Shop, and The Coast Reporter, and has been a winner in six Capilano College, Cecilia Lamont, and Sechelt Library contests.

Susan Constable is a retired teacher and businesswoman who lives and writes on Vancouver Island. Her poems have been published in numerous on-line magazines, including Poems Niederngasse, Slow Trains, Ken*Again, and Lily. Her poetry can also be found in several print magazines, such as Island Writer, Tickled by Thunder, Tower Poetry, and Quills.

D.B. Cox is a blues musician/writer from South Carolina. His writing has appeared in Underground Voices, Ascent Aspirations, Thunder Sandwich, Dublin Quarterly, Aesthetica, Bonfire, Gator Springs Gazette, Heat City Review, Snow Monkey, Southern Hum, Southern Gothic and others. He has had three chapbooks of poetry published: Passing For Blue (Rank Stranger Press), Lowdown and Ordinary Sorrows (Pudding House Publications). Main Street Rag recently published his first full-length poetry collection, Empty Frames.

Linda Lee Crosfield's poetry and fiction has appeared in Room of One’s Own, Horsefly, The New Orphic Review, Ascent Aspirations, WordWorks, and in several chapbooks and anthologies. She lives and writes in Ootischenia, in South East BC.

Caroline H. Davidson has been living and daydreaming story plots for more than half a century. She recently moved from Ontario to Ladysmith, BC to live in the pleasant climate. Her life is full of music, writing and friends.

Carol Ramsden Deckert was the first winner of Canadian Author and Bookman’s New Poetry Contest. Her poetry and fiction have been broadcast on Sheila Martindale’s radio program, Cabbages & Kings and have appeared in various periodicals. Carol is head of the English Department at Orchard Park Secondary School in Stoney Creek and resides in Grimsby, Ontario.

Rebecca del Rio lives and writes in Northern California and Cataluña, Spain. A graduate of the Creative Writing program at the University of Arizona, her work appears in The Loop, Poets Against the War, and he Crazy Child Scribbler. Currently completing edits on her first novel, she also juggles writing with working as a court investigator in the County of Sonoma, traveling and being a wife, mother and grandmother.

Josie Di Sciascio/Andrews was born in Italy and emigrated to Canada at the age of 13. She was educated in Italy for the first part of her life, then pursued her high school studies in Oakville, Ontario. She studied Italian and French Literature at the University of Toronto and received her Bachelor of Education there as well. She has a Masters Degree in Education and is currently pursuing another Masters Degree in Italian Literature. She has taught French and Italian at both the elementary and secondary levels for many years. Her passions are reading and writing, especially poetry. She is also passionate about music, ideas, art, sharing good times with friends and family, movies and traveling. She has won several prizes for her poetry, with the latest being first prize in the freeverse competition of the Ontario Poetry Society’s 2006 Anthology.

Angela Dorsey of Port Alberni, B.C. is a fulltime writer of juvenile fiction novels, though she writes poetry, short stories, and articles as well. She has written twelve novels to date, which have been translated into nine languages and published in North America, Europe, and Eastern Europe. When she isn’t writing, Angela enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and animals, plus travelling and gardening. To check out her novels, go to www.angeladorsey.com

Margarita Engle is a botanist and the Cuban- American author of Singing to Cuba (Arte Publico Press), Skywriting (Bantam), and The Poet-Slave(forthcoming from Henry Holt). Short works appear in a wide variety of anthologies, chapbooks and journals, including a previous issue of Ascent Aspirations, Atlanta Review, California Quarterly, and Caribbean Writer. Awards include a Cintas Fellowship and a San Diego Book Award. Margarita lives in central California, where she enjoys hiking and helping her husband with his volunteer work for a wilderness search-and-rescue dog training program.

Alvin G. Ens is a semi-retired English teacher who is an on-call teacher in the federal prison system in the Fraser Valley. He edits and writes short fiction, poetry and family history. His two poetry books are Musings on the Sermon, a book of religious verse, and I Am the Poem. He is working on his third book, Rural Roots, about his experiences in growing up on the Saskatchewan prairie.

Merlene Fawdry is a prize winning writer and poet living in Australia. She spent over a quarter of a century working at the coal face of youth and family services, towards de-institutionalisation of young people and family reconciliation, and now runs writing and poetry courses and workshops. With a diploma in professional writing and editing, her writing reflects her interests in social justice and she uses the written word to speak out against social and environmental injustices. Her publishing credits include prose, short stories and poetry and books, The Hidden Risks, published in 2006, a series of four poetry chapbooks published in 2006 and The Little Mongrel - free to a good home, published in April 2007.

Peggy Fletcher, a native of Newfoundland, now living in Sarnia, Ontario, is widely published in Canadian and international journals and has six poetry books, a short story collection and a play published. She recently won second prize at the Elora Writers’ Festival.

Cindy Forsburg is a college instructor and small business owner in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where she lives with her husband and their cat. She has had poems published in several print and online publications and is currently working on her first chapbook. She has lived in South Dakota all her life, and often begins a poem because of some brief image or phrase inspired by the prairie landscape and sky.

Peter Francis, a retired school principal, enjoys life as an eclectic mix of writing, reading, yoga, karate, art, travel, and running. Born and raised in Saskatchewan, he now lives in Winnipeg, and is married with four children and a grandchild.

Cynthia French is from St. John’s, Newfoundland and lives in rural Nova Scotia. She started writing poetry in 2006 in a class taught by Carole Glasser Langille. She is inspired by a small but mighty group of poets which meets in Mahone Bay. This is Cynthia’s first publication.

Lorraine Gane is a poet and writer living on Salt Spring Island. She is the author of Earth Light and Even the Slightest Touch Thunders on My Skin.

Rhonda Ganz lives in Victoria, where there is a poet behind every palm tree. She writes in red flannel pyjamas on nights when there is no moon. In 2006, she was a finalist in the Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Poetry Contest. In April 2007, the CBC broadcast one of her poems as part of National Poetry Month. Friday nights you can find her reading at Planet Earth Poetry at the Black Stilt Coffee House in Victoria. When not working as a graphic designer, she paints botanical watercolours and reads too much crime fiction. She shares a home and garden with her husband and three cats. She amuses herself by eating everything with a little hot sauce on the side.

Keith Garebian is a prize-winning poet whose second book of poetry, Frida: Paint Me As A Volcano, was longlisted for the 2005 ReLit Award. His chapbook, Samson’s Hair And Other Satiric Fantasies, has been widely acclaimed. A member of The Writers’ Union of Canada and the League of Canadian Poets, he lives in Mississauga, Ontario.

Stephanie Gibbon writes poetry because she has no choice. Whenever she feels a poem coming on, she reclines in a darkened room and takes deep, cleansing breaths. Often this strategy is effective: the poem goes away and she is freed to complete more useful tasks. But, like a terminal condition, she cannot escape poetry completely. She finds herself with pen in hand, facing her notebook - and a poem is the inevitable result of this unholy synthesis. She lives in Burlington; she eats All-Bran for breakfast.

Katherine L. Gordon lives to write in a secluded river valley in Ontario. She has two full collections, many chapbooks, and is an award-winning poet whose work has been published in many languages. Her latest book Myth Weavers, a collection of Canadian myths and legends, Serengeti Press, was released in April, National Poetry Month, 2007. She is the resident columnist for Ancient Heart Magazine, England. Katherine believes that poetry is the link uniting all cultures.

Martha Gould is the author of two poetry collections, With the Whales in the Water and Poems for Owen (both Exile Editions, 1997), and one children’s book, The Silver Tree (Catchfire Press, 2002). She lives in North Bay, Ontario.

Will Greaves is originally from Ottawa, Ontario and is currently a student at Bishop’s University in Lennoxville, Quebec. He has been writing on and off since he was 15, not counting several successful stories written and performed in his grandparents’ kitchen while still in elementary school. In between recent travels to Haiti, Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand, Will has had poems published in Bishop’s University’s literary journal, The Mitre, and has submitted works to several other magazines.

Michael Gross is a high school English teacher and writer who lives in Woodland Hills, California. He has written two award-winning plays, A Day in the Life of a Character and Limbo and is currently working on the collection, Sudden Fiction. He received an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College in Oakland, California.

Jill Meriel Harrington-Fox’s poetry has been published in more than 30 anthologies and periodicals and has won prizes and honourable mentions. She works for the Region of Waterloo and lives in Cambridge where she has been an active member of the Cambridge Writers Collective for many years. Her first poetry chapbook is Where the Tide Changes (2005) Serengeti Press.

Carla Hartsfield is a poet, classically trained pianist, harp player, and songwriter. She has published three collections of poetry, the most recent with Brick Books titled Your Last Day on Earth(2003). Carla has poetry in the soon-to-be released

Sterling Haynes is a retired urban and country medical doctor. Mostly he writes humour. This summer a poem called “The Postal Telephone Blues” was published by the New Quarterly. A short story called “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” was published by The Medical Post. The two poems, “Touretting” and “Dementia Praecox” are dark. For fourteen years he looked after people who were mentally challenged, some in A.A. He sometimes writes about these people in his poetry and creative non-fiction. Perhaps the public, politicians and the legal profession will soon realize that addiction, mental aberrations and schizophrenic problems have to be dealt with in an understanding, humanitarian, non-criminal way.

Veryan Haysom is a lawyer based in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. He began writing poetry when he took a workshop from Carole Glasser Langille in the spring of 2006 and has continued writing with the encouragement of the ‘newly formed unnamed poetry group’ that grew out of Carole’s workshop.

Joelene Heathcote writes poetry, fiction, and non-fiction essay. She has published widely and won many awards. Her work has been included in anthologies, Breaking the Surface (SonoNis Press, 2000), Mocambo Nights (Ekstasis Editions, 2001), Translit Vol.7 (Blitzprint, 2006), and String to Bow (Leaf Press, 2005). Her collection of poetry, What’s Between Us Can’t Be Heard (Ekstasis, 2002), was a finalist for the Pat Lowther Award. Inherit the Earth (Rubicon Press, 2006), a chapbook of poems is due out in fall, 2007. She is currently at work on a larger collection of poetry and a book of short stories.

Dorothea Helms, a.k.a. The Writing Fairy, is an award-winning writer and editor who makes her living freelancing and teaching creative writing. On May 28, 2005, she was presented with the first-ever Barbara Novak Award For Excellence in Humour and/or Personal Essay Writing from the Periodical Writers Association of Canada. Dorothea’s poetry has appeared in the Spring 2002 issue of Lichen literary journal and in Legacy An Anthology of Poetry, which was published by the Canadian Authors Association in 2000. In 2003, she placed third in the Adult Category of the Dan Sullivan Memorial Poetry Contest. Dorothea’s first book, The Writing Fairy Guide to Calling Yourself a Writer, was published in 2005, and she is working on a novel and a book of poetry.

John Hoben was raised in Musgrave Harbour, a small fishing community on the north-east coast of Newfoundland. After attending Memorial University of Newfoundland, and the University of Western Ontario, he worked as a teacher and lawyer in both Ontario and Newfoundland. John is currently a first year Ph.D student at Memorial University’s Faculty of Education. In 2006 he was awarded the Aldrich Doctoral Fellowship (Memorial University).

In 2005 his poem, “Salmon Falls, was awarded a Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Award”. In September 2006, two of his poems, “You Lie Still in Gentle Rivers”, and “Two Poems on a Theme” were chosen for publication by AB Collector Publishing for their compilation commemorating the life and work of Malcolm Somerville, A Quiet Bashful Man: Remembering Malcolm ISBN 1895466180. Two other poems, “To Alva”, and “What Was Lost” will also be published during the upcoming year in a collection entitled What Remains, a collection edited by Professors Elizabeth Yeoman and Ursula Kelly of Memorial University centered around the themes of cultural memory and loss. A related scholarly collection of essays Despite this Loss will include an academic essay on cultural mythology and meaning. He currently lives in Torbay with his wife, Sylvia.

Rebecca Holand writes and paints about the bittersweet of the everyday from her home in Lethbridge, Alberta. She has an art education degree, with the addition of creative writing courses. Rebecca is an active member of the Writers Guild of Alberta, Most Vocal, and Mudlark Writers Collective. She has appeared as a featured poet at Lotosland, South Country Fair, and her poems appear in all six issues of Rags, Southern Alberta’s Journal of Creative Writing.

Wendy Holborow is Welsh and lives in Corfu, Greece, where she writes and runs a small English school. She founded and co-edited Poetry Greece for several years, has had a number of poems published internationally, and has also won prizes for her short stories.

Liz Huck is a semi-retired civil servant in Springfield, Illinois, and a long-time member of Springfield’s Poets and Writers Literary Forum. Her work has been published in Prism Quarterly and Illinois Times. She is the author of the chapbookMany Glories Together, and co-author, with Al Perry, of the novel, The Lanyard.

Barbara Hunt is a dry-eyed nostalgic who delivers contemporary bites of naked truth wrapped in a rich appealing texture. She writes poetry, fiction and non-fiction from her home in Port Perry, Ontario where she’s a correspondent for a local monthly magazine. She has been published with CBC Radio One, The Globe and Mail, Metroland, Esteem and Homemakers Magazine as well as in several anthologies. She can be reached at Writers Plyaground

I.B. Iskov is the Poetry Editor for The Outreach Connection Newspaper, sold by the homeless and the unemployed in Toronto. She is also the Founder of The Ontario Poetry Society, Ontario’s only provincial, grass roots, democratic, poetry friendly organization. Visit www.mirror.org/tops

Inge Israel is the author of seven books of poetry and short stories in French and in English, and five dramas. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines in Canada and abroad, and broadcast on BBC (UK) and CBC. She has won several prizes and, was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Vera Jensen is a writer, gardener, great grandmother, retired teacher and a poet. The joys and fears, the tears and laughter that these professions encompass are reflected in her poetry and stories. She lived for many years on the very edge of the ocean on the East Coast of Vancouver Island. Recently she moved a short way inland and into the town of Comox. Sidewalks and streetlights are a new experience, but she still has a garden. Add up the wear and tear, aches and pains of approaching old age, a generous dollop of imagination, a good measure of faith, a wonderful loving family spread across this continent and you will have a picture of Vera as she sees herself today. She has had stories published in Ranger Rick Magazine, and the Collections Editions of Gage Publishing; Stories and poems published in various regional and church affiliated magazines; and stories in the local newspapers. One of her recent poems won honorable mention in the West End Writer’s Contest.

Marcelle Kasprowicz was born in Niort, France and lives in Austin, Texas. She received an M.A. from UT at Austin (Foreign Language Education Department) in 1983. She was awarded first prize for her poem “House of Bones”, in the Austin International Poetry Festival Anthology Di-verse-city 2001. Marcelle also won an honorable mention in the Tri-language Poem Contest 2001 from Gival Press. In 2005 she was awarded second prize in the Ascent Aspirations Magazine for her poem “The Seer”. Her poem “Field Hospital” was published in the 2005 Texas Poetry Calendar. Organza Skies, her first book, was published in 2005.

Shervin Kiani is a writer/artist/poet living in Toronto. His previous credits include Black Petals Magazine, Dream Fantasy International, and a forthcoming publication in the online magazine Nocturnal Ooze. He has a special fondness for 18th century poetry, especially those of Blake, Keats and Coleridge.

Shari A. Koopmann resides in Florida with her partner and three dogs. She received an MA in literature from the University of New Hampshire, and she is currently a professor of English at Valencia Community College in Kissimmee. Articles of hers have appeared in or have been accepted by The Atlantic Literary Review and The Atlantic Critical Review Quarterly. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in the following journals: Fulva Flava, Defect Cult, Falling Star Magazine, and Validium X.

Heidi Kortman, aspiring novelist, published poet and member of the Christian Writer’s Guild, lives in Michigan and is aunt to nine children.

Darya Kowalski was born in Saskatchewan, grew up in Alberta, and then discovered BC was the best place to spend the rest of her life. Writing is her panacea especially during the rainy season in Surrey.

Leila Kulpas was born in New South Wales, Australia and grew up in the bush. She is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Vancouver, B.C. and has been published on the internet and in a chapbook edited by Patrick Lane.

Linda A. Lavid lives in Buffalo, New York. She is the author of Rented Rooms, a collection of short fiction and Paloma, a novel of romantic suspense. Thirst, a second collection of short fiction is due out shortly. Her website is www.lindalavid.com

Mark Lavorato was raised on the Canadian prairies, but has spent most of his adult life abroad, and is currently living and writing in France. This is all part of his attempt to ‘establish credibility’ in the literary world, while he dredges through the tedious process of seeking publication for his first novel. He is contentedly working on his second novel as well, of which poetry is an integral part. Like many of us, he sometimes finds himself sitting and pondering just how in the hell people can live without poetry. Thankfully, if you’re reading this, you can’t.

Amy Leask is a freelance writer and educator with an Honours BA in English and Philosophy and a Master’s degree in Philosophy. Her compulsion to write began in grade two, when one of her poems was published in a regional anthology. Her publishing credits include academic papers, poetry, articles and reviews. She also teaches English and Philosophy at local community colleges. When she isn’t pleading with the muses for inspiration, she enjoys creating hand-made jewelry, baking like a fiend, and reading voraciously.

John B. Lee is a Canadian author and poet who is presently Poet Laureate of Brantford, Ontario. He has received more than 60 prestigious international awards for poetry.

Monika Lee has had many poems published in literary journals, including recent credits in A Room of One’s Own, Event, Atlantis, The Fiddlehead, Antigonish Review, Canadian Literature, Ariel, and Qwerty. Slender Threads (2004 HMS Press) is her first collection. Her homepage is http://publish.uwo.ca/~mlee5/

Barbara Lefcourt grew up in New York City. She migrated to Canada with her family in 1963. A former teacher of Literacy and Basic Skills, Barb started writing poetry as she neared retirement. Her poems have appeared in a number of juried anthologies, chapbooks and magazines. She is a member of The Cambridge Writers Collective and The Ontario Poetry Society. In 2005, "The Power of Penmanship" won third prize in the T.O.P.S. Food For Thought Chapbook Anthology Contest and "Treasure" won Honourable Mention in their Simply Good Poetry Contest. Barb's muse quickens, particularly, during summers spent on Manitoulin Island (Lake Huron) and travels in Australia when she periodically visits some of her family there.

Rusti Lehay lives in Edmonton. Freelance writing helps to support her passion for poetry. Her poems have been published in On Spec, The Prairie Journal of Canadian Literature, FreeFall, Other Voices, on the Tupperware Sandpiper spoken word collection and in a sold out chapbook titled: i’m not sure. A commissioned poem circulated in Europe and Japan.

Bernice Lever, member and past executive on national writing organizations, has been publishing poems for decades, but she still gets high on words. From 1972-1987, she edited WAVES in Ontario; now she enjoys life on Bowen Island, BC. BLESSINGS, Black Moss Press, 2000. Find more about her on www.colourofwords.com

Eric Linden has settled in the sunny Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada, after roaming and rambling his fair share throughout life. Writing has always been a significant part of his life. While he was living in the interior of B.C., his travelogues appeared weekly in the local newspaper, along with his advertising for the travel industry and real estate. Sometime in 2001, he responded to a competition to write poetry. He didn’t win, but began a delightful hobby, spinning off ballads, pantoums, sonnets, and other rhyme and meter verse, as well as the rare bit of free verse. His first book, Linden’s Lyre, was published in 2006. The British Poetry Life and Times, several anthologies and Sonnetto Poesia have printed his works, and his garland about the Halifax Explosion of 1917 was accepted by the National Maritime Museum in Canada.

Steven Erik Lindstrom is a teacher, writer, actor, and amateur mycologist. After a decade of inveterate wandering in Europe, Asia, and Africa, he now makes his home in Goderich, Ontario with his wife, Laurie Hayden, daughter Sophia, and Rhodesian Ridgeback, Mali.

Sue Littleton: Born in Texas, Sue Littleton now lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her first two books, in Spanish, were published in Buenos Aires in 1972 and 1974. After 18 years in Argentina, she returned to Texas in 1976 and in 1990 received a B.L.S. from St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas. She has published six chapbooks. The Ranch on the Pecos, the story of her family’s West Texas sheep ranch was published in 1996. Her poems have been published in numerous anthologies, including three of the Ascent Aspirations anthologies and in the Ascent Aspirations Magazine online. Her poem “Regime Change Begins at Home,” from 100 Poets Against the War, has been published in Croatia and Denmark. She has edited three poetry anthologies and for five years hosted bilingual poetry venues in Austin under the auspices of the Austin Commission for the Arts. Sue is one of the four founders of the Austin International Poetry Festival, now attended by poets from all over the world. She has four books on CDrom, two with audio readings (Waltsan Publishing) and her bilingual illustrated epic poem, Corn Woman, Mujer Maiz, is available in its entirety at hhtp://www.waltsan.com/FTP/sandra/corn_woman/index.html and is the history of corn in the Americas. She has participated in the Encounters of Narrators and Poets organized by the Asociación Cultural de las Dos Orillas, Uruguay, and is presenting two books, one an illustrated bilingual re-edition of Imágenes/Images and the other Papel de Barrilete/Kite Paper (Botella al Mar, Colección Poetas del Sur) at the 2007 Uruguayan Book Fair.

