2013 Online Semifinals Judges

 

Yves Antoine

Yves Antoine

Born in Port-au-Prince, Yves Antoine has lived in Quebec since 1969 after having spent time in Europe and the United States. A student in education at Université de Montréal, Yves Antoine received a doctorate in French literature at the University of Ottawa. He was a teacher for many years at Cégep de l’Outaouais. As a writer, Yves Antoine has been the guest of a variety of different organizations, including the Association of Haitian Doctors Abroad, the Canada Revenue Agency, Université de Lyon, and the Conseil régional of Martinique. In 2006, he was received by Aimé Césaire, who wrote of him in a dedication: “To Yves Antoine, the poet, the Haitian, the brother who, through his work and his life, helps us build the West Indies of our dreams.” In 1999, the Conseil interculturel de l’Outaouais awarded the Carter G. Woodson Book Award to Yves Antoine for his book Inventeurs et savants noirs, republished in 2004. In 2010, the same book won the Prix Efficience in Paris. Yves Antoine has sat on judging panels for the City of Ottawa, the Ontario Arts Council, and Quebec’s Ministère de l’Éducation.

 

Stephanie Bolster

Stephanie Bolster

Stephanie Bolster’s latest book, A Page from the Wonders of Life on Earth,  was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, and an excerpt from her current project was chosen as a finalist for the CBC/Canada Writes competition in 2012. Her first book, White Stone: The Alice Poems, won the Governor General’s Award and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award in 1998. Her work has also received the Bronwen Wallace Award, the Archibald Lampman Award, and The Malahat Review’s Long Poem Prize, among other awards, and been translated into French, Spanish, and German. She edited The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2008 and The Ishtar Gate: Last and Selected Poems by the Ottawa poet Diana Brebner, and co-edited Penned: Zoo Poems. Born in Vancouver, she teaches creative writing at Concordia University in Montréal and lives in Pointe-Claire, Québec.

 

Alice Burdick

Alice Burdick

Alice Burdick lives in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Born and raised in Toronto, she has also lived in Halifax, Espanola, Vancouver, and on the Sechelt Peninsula. In the early 1990s, she was co-editor of The Eternal Network, and assistant coordinator of the Toronto Small Press Fair. Her work has appeared in magazines including Two Serious Ladies, Dig, What!, subTerrain, This Magazine, and Who Torched Rancho Diablo? She is the author of many chapbooks and three full-length poetry collections, Simple Master (Pedlar Press, 2002), Flutter (Mansfield Press, 2008), and most recently, Holler (Mansfield Press, 2012). Her work has also appeared in Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (The Mercury Press), Surreal Estate: 13 Canadian Poets Under the Influence (The Mercury Press), Pissing Ice: An Anthology of ‘New’ Canadian Poets (BookThug), My Lump in the Bed: Love Poems for George W. Bush (Proper Tales Press), and Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament (Mansfield Press).

 

Eric Charlebois

Éric Charlebois

Éric Charlebois’ seventh collection of poetry, Le miroir mural devant la berceuse électrique, was published in 2012. Several of his six previous collections won or were shortlisted for prizes, including the Trillium Book Award, the Le Droit Prize, and the Ottawa Book Award, as well as being included in university reading lists. Éric Charlebois has been involved in numerous literary and artistic activities in Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Montreal, Toronto, Sudbury, Ottawa, Moncton, Winnipeg, and France. In addition, he plans and leads a variety of workshops on poetry, creative writing, spontaneous creativity, rhetoric, ethical relationships, and communication both in schools and in prisons. Éric Charlebois has travelled widely and is inspired by the unusual to delve into questions of dialectical discourse and the essential ethical quality of objects. Some of his texts have been read in public, others have been filmed (Vision polyphonique) or sung. Others still have been turned into visual art.

 

Brad Cran

Brad Cran

Brad Cran served as Poet Laureate for the City of Vancouver from April of 2009 until October of 2011. He published his first book of poetry, The Good Life, in 2001, and his first book of nonfiction, Hope in Shadows: Stories and Photographs of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (with Gillian Jerome), won the City of Vancouver Book Award and has raised over $50,000 for the people of the Downtown Eastside. His second book of poems, Ink on Paper, is forthcoming, and he is currently finishing his second book of non-fiction, The Truth About Ronald Reagan: How Movies Changed the World.

