2022 Wild Writers

LARA EL MEKAUI

LARA EL MEKAUI

LARA EL MEKAUI is a PhD candidate in English at the University of Waterloo. She studies the complicated connotations behind being a part of the world: her dissertation explores the traumas of forced migration and issues of belonging in Black and Palestinian Diaspora Contemporary Transnational Fiction respectively. Lara is the non-fiction editor at the Ex-Puritan. …

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HOLLAY GHADERY

HOLLAY GHADERY

HOLLAY GHADERY is an Iranian-Canadian writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021, her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box, with Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, is scheduled for release with Gordon Hill Press …

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Alysia Kolentsis

ALYSIA KOLENTSIS

ALYSIA KOLENTSIS

ALYSIA KOLENTSIS is an Associate Professor of English at St. Jerome’s University / University of Waterloo. She is the author of Shakespeare’s Common Language (Bloomsbury).

TANIS MACDONALD

TANIS MACDONALD

TANIS MACDONALD is the author of Straggle: Adventures in Walking While Female (2022), Mobile: poems(2019), and five other books. She is the co-editor of the multi-genre anthology GUSH: Menstrual manifestos for our times (2018) and the Editor of the Laurier Poetry Series. Winner of the Open Seasons Awards for Nonfiction and the Bliss Carman Prize …

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PAMELA MULLOY

PAMELA MULLOY

PAMELA MULLOY is the Editor of The New Quarterly and the Creative Director of the Wild Writers Literary Festival. She has published two novels,  The Deserters (Véhicule Press, 2018) and As Little As Nothing (ECW Press, 2022). Her first book of nonfiction Off the Tracks: A Meditation on Train Journeys in a Time of No …

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EMMY NORDSTROM HIGDON

EMMY NORDSTROM HIGDON

Dr. EMMY NORDSTROM HIGDON is a literary agent at Westwood Creative Artists, an advisor for the Festival of Literary Diversity and the Sheridan College Publishing and Creative Writing Program, a faculty member at the Manuscript Academy, and a proofreader for Rising Action Publishing. Emmy lives in Kitchener with their partner, a Deaf Dalmatian, two formerly feral …

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CARRIE SNYDER

CARRIE SNYDER

CARRIE SNYDER is the author of four books of fiction, including Girl Runner, which was translated into a dozen languages and was a finalist for the Rogers Writers Trust Prize, and The Juliet Stories, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. Her new novel, Francie’s Got a Gun, is published by Knopf Canada (summer, 2022). …

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MADHUR ANAND

MADHUR ANAND

MADHUR ANAND’s debut book of prose This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart (2020) won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. Her debut collection of poems A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes (2015) was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry, named one of 10 all-time “trailblazing” poetry collections by the …

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RAE ARMANTROUT

RAE ARMANTROUT

RAE ARMANTROUT’s recent book Finalists (Wesleyan 2022) “emanates the radiant astonishment of living thought,” writes David Woo for the Poetry Foundation.  Her 2018 book, Wobble, was a finalist for the National Book Award that year. Her other books with Wesleyan include Partly: New and Selected Poems, Just Saying, Money Shot and Versed. In 2010 Versed won …

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MARTHA BATIZ

MARTHA BATIZ

MARTHA BÁTIZ is an award-winning writer, translator, and professor of Spanish language in literature. She is the author of four books, including the story collection Plaza Requiem, winner of an International Latino Book Award, and the novella The Wolf’s Mouth, winner of the Casa de Teatro Prize. Born and raised in Mexico City, she lives …

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CLARENCE CACHAGEE

CLARENCE CACHAGEE

CLARENCE CACHAGEE is an Indigenous Community Educator, helper, visionary, and author known for investing his whole self into his community. Originally from Chapleau Cree First Nation, and now calling Cambridge home, he is the visionary behind Crow Shield Lodge—a place for reconciliation, land-based teaching, and healing. North Wind Man is his memoir.

SUE DANIC

SUE DANIC

SUE DANIC  has a Master of Arts with a focus on early Canadian fiction. Retired after a thirty-year career teaching English and working as a librarian, she decided to read more romance: post-apocalyptic, historical, contemporary, erotic. You name it, she’s likely read it. Sue also spends her time proofreading for The New Quarterly, kayaking and …

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FARZANA DOCTOR

FARZANA DOCTOR

FARZANA DOCTOR is a Toronto-based author, activist and a Registered Social Worker Psychotherapist. She has published four critically acclaimed novels, including Seven, which Ms. Magazine described as “fully feminist and ambitiously bold”, and was shortlisted for the Trillium and Evergreen Awards. Her new poetry collection, You Still Look The Same, which Quill & Quire has …

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CYNTHIA FLOOD

CYNTHIA FLOOD

CYNTHIA FLOOD’s stories have won numerous awards, including The Journey Prize and a National Magazine Award, and have been widely anthologized. Her novel Making A Stone Of The Heart was nominated for the City of Vancouver Book Prize in 2002. She is the author of the acclaimed short story collections The Animals in Their Elements …

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KATHY FRIEDMAN

KATHY FRIEDMAN

KATHY FRIEDMAN is the author of the short-story collection All the Shining People (Anansi, 2022). She studied creative writing at UBC and the University of Guelph, and was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. Her writing has appeared in Grain, Geist, PRISM international, Canadian Notes & Queries, and the …

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FORREST GANDER

FORREST GANDER

FORREST GANDER, a writer and translator with degrees in geology and literature, was born in the Mojave Desert and lives in northern California. His books, often concerned with ecology, include Twice Alive, Be With, winner of Pulitzer Prize, and the novel The Trace. Gander’s translations include It Must Be a Misunderstanding by Coral Bracho, Spectacle …

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LUKE HATHAWAY

LUKE HATHAWAY

LUKE HATHAWAY is a trans poet, librettist, and theatre maker. His mythopoeic word-worlds have given rise to new choral works by Colin Labadie, James Rolfe, and Zachary Wadsworth, and to the folk opera The Sign of Jonas, a collaboration with Benton Roark. He is the author of four books of poems, one of which (Years, …

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HELEN HUMPHREYS

HELEN HUMPHREYS

HELEN HUMPHREYS is an acclaimed and award-winning author of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. She has won the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, a Lambda Literary Award for Fiction and the Toronto Book Award. She has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Trillium Book Prize and CBC Radio’s Canada Reads. Her …

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TASNEEM JAMAL

TASNEEM JAMAL

TASNEEM JAMAL was born in Mbarara, Uganda, and immigrated to Canada with her family in 1975. The author of the novel Where the Air Is Sweet (HarperCollins 2014), she serves as a nonfiction editor atThe New Quarterly and is at work on her second novel. When not writing, Tasneem serves as Communications Officer at Project …

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JACKIE LAU

JACKIE LAU

JACKIE LAU decided she wanted to be a writer when she was in grade two, sometime between penning “The Heart That Got Lost” and “The Land of Shapes.” She later studied engineering and worked as a geophysicist before turning to writing romance novels. She is now the author of over twenty books.   Jackie lives …

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ALEXANDER MACLEOD

ALEXANDER MACLEOD

ALEXANDER MACLEOD’s short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, and The O Henry Prize Stories. His first collection, Light Lifting (Biblioasis), was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. In 2021, he and his friend, Andrew Steeves of Gaspereau Press, were awarded the Lieutenant Governor …

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FAISAL MOOLA

FAISAL MOOLA

FAISAL MOOLA, PhD is an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph. He works closely with a number of First Nations in defence of their lands including the Dunne-za First Nations in British Columbia and Grassy Narrows First Nation in Ontario.    Faisal has published widely in scientific journals on topics of ecology and environmental …

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MOLLY O’KEEFE

MOLLY O’KEEFE

MOLLY O’KEEFE is the author of over 50 contemporary romance novels. Her books have been on numerous “best of” lists including Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and NPR. Her book Between The Sheets was featured in the movie Suicide Squad. As Molly Fader she is the USA Today Bestselling author of Women’s Fiction – her next release …

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HEATHER O’NEILL

HEATHER O’NEILL

HEATHER O’NEILL is a novelist, short-story writer and essayist. Her bestselling novel, The Lonely Hearts Hotel, won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and CBC’s Canada Reads. Her previous work, which includes Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night and Daydreams of …

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LAURA ROCK GAUGHAN

LAURA ROCK GAUGHAN

LAURA ROCK GAUGHAN is executive director of the Literary Press Group, a nonprofit association representing over sixty independent Canadian literary publishers. Her fiction, essays, and author interviews have appeared in Canadian, Irish, and US journals, including The New Quarterly, Southword, and CRAFT, and her first book, a short story collection entitled Motherish, was published in …

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HARLEY RUSTAD

HARLEY RUSTAD

HARLEY RUSTAD is the author of Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Outside, the Guardian, the Globe and Mail, and Geographical. He is a features editor and writer at The Walrus, a faculty editor at the Banff Centre’s Mountain and Wilderness …

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SUSAN SCOTT

SUSAN SCOTT

SUSAN SCOTT is a writer and TNQ contributing editor working at the creative intersection of story, spirit, self, and culture. Her latest book, Body & Soul, celebrates unorthodox approaches to the sacred.

SONYA SINGH

SONYA SINGH

SONYA SINGH is a former entertainment reporter turned communications professional who has followed her dream of telling stories in front of the camera and now behind the scenes. Her debut novel, Sari, Not Sari, was an instant Canadian bestseller, and is an ode to her own personal dating experiences, during which she honed the art …

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SANDHYA THAKRAR

SANDHYA THAKRAR

SANDHYA THAKRAR holds a PhD in philosophy from Yale University, where she wrote her doctoral dissertation on romantic love. Her literary writing has recently appeared in Brick and Southern Humanities Review. She was born and raised in the Prairies, and she now lives in Toronto with her husband and their six-year-old.

SARAH YI-MEI TSIANG

SARAH YI-MEI TSIANG

SARAH YI-MEI TSIANG is the author of the poetry books Status Update (2013), which was nominated for the Pat Lowther Award, and the Gerald Lampert award winning Sweet Devilry (2011). Her work has been longlisted (2018) and shortlisted (2019) for the CBC Poetry Prize, as well as the UK’s Forward Award (2020), and has appeared …

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Thom Vernon

THOM VERNON

THOM VERNON

THOM VERNON is a writer, actor, and academic. Guernica publishes his second novel, I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley in 2024.

AIMEE WALL

AIMEE WALL

AIMEE WALL is a writer and translator. Her essays, short fiction, and criticism have appeared in numerous publications, including Maisonneuve, Matrix Magazine, the Montreal Review of Books, and Lemon Hound. Wall’s translations include Vickie Gendreau’s novels Testament (2016), and Drama Queens (2019), and Sports and Pastimes by Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard (2017). She lives in Montreal. Her …

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NATALIE WIGG-STEVENSON

NATALIE WIGG-STEVENSON

NATALIE WIGG-STEVENSON is a scholar and creative nonfiction writer. The author of Transgressive Devotion: Theology as Performance Art lives with her family in Toronto (treaty 13 lands), where she teaches Contextual Education and Theology at Emmanuel College (Victoria University). Her memoir-in-progress explores Camino pilgrimage, fertility, and childbirth. Photo credit: Michael Barker

ZOE YORK

ZOE YORK

ZOE YORK is both a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance. She has published more than seventy books since her debut in 2013. Her latest novel Fearless at Heart came out in 2022.

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