David Berry is a writer, editor, and critic. He spent the first two decades of his professional career profiling and critiquing the book, film, music, and theatre scenes for an Edmonton-based alt-weekly and then did the same nationally for the National Post. He has contributed essays, criticism, and features to the Globe and Mail, The Walrus, CBC, Hazlitt, and many other places, some of which still exist. His first book, On Nostalgia, was published in 2020, and his most recent book, How Artists Make Money & How Money Makes Artists, was released in October of last year.
Marty Chan writes books for kids, plays for adults and social media posts for fun. In addition to his work as a writer, he’s been active in the creative arts since 1985, working as a director, producer, workshop instructor, virtual presenter, and marketer. He is a recipient of the WGA’s Golden Pen Award for his contributions to the literary community. He lives in Edmonton with his wife Michelle and their two cats.
Alexis Marie Chute is a creative powerhouse—a bestselling author and award-winning artist, filmmaker, photographer, curator and publisher—whose work spans two decades. Her abstract paintings, portraits, photography, films, and literary works have been showcased globally, and her artwork is represented by the Art Gallery of Alberta. Her debut memoir Expecting Sunshine (2017) was adapted into an acclaimed documentary film, followed by her Amazon-bestselling YA fantasy trilogy, including Above the Star (2018), Below the Moon (2019), and Inside the Sun (2020). Her recent nonfiction books—Prairie Spirits (2021), The Eternal Summer of Alberta’s Herbarium (2022), Memorable Murals (2023), Moments in Focus (2024), and Project Sketchbook Volume 1 (2025)—celebrate Alberta’s rich culture and landscape. Chute curates the Red Brick Common, Wild Skies Art Gallery, and InFocus Photo Exhibit, and co-founded Wild Skies Press. She is also a passionate public speaker and educator.
Mary Lynn Cloghesy is a writer and editor from Calgary, Alberta, as well as the founder of the Leadership Literary Lab, a program for nonfiction authors. She holds a master’s degree in critical and creative writing, has been nominated for the Claymore and Aurora awards, and has placed in literary competitions for Dreamers and Tadpole magazines. She writes articles on healthy living, and co-hosts a retreat for aspiring authors in Banff National Park. She is currently querying her debut novel.
Francine Cunningham is an award-winning writer, artist and educator who spends her days writing on the prairies. She is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta but grew up in Calgary, Edmonton, and 100 Mile House, BC. Francine is also Metis and has settler family roots stretching from as far away as Ireland and Belgium. She currently resides in Strathmore, Alberta but previously spent over a decade calling Vancouver her home.
Metis poet, writer, and Professor Marilyn Dumont teaches for the faculties of Arts and Native Studies at the University of Alberta and is proud of Metis family lines from her Mother’s – Vaness / Dufresne families and her father’s – Boudreau/Dumont families. She was awarded the 2018 Lifetime membership from the League of Canadian Poets for her contributions to poetry in Canada. In 2019, she received the University of Alberta Distinguished Alumni Award and the Alberta Lieutenant Governor’s Distinguished Artist Award, and in 2022 was Awarded the Alberta Queen’s Platinum Jubilee medal for public service. Her four collections of poetry have won provincial or national awards: A Really Good Brown Girl (1996); green girl dreams Mountains (2001); that tongued belonging (2007); The Pemmican Eaters (2015). A fifth collection surrounding Indigenous history of Edmonton, called South Side of a Kinless River was published by Brick Books in 2024.
Caterina Edwards is the award-winning writer of six books in various genres. Her memoir Finding Rosa: A Mother with Alzheimer’s, A Daughter in Search of the Past, a double prize winner in Canada, was published in Italy in 2021 to glowing reviews and much media attention. It was followed by an Italian edition of the novel The Lion’s Mouth. Her literary noir, The Sicilian Wife, was named a Best Book of 2015 by The National Post. In 2016, Caterina was inducted into the City of Edmonton’s Arts & Culture Hall of Fame.
Minister Faust is an award-winning novelist, award-winning print journalist, radio host-producer, television host and associate producer, sketch comedy writer, video game writer, playwright, and poet. He has spoken and taught workshops widely.
Carissa Halton’s writing has appeared in Alberta Views, Today’s Parent, the Tyee, Postmedia newspapers among others. Her book of essays, Little Yellow House: Finding Community in a Changing Neighbourhood was shortlisted for the Robert Kroetsch Edmonton Book Prize. Her debut historical novel, Revolution Songs, dropped fall 2025 and tells the little-known story of a radical mine union, the rise of the Canadian Ku Klux Klan, and the women who fought to both maintain and upend the status quo in a 1930s Rocky Mountain town. She lives and works as a facilitator in Edmonton, Alberta.
In 2025, Richard Harrison received the WGA Golden Pen for Lifetime Achievement, and his On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood won the 2017 Governor General’s Award for Poetry. His 9th book of poetry, My Mother Joins the Resistance, will be launched in Spring, 2026. As Professor of English and Creative Writing at Mount Royal University, editor, and writing mentor, Richard has guided over 50 books into print, and for 25 years he has facilitated the Thursday Group workshop, whose members have placed a multitude of poems in journals, won numerous awards, and published 15 books of poetry.
Dianne is the author of MY AMAZING RACE CAR BRAIN (DC Canada Education Publishing, 2025), a picture book inspired by her struggles with ADHD. MIA’S MASSIVE STASH OF CASH is slated for publication in 2026 with DC Canada. She is one of the authors of the collaborative novel, Laurel Lake Lodge, (2025 Lintusen Press). MY SOCCER SEASON, 2023 gave her an interesting education in self-publishing. She is on the CANSCAIP Board of Directors and hosts their online writing retreats. In 2024, she received the Mary Bell Scholarship and participated in the WGA Mentorship Program under the tutelage of Gail Anderson-Dargatz. Her TV pilot, MOOSEKEG COUNTY FM, was a quarter finalist in the ISA 2026 Emerging Screenwriters Comedy Competition.
Kathryn Lennon is the Co-Founder and Co-Editor of Hungry Zine, alongside Kyla Pascal. She is also a poet and community planner.
Judy I. Lin is the #1 New York Times-bestselling and award-winning author of fantasy and horror books for young adults, including The Book of Tea duology, Song of the Six Realms, The Dark Becomes Her and Avatar Legends: City of Echoes. She writes stories inspired by the legends and myths she grew up with in Taiwan and currently lives on the Canadian prairies.
Marco Melfi has been involved in the Edmonton poetry community since 2011. He currently volunteers on the board of the Edmonton Poetry Festival. He won the Fiddlehead’s 2021 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest and has had poems published in Arc Poetry Magazine, the Literary Review of Canada, The New Quarterly, and other Canadian magazines. His first full-length collection of poetry, Routine Maintenance, was published by Gaspereau Press in the Spring of 2025.
Fawnda Mithrush is the general manager at NeWest Press, and a long-serving professional in Edmonton’s arts ecology. As executive director of LitFest, she supported the establishment of the Canadian Association of Literary Festivals, and has worked in management roles with Theatre Network, the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, Fringe Theatre, the Alberta Podcast Network, and Explore Edmonton. She has received accolades from the International Association of Business Communicators, Edify’s Top 40 Under 40, the Canadian Online Publishing Awards, and the Business / Arts Association’s 2024 Emerging Leadership cohort. Her interests include creative collaboration, vibrant cultural ecologies, and really, really good reads.
A first generation Bengali-Canadian, Aurora Palit grew up in rural Alberta, where she was always the only South Asian student in her class. It wasn’t until high school—when she wandered into the romance section of a bookstore—that she realized happily-ever-afters are her jam. Aurora now writes those stories with her own unique brand of humor, perspective, and belief that people of colour deserve love stories too. During her time pursuing a master’s degree in English literature, Aurora was drawn to discourses on diaspora and identity, racism, and multi-generational immigrant experiences; topics she now explores in her writing. Her debut novel, SUNSHINE AND SPICE, was featured in The New York Times.
Mila Bongco-Philipzig is a writer, visual artist, and community organizer based in Edmonton. She is a published author of children’s books, poetry, short stories, and creative non-fictions essays. The diaspora of the global majority is a recurring theme in all her works. She is an avid advocate for human rights and social justice.
What is the point of art if not to resist?
Ashley Reisinger is an assistant literary agent at Triada US Literary Agency where she has been actively building her client list since 2023. She represents a broad range of genres in both adult and kidlit fiction, and is particularly drawn to books that showcase a strong commercial appeal combined with literary writing. She loves genre-blends and stories that deliver unexpected twists to familiar genre structures. A more detailed wishlist can be found on MSWL.
Based in Canada, Ashley can often be found collecting new hobbies, enjoying a latte that’s more sugar than coffee, and staying inside where it’s warm with her books and her partner.
Paola Santos is the author of HOW TO EAT A MANGO and CÓMO SE COME UN MANGO (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House, 2024), and the forthcoming picture books A HOUSE IN MY BARRIO (Henry Holt/Macmillan, 2026) and VIDA WISHES (Kids Can Press, 2027). Born in Venezuela, she describes herself as a curious seeker who sees the world with childlike wonder and loves to express deep emotions through her writing. Paola is a member of SCBWI and CANSCAIP and has been awarded mentorships with Las Musas and We Need Diverse Books. She lives in Edmonton with her family.
RR/Rebecca Schaeffer is the critically acclaimed author of Not Even Bones and its sequels, the Webtoon adaption of which has garnered over a hundred million reads and nearly 2 million subscribers. Her City of Nightmares duology was one of the BBC’s most anticipated books of 2023, and one of Kirkus’s best books of 2023. Episodes of her comic Dead But Not Gone air weekly on Webtoon and her next book, A Fable for Hollow Creatures, comes out in fall 2026.
Aubrianna Snow (she/her) is a feminist writer and educator living in Treaty Six Territory. She is Chair of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Youth Committee, and her writing has been featured by CBC, Chatelaine, the Edmonton Journal, This Magazine, and other regional and national publications. She is currently working on a full-length manuscript.
William Thompson is an associate professor at MacEwan University, where he teaches a range of courses in children’s literature and science fiction. World building is a mainstay of all his courses. His essays and stories have appeared in literary journals in both North America and the UK. he has also written on authors in the fantasy tradition, such as J. K. Rowling, C. S. Lewis, and Monica Hughes. He is totally blind, considers coffee a food group, and he loves to walk and read, usually at the same time.
Titilope Sonuga is a winning poet, playwright, and performer. Her poetry concert Open has shown to sold-out audiences worldwide. She has published three poetry collections: Down to Earth (2011), Abscess (2014), and This Is How We Disappear (2019), and released three spoken word albums: Mother Tongue (2011), Swim (2019), and Sis (2024). She was nominated for a Dora Award for Outstanding New Opera for her play Sankofa. She has written campaigns for global brands and served as an ambassador for Intel Corporation. She was the first poet to perform at a Nigerian presidential inauguration and was Edmonton’s 9th Poet Laureate.