 

Michael Crummey

Michael Crummey

Michael Crummey has published four books of poetry, a book of stories, and three novels. His most recent novel, Galore, won the Canadian Authors’ Association Fiction Award, the Commonwealth Book Prize (Canada & Caribbean Region), and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Governor General’s Award. His latest book is the poetry collection, Under the Keel. He lives in St. John’s. (photo credit: Andrew MacCormack)

 

Jon Paul Fiorentino

Jon Paul Fiorentino

Jon Paul Fiorentino’s first novel is Stripmalling, which was shortlisted for the 2009 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. His most recent book of poetry is Indexical Elegies, which won the 2010 CBC Book Club Award for Best Book of Poetry. He is the author of the poetry books The Theory of the Loser Class, which was shortlisted for the 2006 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry, and Hello Serotonin, and the humor book Asthmatica. His next book of poetry is Needs Improvement, which will be out in 2013 with Coach House Books. He lives in Montreal, where he teaches creative writing at Concordia University and edits Matrix magazine.

 

Ariel Gordon

Ariel Gordon

Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg writer. Her first book of poetry, Hump (Palimpsest Press), was published in 2010, and her second is slated for publication in 2014. Most recently, she won Kalamalka Press’ inaugural John Lent Poetry-Prose Award and is looking forward to the resulting fine press chapbook. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms. (photo credit: Mike Deal)

 

Tracy Hamon

Tracy Hamon

Tracy Hamon was born in Regina and grew up traveling between Regina and her parents’ farm near Edenwold, Saskatchewan. She holds a BA Hon and an MA in English. Her first book of poetry, This Is Not Eden, was released in April 2005 and was a finalist for two Saskatchewan Book Awards. Portions of her latest book, Interruptions in Glass, won the 2005 City of Regina Writing Award, and was also shortlisted for two book awards in the 2010 Saskatchewan Book Awards. Most recently, she was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize and her manuscript about painter Egon Schiele, “Red Curls” is forthcoming in 2014.

 

Susan Holbrook

Susan Holbrook

Susan Holbrook’s poetry books are the Trillium-nominated Joy Is So Exhausting (Coach House, 2009), Good Egg Bad Seed (Nomados, 2004), and misled (Red Deer, 1999), which was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the Stephan G. Stephansson Award. She teaches North American literatures and creative writing at the University of Windsor. She recently co-edited The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson: Composition as Conversation (Oxford University Press, 2010).

 

Gillian Jerome

Gillian Jerome

Gillian Jerome’s first book of non-fiction, Hope In Shadows: Stories and Photographs from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (with Brad Cran), won the 2008 City of Vancouver Book Award and was shortlisted for a BC Book Prize. Her first book of poems, Red Nest (Nightwood), won the ReLit Award for Poetry in 2010 and was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 2010. She teaches literature at University of British Columbia, edits poetry at EVENT magazine, and works with other writers at Canadian Women in the Literary Arts.

 

David O’Meara

David O’Meara

David O’Meara was born in Pembroke, Ontario. He is the author of three collections of poetry, and a play, Disaster. His most recent book is Noble Gas, Penny Black. His work has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies, including The New Canon, and The Echoing Years, a co-Irish/Canadian anthology. He has been shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, the ReLit Award, the Trillium Book Award, a National Magazine Award, four Rideau Awards (theatre), and was twice winner of the Archibald Lampman Award. He is director of the renowned Plan 99 Reading Series, a founding director of VerseFest, Canada’s International Poetry Festival, and was poetry instructor at the Banff Centre in September 2012. He continues to tend bar at the Manx Pub in Ottawa.

 

Jeanne Painchaud

Jeanne Painchaud

Poet, artist, creator of literary projects, and leader of writing workshops, Jeanne Painchaud (MA in literature, Université de Québec À Montréal) has spent the last 20 years fascinated by haiku and by teaching poetry to young people. Jeanne Painchaud has published six collections of poetry and prose, the last of which was published in Paris, and been a member of many artists’ collectives. She has led several projects using unusual ways to raise awareness about literature, including permanent and transitory exhibits, and poetry on sidewalks, among others. Her first book for children will be published in April 2013. Jeanne Painchaud has been the guest at literary events in the United States, France, Japan, and Senegal.

 

Swann Paradis

Swann Paradis

Following a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Université de Montréal in 1992, Swann Paradis worked as veterinarian in Quebec for more than 15 years while pursuing a degree in literature. He is interested in 18th century natural history (in literature, philosophy, and science), as well as contemporary Quebecois poetry. After receiving his doctorate in literature from Université Laval, he was named associate professor in the Department of French Studies at Glendon College (York University) in 2008. Swann Paradis teaches French, literature (from France, Quebec, and French-speaking Canada), and creative writing (poetry). In 1998, he was awarded first prize in the CEULa literary contest organized by Université Laval for his poem series, Dans les replis d’un songe, published in the magazine L’écrit primal. He is also cited in the second edition of the Dictionnaire des poètes d’ici de 1606 à nos jours, published by Guérin in 2005.

