WGA Member Night: New Fiction with Shelf Life Books – Jan. 27

Uzoma Uponi gained a reputation as a gifted storyteller when her debut novel, ColourBLIND, was a finalist at the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Her novel, Whispers from Yesteryears, is a sequel to ColourBLIND. Through her stories, Uzoma lends her voice to the growing African narrative and introduces readers to some of the cultural beliefs that have shaped contemporary African lifestyles. Uzoma and her husband, Matthew, are parents to four children and make their home in Calgary.

Cyla Panin is an MG and YA writer who prefers to look at the world through a dusting of magic. After spending most of her childhood wanting to escape into the wonderful worlds her favourite authors created, she’s now using her own words to craft magical places. When not writing, Cyla can be found playing dinosaurs with her two young boys, watching swashbuckling and/or period TV shows with her husband, and, of course, reading. Her YA fantasy debut, STALKING SHADOWS is a gothic, feminist fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast. 

Lorna Schultz Nicholson has published children’s picture books, middle grade fiction, YA fiction and hockey non-fiction. and adult non-fiction Her books have been nominated for many different awards and are often on the CBC’s Best Books for Kids and Teens list. Lorna loves travelling and presents at libraries and schools all over North America to inspire children and teens to love reading and writing as much as she does.  Lorna lives in Edmonton with her husband (Go Oilers Go) and a sort-of-naughty puppy she rescued from Mexico.  

HOST: Marco Melfi is a recent graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writer’s Studio. His poems have appeared in Prairie Fire, The New Quarterly, The Arc Award of Awesomeness, Funicular, FreeFall and The Prairie Journal. His chapbook, In between trains, was published in 2014. He lives in Edmonton on Treaty 6 Territory.