Sandra Lloyd’s work has appeared in periodicals including The Windsor ReView, The Globe and Mail, The Prairie Journal, and Hammered Out. She received a literary prize from MSVU in Halifax, graduated from the Humber School for Writers in 2004, and served on the advisory board for McMaster¹s Main Street Anthology from 2002-2005. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario, and writes with the enduring support and friendship of The Pearls Writing Group.

Pamela A. MacBean lives in New Hampshire. She has been published in Adagio Verse Quarterly, Subtletea.com, Small Brushes, Autumn Leaves, Open Mind’s Quarterly 2nd prize Bi-Annual Brainstorm Contest, 2nd prize Lisbon, NH’s Fall Festival of the Arts, and nominated for The Pushcart Prize. A chapbook, Postscripts in Time, was published by Foot Hills Publishing in 2005.

Kathryn MacDonald has previously published under the name Deneau in literary journals such as Descant, Northward Journal, The Fiddlehead and small anthologies. She has also published essays and recipes in The Farm and City Cookbook (Second Story Press, co-authored with Mary Lou Morgan) as well as non-fiction articles in popular and trade magazines.

Julie MacLellan is a writer and newspaper editor currently living in New Westminster, B.C. with her husband, Steve Makuch. A native of Barrie, Ontario, Julie has been scribbling stories since childhood. She’s the author of two unpublished 3-Day Novels and a large stack of short fiction that’s finally being sent out into the world. She thanks Steve, the Story Club and the Sunday afternoon writers for their encouragement.

James Manton lives in Dallas and is a software developer for a global internet company. His first novel was a finalist in the 2002 Santa Fe Writers Project. His current novel is about an electronic virus which brings down the electrical grid of the world. His short story collection, Guadalupe River, Texas: Collusions of Electricity was honorable mention in The Paper Journey Press, 2005. Widely traveled, James spent several winters working with a seismic crew in Alaska, and more recent computer projects landed him in England with bike riding ventures to New Zealand. Bonaire, in the Dutch Caribbean, is his favorite new island. There, they make a drink called the Bon Bini Tini. In every language it spells the same: Cheers!

Michael M. Marks: Starting in Cincinnati, still entrenched in the Midwest, Michael M. Marks was schooled during the cold war/fallout shelter era evolving to anti-Vietnam war college days, from Elvis to the Rolling Stones. A Midwest baby-boomer, he was the middle child of five born in a six year span.

Kate Marshall Flaherty's poetry has won several awards, including Word Magazine, THIS Magazine, Shaunt Basmajian Award for 2006 and was shortlisted for Descant’s Winston Collins Best Canadian Poem 2006 and Nimrod’s Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. In Toronto she teaches yoga, meditation and leads teen retreats and workshops for Children’s Peace Theatre.

Robert Martens grew up in a Mennonite farming village, and has never forgotten the scent of manure on quiet spring mornings. He has helped write and co-edit several regional histories, hoping this might in some small way help stall the spread of mass global abuse. Recently Robert contributed to and co-edited an anthology of west coast Mennonite writers.

Stella Mazur Preda, a retired elementary teacher, is owner and publisher of Serengeti Press, now based in the Hamilton area. Her poetry has appeared in many Canadian literary journals and anthologies. Her poem “My Mother’s Kitchen” was purchased by Penguin Books, New York and published in an anthology entitled In My Mother’s Kitchen, which was released in May 2006. Stella’s first book of poetry, Butterfly Dreams, was published in 2003 and she is working on getting her second book out. Stella is the past-president of the Tower Poetry Society and a member of the Cambridge Writers Collective. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of the Kairos Literary Society in Hamilton.

Elizabeth McCallister grew up in Scarborough and moved to Saskatoon. When she lived in Saskatoon, she had the good fortune and experience to work with several of the Writers-in-Residence at the Saskatoon Public Library. She attended the Sage Hill Writing Experience in the summer of 2001. She moved back to Ontario in 2002 and now resides in Brantford. She is currently a member of the Cambridge Writers Collective. Her work is forthcoming in Street #6. You can hear one of her poems at Poetry All as one of the winners in Cambridge Libraries’ Poem A Day contest.

Trish McFalls: Vivacious, tenacious and a weirdo with a tremendous ability to look like she’s in control when she has no clue what’s really going on around her - that’s how her friends would describe Trish McFalls. Maybe. Her close friends would call her sensitive, caring, creative and hilarious. She would describe herself as an amateur voyeur on the world. She grew up in Southwestern Ontario, lives in the Greater Toronto Area, and has moved around the southern part of the province in her 20’s. Academically she has a background in Religious Studies and English. Practically she is a parent, a friend, a neighbour, an ex, a funeral director, and for the most part a lover of socializing.

Vincent McGillivray enjoys creation in many forms: short stories, screenplays, songs, and poetry. Two of his poems, “African Watering Hole” and “Interstate Purgatory”, were published in 2002 by Hidden Brook Press in the anthology, Oval Victory: the Best of Canadian Poetry. Vincent lives in Toronto with his wife Cassie.

Andrea McKenzie grew up in Victoria, B.C. where she still resides. She is a long-time fixture at the Mocambopo Poetry Series, which is now Planet Earth Poetry at the Black Stilt Cafe. Andrea holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Victoria and a Certificate in Public Relations. She is an aspiring poet, novelist, and freelance writer. Her poetry has appeared in Canadian Literature, Mocambo Nights, Quills, Boulevard Magazine and Rubicon Press. In 2005, she published her first book of poetry A Mother’s String through Ekstasis Editions.

Florence McKie is a retired educational consultant living in Edmonton, Alberta. Poetry and memoir have been broadcast on CBC Radio. Poetry and personal essays have been published in Contemporary Verse 2, Haiku Canada, Other Voices, Haiku Canada and Maclean’s. Most recently, “Heather at the Neurologist’s” was published in the May 2006 issue: Narratives About Disabilities in Equity and Excellence in Education.

Michelle McLean currently works as a night auditor at the Howard Johnson hotel in Woodstock, N.B. While she has written poetry her entire life, it has only been in recent months that she began sending some of it out into the world. A collection of her children’s poetry placed second in the 2007 Writers Federation of New Brunswick literary competition, and she received third place in the fifth annual Open Minds Quarterly BrainStorm Poetry Contest (2007). Michelle and her husband live in Lower Brighton, New Brunswick.

David Merrifield lives near Duncan on Vancouver Island. He has been apprenticing as a poet with intent for two years. This is his first publication. He would like to acknowledge the mutual love in his life of his mother, Irene, and his father, Ken.

Corey Mesler is the owner of Burke’s Book Store, in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the country’s oldest (1875) and best independent bookstores. A Trappist Monk, he was raised by wolves. He has Canadian blood, which, unlike Canadian Bacon, doesn’t stay fresh if left out. He has published poetry and fiction in numerous journals including Rattle, Pindeldyboz, Quick Fiction, Cranky, Thema, Mars Hill Review, Poet Loreand others. He has also been a book reviewer for The Memphis Commercial Appeal. A short story of his was chosen for the 2002 edition of New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best, published by Algonquin Books.

Susan Mintz is currently working as a computer programmer, and has recently been to India as a CIDA intern. She has also travelled to Ghana as a volunteer teacher.

Michael Mirolla is a novelist and short story writer currently residing in Toronto. His most recent publication is Berlin: A Novel(available for purchase online at http://www.trafford.com/robots/03-1650.html). A collection of short stories— The Formal Logic of Emotionwas published by Nuage in 1992. One of the stories from the collection, “A Theory of Discontinuous Existence,” was also selected for that year’s The Journey Prize Anthology, awarded for the best short fiction published in literary magazines in Canada during the previous year. He has had short stories published in numerous journals in Canada, the U.S. and Britain, including several anthologies such as Event’s Peace & War Anthology, Telling Differences: New English Fiction from Quebec, Tesseracts 2: Canadian Science Fiction, the Collection of Italian-Canadian Fiction, and New Wave of Speculative Fiction Book 1.

Paula Martin Morell, MFA is the recipient of regional, national, and international awards for her short stories and poetry. Her work has appeared in publications such as Short Story Journal, New Works Review, Passport Journal, Outsider Ink, The Double Dealer Redux, The Little Rock Free Press, Quills and Pixels, The Arkansas Women’s Journal, andWord Salad. In addition to teaching creative writing workshops and English classes for Saint Leo University, Paula has been featured three times as an emerging writer at the International Conference on the Short Story in English and is the co-founder and creative director of A Way With Words Writing Workshops (www.awaywithwords.org). Her critically acclaimed first novel-in-stories, broken water, was released in 2004. Her second book, Invoking the Gifts (2005), is a creative writing workshop that is garnering national attention and being used in drug and alcohol treatment centers, high schools, youth groups, and art centers. Paula lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with her husband Jason and their daughters Annaliese and Sophia. www.paulamorell.com

Annebelle Murray lives, works and writes in Uxbridge, Ontario. She is a graduate of Queen’s University. Her poetry has received recognition and awards in Canada and overseas. A number of her poems were performed in the play Musings on Motherhood (Ontario/2006).

Martina Reisz Newberry is the author of a collection of poems Running Like a Woman with her Hair on Fire, published by Red Hen Press 2005. She is also the winner of i.e. magazine’s Editor’s Choice Poetry Chapbook Prize for 1998: An Apparent Approachable Light. She is the author of Lima Beans and City Chicken: Memories of the Open Hearth — a memoir of her late father—published by E.P. Dutton and Co. in 1989. She is also the author of The Star Jasmine Club - an Adult fable, a novel purchased by E.P. Dutton & Co. She has written four novels and several books of poetry and has been widely published in literary magazines such as: 5 AM, Amelia, Atom Mind, Bellingham Review, Black Buzzard Review, Cape Rock, Caprice, Catalyst, Connecticut Poetry Review, Context South, Descant, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Hob Nob, i.e.,Innisfree, International Poetry Review, Iowa Woman, The Ledge, My Legacy, New Laurel Review, Passages North, Piedmont Literary Review, Snake Nation Review, Sonoma Mandala, Sonora Review, Rectangle, Southern Review of Poetry, Touchstone, Visions International, Willow Review ,Women’s Work, Yet Another Small Magazine, and many others. Martina lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Brian and their benevolent dictator and cat, Gato.

Steve Marshall Newton: After studying literature with C. D. B. Bryant and poetry with Jon Anderson at the University of Iowa, and creative writing with novelist Philip Roth, at the University of Iowa Creative Writers’ Workshop, Steven Marshall Newton studied creative writing and English literature in the undergraduate program at the University of New Mexico, and poetry with Gene Frumkin in the graduate program. He later became a professional songwriter, part-time artist and photographer, poet, novelist, and short story writer, His short story “Nothing But A Kiss” won First Place in the Santa Fe Reporter Annual Short Story Contest and was later published in the Amarillo Bay Literary Magazine. “Somewhere in LA” received honorable mention in the Alibi Magazine Short Story Contest. He has had short stories published in the Amarillo Bay Literary Magazine, Evergreen Review, Juked, Gator Springs Gazette, Hot Metal Press, Ascent Aspirations, and Blink. He has recently completed three mainstream contemporary novels, Southeast of Eden, The Ghosts of Babylon, and Shrinking Violet, and is nearing completion on a historical novel, Billy’s Kid.

Deborah Nickle-Vail was born in Montreal and was part of the anglophone exodus from Quebec during the 1980’s. Much of her writing takes her back to that time and place. She now lives in Mission B.C. with her family and teaches at the elementary school level. Currently, she is working on a novel, and a collection of short stories.

Debbie Okun Hill Since the fall 2004, Debbie Okun Hill has had two short stories and over 60 poems published in over 25 different Canadian and US publications including Quills, MOBIUS, North American Maple, Rhyme and Reason: Modern Formal Poetry, Reportage (Cranberry Tree Press), and all print editions of Ascent Aspirations Magazine. Her poems have won awards from The Ontario Poetry Society, the Canadian Poetry Association, the 2006 Toward the Light Poetry Contest, and most recently the 2007 WCDR Dan Sullivan Memorial Poetry Contest. Read her most current work in the chapbook Executive Sweet: A Collection of Poetry by TOPS Executives.

Ann Olson has taught literature and writing at Heritage University in Toppenish, Washington, for more than twelve years. She holds a Master’s from the University of Illinois and is working on her MFA in Creative Writing at Eastern Washington University. The Yakima River runs through Ellensburg where she lives.

Diane Attwell Palfrey Diane Attwell Palfrey was born in Toronto and has lived in Cambridge for the past sixteen years. She is a poet and prose writer. Diane is a member of the Cambridge Writers Collective and has poetry published by the Waterloo-Wellington CAA, Serengeti Press, Craigleigh Press, Hammered Out, The Ontario Poetry Society and Ascent Aspirations.

Jo Panton has just completed her third year as a Creative Writing/English Double Major at York University, where she received the 2005 Sorbara Award in Creative Writing.

Kamal Parmar was born in India and has been passionately involved in writing for the last ten years. Her genre is poetry and she has a few books to her credit. Her poems are simple though poised and evocative. While juggling wisdom with naivete, she appeals for a touch of God in our lives. Currently she is working on a manuscript that describes the emotional journey of a poet, while juxtaposing images of Canada and her original country, India. She resides with her family in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Emily Paskevics is 18 years old and is about to be a first-year Arts and Sciences student at the University of Toronto. She hopes to pursue an undergraduate degree in English, History and/or Philosophy. Her interests include writing, reading, photography and waterskiiing. Her work has previously apeared in Highlights and A Celebration of Young Poets by Creative Communication Inc. As well, she will be published in the upcoming Toronto Public Library creative writing magazine, Young Voices.

Kate Pattarnaraskouwski is twenty-three and lives in Brighton, England. She works in experimental theatre. She loves to play around in fine art, poetry/free verse and music. She also takes an interest in and is disturbed by past and present and the looming future of political and social issues.

Amy Pedersen is currently working on her MA in English at the University of Victoria.

Daniel Pendergrass grew up in Scottsboro, Alabama. After working as a journalist, he began his teaching career on an outer island of Micronesia. His poems and travel pieces have appeared in Shampoo and Travelmag, and he has work forthcoming in Van Gogh’s Ear. He lives in the Middle East.

James Phillips, educated at Oxford is a teacher of English at Neston High School in Cheshire, England. His poetry has been published in Orbis, Weyfarers and Iota. He is presently re-drafting a full-length, semi-autobiographical stage play about a group of fools and charlatans.

Gary Pierluigi was a freelance journalist and creative writing teacher in several high schools and colleges. In 1996 Gary became a quadriplegic. He has numerous publishing poetry credits in many literary journals, including CV2 and Queen’s Quarterly.

A.S. Popowich

Having lived all his life in Winnipeg’s North End, he developed early on an interest in his family’s Slavic heritage. He began writing poetry seriously while attending the University of Manitoba, where he achieved a degree in History. History and Russian literature has always informed his writing to a large extent. Since he began submitting poetry, he has won several poetry contests in the city, and his work has been included in Winnipeg magazines such as Collective Unconscious and the Manitoban. Most recently, he won first prize in a poetry contest sponsored by the University of Winnipeg’s Writer’s Collective, and a poem on the Dubrovka hostages was included in the most recent anthology from the Canadian Poetry Institute in Victoria, A Golden Morning.

M. E. Powell (Marie Mendenhall) is a Reginabased writer. Her poetry has been published by Transition and Pandora’s Collective (second place, 2005 Summer Dream contest; honorable mention, 2006 Hibernating With Words contest). She also won first place in the Saskatchewan Writers Guild 2005 Short Literary Awards, children/youth category. Scholastic will publish her first children’s nonfiction book shortly, and Altitude will publish her first adult nonfiction book later this year.

Shannon Riggs writes for adults and children. Her first book, Not in Room 204, is due out in Spring 2007 from Albert Whitman & Co. Shannon’s work is represented by The Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Visit Shannon’s Internet home at shannonriggs.com.

Joan Rippel is a retired business woman originally from southern Ontario. She has been living and writing in B.C. for over 30 years and is a long time member of The Federation of BC Writers. She has had a number of poems published, and is presently writing fantasy/science fiction novels and books. She lives in Coquitlam, BC.

Roy Roberts is a Vancouver poet published in The Fed Anthology (Anvil) and from this new world (tendollarwords) and forthcoming in Prairie Fire magazine. He lives in the ARC (Artists Resource Centre) with his wife, ceramic sculptor Shelley Holmes and their son, painter Jordan Roberts, where his involvement in the fine arts community has led him to create ekphrastic poetry (poetry inspired by art in other media) for presentation at exhibition openings; the latest for the collaborative paintings of The Blank Canvas Project at the Seymour Art Gallery, N. Vancouver.

Mary E. Robinson is a retired social worker. Born in Edmonton, she has lived most of her adult life in Calgary. She began writing late in life, both poetry and short fiction.

Sarah Ruffolo is the editor-in-chief of the University of Ottawa’s literary publication, Yawp. She also selects for Bywords: Ottawa Poetry and Literary Events. She is a recent graduate of English Literature from the University of Ottawa where she also studied creative writing. Her work has recently appeared in Another Toronto Quarterly.

Cheryl Wood Ruggiero lives, teaches, writes in the blue mountains of southwest Virginia. Her work appears or is forthcoming in CALYX, 2River View, Potion, and Wolfmoon Press Journal.

Sheryl Salloum is a Vancouver-based freelance writer who has lived in and enjoyed both rural and urban locales. Her work has appeared in numerous Canadian publications. She has published two books: Underlying Vibrations: The Photography and Life of John Vanderpant (Horsdal & Schubart, 1995), and Malcolm Lowry: Vancouver Days (Harbour Publishing, 1987).

J. D. Savanyu’s poetry has appeared in several publications, including Northwoods Journal, Parnassus Literary Review, Flesh from Ashes, Red Owl and The Magpie’s Nest, along with Bear Creek Haiku and Poetry East in a forthcoming issue. He is a twenty-six year-old student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he is an English major and a mentor of poet Gary Sange.

Kathleen Schmitt came from the USA to Canada in 1971. Author of Seasons of the Feminine Divine in three volumes published mid-90s by Crossroad, New York, Kathleen has also won several short story awards, including first place in the 1997 Amethyst, and earlier The Edmonton Sun. A retired Anglican priest, she lives with her spouse Ed in Burnaby, B. C. The Schmitts have two grown children but alas, no cats.

Tom Sheehan has five Pushcart nominations, and a Silver Rose Award from American Renaissance for the Twenty-first Century (ART) for short story excellence. , memoirs, was issued in September, 2004 by Pocol Press. A poetry chapbook, The Westering, was issued summer 2004 by Wind River Press. His fourth poetry book, This Rare Earth & Other Flights, was issued in 2003, by Lit Pot Press. He has two mysteries from Publish America, Vigilantes East, in 2002 and Death for the Phantom Receiver, an NFL mystery, in 2003. Another mystery, An Accountable Death, is serialized on 3amMagazine.com. His work can be seen in Projected Letters, Elimae, StorySouth, 3711 Atlantic, Triplopia, Melange, Prose Toad, Moonwort Review, Black Medina, Starry Night Review, Deaddrunkdublin, Megaera, The Square Table, Slow Trains, The Paumanok Review, 42 Opus, Snow Monkey, Ken *Again, Taj Mahal, Literati Magazineand many others. He has been a feature writer in Nuvein, New Works Review, Tryst and Eclectica.

Trish Shields has studied Fine Arts and creative writing. Her first book of poetry Soul Speak was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. Trish’s poetry and short stories are published internationally. Her first novel Inferno was on The Open Book’s best seller’s list for 2004. Trish was the co-ordinator/editor for the Canadian Poetry Association’s 20th Anniversary Anthology. She is a member of a number of literary organizations: League of Canadian Poets, Canadian Poetry Association, Canadian Federation of Poets, Canada-Cuba Literary Alliance. She lives on Vancouver Island with her partner and three children.

Andrea Shumovsky is a Canadian poet, writing out of Ottawa. Her poetry is inspired by the beauty of the Canadian landscape and the people she has known there. World events have also inspired her to speak out. Her family never ceases to amaze her; she hopes the wonder of life will speak to you through her writing. Her work has been published in Clevermag, Ascent Aspirations Magazine, Jones Ave., the anthology Gifts From the Heartland, Poetic License, Canadian Creative and most recently, as the featured poet in Turbula.

Johnmichael Simon was born in England in 1938 and raised in South Africa from the age of ten. He has been living in Israel almost continuously since 1955. He currently lives in the village of Metulla, Israel on the border of Lebanon, with fellow poet and artist Helen Bar-Lev, their cats and a dog. John writes poetry every day; some of it wins prizes and honorable mentions in anthologies in Israel and abroad. He is a member of the board of ‘Voices’ the Israeli English speaking poetry group and has published several illustrated books of poetry including Silly Wishes, a book of children’s verse and Cyclamens and Swords and Other Poems About the Land of Israel (Ibbetson Press, Boston, Mass., USA) in collaboration with Helen. John has been guest poet at readings in England, the US and Canada and contributes to numerous Internet publications and print Anthologies. He is member of the Voices Israel Anthology editorial board and also a member of the Canadian Poetry Association and the Canadian Federation of Poets.

Michael Simon is a practicing physician in eastern Canada who manages to pen short stories in his spare time. His stories have been published in Stitches Magazine, Apex Science Fiction and Horror and in several anthologies. His works have been recognized in many contests including first place in the 2004 Canestoga Contest, runner up in the 2005 National Fan Federation Contest and quarter finalist in L. Ron Hubbard Writers of The Future Contest 2005. Several of his stories have been published online.

K.V. Skenehas appeared in numerous Canadian, U.K., U.S., Irish and Australian publications. Two of her chapbooks, Only a Dragon (2002) andA Calendar of Rain (2004), won the Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award . A further chapbook Edith (a series of poems on Nurse Edith Cavell) was recently published by Flarestack Publishing (UK). A long-term expat Canadian, K.V. Skene grew up in Lachine Quebec and has lived in various parts of Canada as well as England and Ireland. She is presently ensconced in Oxford.

Pat Smekal has always loved words. She would write more of them if she didn’t spend so much time with other loves, including Yoga, hiking, travel, kayaking and grandchildren. Nonetheless, during the past four years or she has won a number of prizes across Canada for her poetry, and has had work published in Island Writer, Reportage, Love the Main Course, A World of Words 2006, and Ascent Aspirations Anthologies (One and Two). Pat and her husband, George, live next to the sea, on Vancouver Island.

Laurie Smith

Co-publisher of Cranberry Tree Press, Laurie Smith has been awarded prizes in poetry and short fiction by Secrets of the Orange Couch, The Guelph Alumnus, The Lance, Express Magazine, Detroit Women Writers, Blue Moon Press, and Literary Arts Windsor. Twice winner of the Mayor’s Awards of Excellence in the Arts, she was the recipient of the inaugural Adele Wiseman Poetry Prize. Her collections include gall/stones (Scratch n’ Sniff Ink, 1995), one ninth of a cat’s life (Cranberry Tree Press, 1999), and Menagerie (LAW-PPP, 2005). She is currently developing a poetry manuscript based on the writings and extended influence of Charles Darwin, and acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council.

Meghan Smith is currently a third year social work student and a mother of a 6 month old baby girl. She has been pubished in a few journals and internet periodicals such as Ascent, Re:verse and Pandora’s Collective under her maiden name Meghan Johnston.

Susan Snowden’s poems have appeared in anthologies and literary journals, including Now and Then, Moonwort Review, Slow Trains, Backstreet Quarterly, and Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream. She has received awards from Writer’s Digest, Appalachian Writers Association, The Writers’ Workshop, and others. Snowden is a freelance book editor based in Hendersonville, NC. She also teaches creative writing part-time at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock.

Laura Stavro-Beauchamp lives in Toronto and has just received her BA in political science from Dalhousie University. She is currently pursuing a career in publishing.

Kirk Stensrud was born in 1980 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He now lives in Calgary where he works for dsv2 media as a programmer.

Maude Stephany is transfigured by the playfulness of the natural world. She joins in the gambol with her words.

Colin Stewart: After six long years at SFU, Colin Stewart finds himself stuck with a degree in computer science. To remedy this situation, he is now pursuing a much more practical degree in creative writing, after which he will enter the lucrative field of writing novels. Until then, Colin will spend his time writing, doing slam poetry, looking for a publisher for his novel, and playing on the slides in the park.

Lynn Strongin (b. NYC 1939) grew up in and around New York and in certain parts of the rural South which made a deep impression on her. Parents of Eastern European Jewish ancestors raised her in a rich artistic environment. Her memoir Indigo is based largely on these two locales. Chapters of Indigo have appeared in various venues such as StorySouth, Atlantic /3711, Verb Sap, The Square Table, Riverbabble and in Italy’s Storie. “Audubon Wallpaper,” a chapter which came out first in StorySouth was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She will have twelve books out by mid-2006, among them the anthology The Sorrow Psalms;A Book of Twentieth Century Elegy to be published by the University of Iowa Press, June 2006. Her work appears in over thirty anthologies, seventy journals. In the Sixties, she worked for poet Denise Levertov in the political environment of Berkeley. Most recently her prose has appeared in The Dublin Review. For the past twenty-five years she has made Victoria, British Columbia her home.

Luminita Suse lives in Ottawa. She is a member of the Ottawa Independent Writers, Valley Writers’ Guild, and The Ontario Poetry Society. Her poetry has been published in the “Anthology One” and “Agua Terra” anthologies of Ascent Aspirations Magazine, Enchanted Crossroads anthology and Verse Afire newsletter of The Ontario Poetry Society, Sage of Consciousness literary E-Zine, The Saving Banister anthology of the Canadian Authors Association – Niagara Branch, and Bywords Quarterly Journal. Visit her website at Web Site

Betsy Symons lives in Deep Bay on the east coast of Vancouver Island where she teaches painting and creative writing out of her studio, Symons Studio. Her work has been published in Visions, The New Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, Scrivener, and Backwater Review. She also sells her paintings - abstract landscapes in oil and watercolour. She is a swimmer and a converted semi-ruralite environmentalist.

Lynn Tait lives in Sarnia, Ontario. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Lichen, Windsor Review, Quills, Contemporary Verse 2, Carousel, No Love Lost III, and Ascent Aspirations Magazine Anthology Two, Windfire. She has published a chapbook titled Breaking Away, 2002.

Adele Kearns Thomas, former R.N. Supervisor, has authored two poetry books, been twice finalist in Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Poetry Competitions, and tied for second place in Shaunt Basmajian Poetry Chapbook Competition, 2006, and has published in The Prairie Journal, Carousel, Sandburg/ Livesey Award, and Dark Lullaby, in US. She is a member of The League, and past president of Sarnia branch of CAA. She resides in Sarnia, Ontario.

Mildred Tremblay lives in Nanaimo, BC. Her latest book of poetry The Thing About Dying is available from Oolichan Books. She is the recipient of many awards, amongst them The Arc National Poetry Award, and The League of Canadian Poets Award. Recently she placed first and second in the Victoria Erotica Festival Poetry contest.

Rosalee van Stelten is a widely published free-lance writer whose debut poetry book, Pattern of Genes, is published by Frontenac House. Now retired, her working life has taken her from a quonset hut on Nova Scotia’s shore to Buckingham Palace. A Calgarian for many years, she now lives in Victoria.

John A. Vanek’s work has appeared in literary journals such as Natural Bridge, Heartlands, The Fourth River, as well as in such diverse publications as The Journal of the American Medical Association (in the “Poetry and Medicine” section), Bowling Digest, Chicken Soup for the Caregiver’s Soul, Stories of Strength (featuring Orson Scott Card), and Biker Ally – The Motorcycle Magazine Geared For Women. His poetry has been reprinted in anthologies (the most recent being Red, White and Blues – Poets on the Promise of America, published by the University of Iowa Press) and he has a poem in the permanent collection of the George Bush Presidential Library.