 

Nikki Reimer

Nikki Reimer

Nikki Reimer, writer, editor and designer, is author of [sic] (Frontenac House, 2010), which was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award; and the chapbooks that stays news (Nomados Press, 2011), haute action material (Heavy Industries, 2011) and fist things first (Wrinkle Press, 2009). Her poetry, artwork, and criticism have appeared in various places, online and off. A second poetry manuscript is forthcoming. Reimer recently attended the In(ter)ventions residency at the Banff Centre. Reimer can be found online at reimerwrites.com.

 

Aurelie Resch

Aurélie Resch

A writer, journalist, and filmmaker, Aurélie Resch explores themes of exile and search for identity. Her work has been recognized through nominations in 2002, 2005, 2011, and 2012 to the Prix des lecteurs Radio-Canada, the literary prize of the Toronto Salon du livre, and the Trillium Book Award. Aurélie Resch has also written for a variety of cultural magazines, produced documentaries for French-speaking television, and led writing workshops in schools, and at book fairs and cultural centres. All of Aurélie Resch’s work aims at raising awareness of French culture and the French language and was recognized by the French Senate when she was shortlisted for their Trophée prize in 2008.

 

Stuart Ross

Stuart Ross

Stuart Ross published his first literary pamphlet on the photocopier in his dad’s office one night in 1979. Through the 1980s, he stood on Toronto’s Yonge Street wearing signs like “Writer Going To Hell,” selling over 7,000 poetry and fiction chapbooks. He is co-founder of the Toronto Small Press Book Fair and a founding member of the Meet the Presses collective, Editor at Mansfield Press, and for eight years was Fiction & Poetry Editor at This Magazine. He is the author of two collaborative novels, two story collections, seven poetry books, and the novel Snowball, Dragonfly, Jew. He has also published a collection of essays, Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer, and co-edited the anthology Rogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament. Buying Cigarettes for the Dog won the 2010 ReLit Award for Short Fiction. His most recent poetry book is You Exist. Details Follow. Stuart teaches writing workshops and coaches writers one-on-one. He lives in Cobourg, Ontario.

 

Rino Morin Rossignol

Rino Morin Rossignol

Rino Morin Rossignol is a writer from Madawaska, in northwest New Brunswick. He has published poetry collections (on the shortlist for the Governor General’s Award in 2007), a novel, essay, and plays. He has also worked as an MC, guide, translator, political advisor, public relations advisor, and editor of a daily newspaper. Today, Rino Morin Rossignol writes a column for the magazine Acadie Nouvelle. In 1998, he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade by the Assemblée parlementaire de la francophonie. Rino Morin Rossignol was also awarded the New Brunswick Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for High Achievement in French Language Literary Arts.

 

Carmine Starnino

Carmine Starnino

Carmine Starnino has published four critically acclaimed volumes of poetry. His most recent, This Way Out (Gaspereau, 2009), was nominated for the Governor General’s Award. He has won the Canadian Author’s Association Poetry Award and the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. He lives in Montreal, where he is poetry editor for Véhicule Press and senior editor for Reader’s Digest Canada. Lazy Bastardism: Reviews and Essays on Canadian Poetry was published by Gaspereau in Fall 2012.

 

Rhea Tregebov

Rhea Tregebov

Rhea Tregebov’s seventh collection of poetry, All Souls’, was released by Signal Editions/Véhicule Press (Montreal) in 2012. Tregebov’s poetry has received the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, The Malahat Review’s Long Poem Prize, Honorable Mention for the National Magazine Awards, and the Readers’ Choice Award for Poetry from Prairie Schooner. Tregebov is also the author of an award-winning historical novel, The Knife-Sharpener’s Bell (Coteau, 2009), and five children’s picture books, and has edited numerous anthologies. Before being hired by the Creative Writing Program at University of British Columbia in 2005, Tregebov taught Creative Writing for many years in the Continuing Education Program at Ryerson University in Toronto. She also worked as a freelance editor of adult and young adult fiction, as well as poetry. She is now an associate professor in the Creative Writing Program at University of British Columbia.

 

Gaston Tremblay

Gaston Tremblay

Gaston Tremblay was born in 1949 in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. Since then, he has studied business and literature in Sudbury and in Montreal. He has worked as log driver, miner, host, publisher, arts administrator and, currently, university professor. He took the liberty of writing some poetry before becoming a novelist and essayist.

 

Zachariah Wells

Zachariah Wells

Zachariah Wells is the author of the poetry collections Unsettled and Track & Trace, and the editor of the anthology Jailbreaks: 99 Canadian Sonnets. Forthcoming in the fall of 2013 are a limited edition chapbook of poems, Baffle, and Career Limiting Moves, critical prose selected from a decade’s work. Originally from Prince Edward Island, he lives in Halifax, where he cobbles together a living by various means. (photo credit: Mathieu Bourgois)

 

 

 

 

English
Start here: