Barb Snyder
May 2023
I studied and practiced visual arts and creative writing alongside a 38 year career as a fisheries biologist in the Pacific Northwest. For 30 years, I have been a printmaker in Vancouver winning best local printmaker at the Biennial International Mini Print show in 2008. I exhibit new print art annually at our Granville Island studio. My photographic art has been shown in a number of publications and reviews of my printmaking have appeared in the Vancouver Sun, Galleries West/BC Living and Pacific Rim Magazine.
Wallace Stegner’s novels conjure memories of my family history immersed in prairie life. A stay at Wallace Stegner house appeals to me as a biologist, birder, printmaker, photographer and as a poet. I am especially grateful to be spending time at Eastend during a transition season to observe the environment as one season gives way to the next and spring bird migration begins. Here, where prairie and foothills meet, I can explore the unique geology, topography and biology of the area. I will adopt the ancient Japanese calendar of 72 seasons, making detailed observations across creative disciplines to explore a close connection to, and collaboration with, the landscape. I would like to speak to residents for their views on both seasonal change and any longer term changes observed. Knowing that Wallace Stegner was also an environmentalist resonates with me.
Megan Cole
March 2023
Megan Cole is a tattooed food enthusiast with an obsessive reading habit. As a journalist Megan has worked for community newspapers, CBC Radio, and Canadian Press. Her creative nonfiction has appeared in The Puritan, Invisiblog, untethered, Hungry Zine, Chatelaine, and The Fiddlehead. Megan is working on her first creative nonfiction book titled Nice Boys Don’t Kiss Like That: Womanhood Explored through ‘90s Rom-Coms, MSN Messenger, and First Loves. When Megan isn’t writing, reading, knitting or cooking, she’s working as the director of programming and communications for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes. She lives and works on the territory of the Tla'amin Nation in BC. For more about Megan visit her website at megancolewriter.com
Caroline Woodward
April 2023
Caroline Woodward writes for children and adults with nine published books to date, including her picture book for children, Singing Away the Dark, which is now published in French, Korean, Bulgarian, Chinese and Japanese. She grew up on a homestead in the Peace River region of B.C. which has inspired many of her books and for which she was awarded an honorary arts degree by Northern Lights College in 2016. Most recently she spent 14 years as a lighthouse keeper on B.C.'s west coast, about which she wrote in her best-selling book, Light Years: Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper. For more information about Caroline please check here www.carolinewoodward.ca or woodwardonwords.blogspot.com
Danny Peart
February 2023
Danny Peart was born in Port Dalhousie, Ontario and currently resides in Vancouver, B.C. He is supported by his wife, Janette Lindley, two sons, Max and Nick, and a Yellow Lab, Mila. He has worked as a Bartender, a Personal Trainer, and the Parts Manager for a farm equipment dealer in Ontario. He has published 4 books: Ruined by Love (poems), Stark Naked in a Laundromat (stories & poems), Another Mountain to Climb (poems), Not Quite So Handsome (poems). He is most comfortable reading and writing in a quiet café. (daily) Though he seeks the mountains often for hiking, skiing and snowshoeing.
Gayle Nemeth
January 2023
Gayle finds inspiration for her writing on her farm with her husband, dog, and horses in Treaty Six territory, Northeast Saskatchewan. Her career as a writer follows years of teaching in First Nations classrooms both in northern and southern Saskatchewan, Community College and as an English as a Second Language instructor with the Saskatoon Public School Division and Global Gathering Place. She published her short story “Snowbird” in the 2022 edition of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild magazine, Spring and is currently working to complete a historical fiction novel, The Will. For information about Writing The Will, you can refer to her website http://gaylenemeth.ca. Gayle shares the love Wallace Stegner had for the land and finds his writing to have considerable influence on her own.
Marie Lovrod
December 2022
Marie has been working for several years on related poetry and creative non-fiction projects. She has taken part in several Saskatchewan Writer’s Guild self-guided and facilitated writing retreats and a long-term writing class with Candace Savage. She has been honing her writing practice with a stable writing group.
Caitlin McCullam-Arnal
August 2022
Caitlin McCullam-Arnal is a writer who grew up in Loree, Ontario. She draws inspiration from things that piss her off and make her smile. She lives in Treaty 4, Southwest Saskatchewan with her husband and eight rescue animals. She is published in the anthology, apart: a year of pandemic poetry and prose, Transition, and Spring magazines. She co-facilitated The Writing for Mental Health Workshops 2019-2020 at Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, Treaty 4, SK. Currently, she is working on a novel-in-progress, Dame.
Lois A Unger
August 2022
Lois A Unger grew up in rural Saskatchewan and learned about the value and joy of spending tme outside with my camera, and how photography is a means of communication. Lois has presented her work in solo and group art shows locally and beyond. A huge honour was when Tourism Saskatchewan chose her genre.
I love the sky and the many cloud formations. I feel there are hidden messages from the universe. My project would be titled THE SKY WITH NO LIMITS.
Allan Toews
I began as a practising artist in Winnipeg, MB, where I graduated from the University of Manitoba, School of Art in 1972 and continued my practice in Winnipeg until 2004 when I moved to Victoria, BC, where I maintain a studio at Rock Bay Square, a old building catering to artist and artisans. Winnipeg, Toronto and Victoria are places where my art has been exhibited.
Stuart Ian McKay
January 2022
Stuart Ian McKay is a member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and the League of Canadian Poets. He is a two time winner of CBC's Alberta Anthology. McKay lives in Calgary.