Liz Vassallo is 22 years old and has just graduated from Boston College with a bachelor of arts degree in English and a concentration in creative writing. She is currently working as a first grade teacher on the Indian Reservation of Zuni, New Mexico where she hopes to continue writing.

Wendy Visser lives in Cambridge, Ontario. She has been published recently in Ascent Aspirations Anthology Three, AguaTerra,2007, Hammered Out # 11, Peter Street Publications, Hamilton, On. Street # 5, Serengeti Press, 2007, Myth Weavers: Canadian Myths and Legends, Serengeti Press, 2007, Tower Poetry, Vol 56, No.1, Tower Poetry Society Press, Summer 2007, and in Cloud Shine, launched in 2007 by Craigleigh Press. Wendy’s haiku are currently featured on the dailyhaiku website where she is one of six contributors for the spring/summer sessio, 2007. Her book, Riding A Wooden Horse, Craigleigh Press recently won the WRAC (Waterloo Regional Arts Council) best book award.

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.

Vernon Waring: The poetry of Vernon Waring has been published in Anthology, Stylus, Alabama School of Fine Arts Quarterly, Midwestern University Quarterly and The Writer. On-line credits include the Prairie Home Companion, Starving Arts Literary Magazine and poetic inhalation web sites. His short fiction and poetry have also appeared in Ascent Aspirations on-line literary journal. He resides in Philadelphia.

Kate Watson is the theatre critic for Halifax’s weekly newspaper, The Coast. Her fiction has appeared in Spinetingler, her poetry in Regina Weese, and her non-fiction in Cezanne’s Carrot.

Julie Waugh lives in Sydney, Australia and holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of New South Wales. Her work has been published in Decanto (UK), Poetrix(AUS), Positive Words (AUS), The Mozzie (AUS) and various anthologies as well as on-line in Above Ground Testing, Stylus Poetry Journal, Souhern Ocean Review and PixelPapers.

Joanna M. Weston is married, and has three sons, and two cats. She lives on Vancouver Island and is a full-time writer of poetry, short-stories, and poetry reviews. She has been published internationally in journals, print and online, and in anthologies. She has written two middle-readers, The Willow-tree Girl and Those Blue Shoes.

Nora White: In the 1980’s, with the encouragement of the Kent Writers Guild, and invaluable assistance from Alvin Armstrong, Nora White distributed a self-publication entitled Pick a Card – Any Card. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Parry Sound District, and focussed her efforts on other facets of her life, allowing her writing to return to the emotional-release closet where it had previously hidden. She remarried “numerous” times, helped raise many of the area’s children, managed an electrolysis business, a cottage resort, then upgraded her education. In the current millennium, she happily filled the office clerk’s desk at Bot-Seegmiller while hundreds of men worked at the HWY 69/400 improvements, then spent a year and half discovering the incredible abilities possessed by people with disabilities. Sudden life and career developments led to a recent ‘spring cleaning’ that revealed an excess of accumulated material, including the poem presented here.

S. J. White is a retired photographer. He writes non-fiction, short stories and poetry. He has published three books and is published here and there in the North American literary press. He lives with his wife in Brantford, Ontario, and is a member of the Cambridge Writers’ Collective and the Hamilton Poetry Centre.

Laurie Anne Whitt’s poems have appeared in various journals, including The Spoon River Poetry Review, Puerto Del Sol, The Malahat Review, Wisconsin Review, Hawai’i Review, PRISM International, Cottonwood and Poetry Canada Review. Her most recent manuscript, Interstices, won the 2005 Holland Prize and was published by Logan House Press in May 2006. Two collections of her poetry were published in 2001. Words For Relocation (Will Hall Press) won the 2001 Norma O. Harrison Chapbook Competition, and a long dream of difference (Frith Press) placed second in the 2000 Open Poetry Chapbook Competition. Her work has been assisted by fellowships from the Robert M.MacNamara Foundation, Hedgebrook, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the KHN Center for the Arts, Centrum and the Vermont Studio Center. Currently, she lives in the Wasatch Mountains near Spanish Fork, Utah and teaches philosophy and integrated studies at Utah Valley State.

D.L. Wilson: British Columbia bred and born, D.L. Wilson has lived in several provinces, raising two children, getting an English degree, and working in the corporate world along the way. The west coast and writing have finally pulled her home.

Kaimana Wolff is a writer with British Columbia roots, currently in hiding on an island (aren’t we all?).   Kai’s older than dirt, juicier than a mango, and busier than a rodent.

Jan Wood lives in Northern Saskatchewan where each day the nearby forests and lakes give inspiration. She is a patron of the arts who recently found reason to record bits of life in ink, none of which is dry yet. She is presently creating and publishing leather-bound journals, Out of Ink Printers, a hobby turned business venture.

Ed Woods is a Hamilton area writer currently involved in the entertainment business. Inspiration for writing evolved from life experiences through employment, travel, and daily challenges originally related in storytelling. Near future plans include publishing an anthology.

Joan Donaldson-Yarmey was born in Vancouver and raised in Edmonton. She has five children and seven grandchildren. She moved to Vancouver Island in 2004 and settled in Port Alberni this spring. She has been writing for about twenty years. Her first article was published in Western People. She has seven travel books--Backroads of Vancouver Island, Backroads of Southwestern B.C., Backroads of Southern Interior B.C., Backroads of Central and Northern B.C., Backroads of the Yukon and Alaska, Backroads of Southern Alberta, and Backroads of Northern Alberta, all of which are published through Lone Pine Publishing in Edmonton, AB. She has had articles published in Motorhome and Up Here, Life in Canada’s North, and a short story in ComputorEdge in San Diego, CA. She likes to travel, dragonboat, garden, paint, and write.

J.R. Yeates: Born in rural Ontario as the youngest of her mother’s 13 children, J.R. Yeates was deeply nurtured by her family’s love of reading and the arts. Each sibling seemed drawn to excel in a different form, and poetry proved to be Jennifer’s first and constant voice. Relocating to British Columbia at the age of 9, she found one door after another open to her enthusiasm for language and cultures, and by her early 20’s had learned French, studied Vietnamese for a year while volunteering in that community, and begun to explore West African dance and music. The easily accessible diversity of the West Coast led her to discover traditional Chinese poets such as Li Po and Du Fu as well as the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, and their influences are clearly present in her verse as she lyrically bridges her admiration of vivid, terse language and parallels of thought with themes of striving for (and struggling with) moral improvement.

Annette Yourk lives and works on Quadra Island, B.C. Her fiction and creative non-fiction have appeared in newspapers, magazines, anthologies and on CBC radio. She co-edited and published the anthology ShoreLines; Memoirs & Tales of the Discovery Island. She enjoys reading at cultural events.

Charlene Zatorski is a married mother of four trying to figure out the world around her through poetry and prose.

Bonnie ZoBell has received an NEA for her fiction, a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award, and the Capricorn Novel Contest Award. Her work has appeared in such magazines as American Fiction, The Bellingham Review, Arts & Understanding: America’s AIDS Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and she has had flashes in Word Riot, Salome, Juked, and The Boston Literary Review. She is the Creative Writing Coordinator at Mesa College in San Diego, California.