| Member at Large (Youth Rep): | Kendall Bistretzan |
| | Kendall Bistretzan was born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, before moving to Calgary in 2017. In 2021, she received her degree from Mount Royal University, majoring in journalism and minoring in creative writing. Her prose and book reviews have been published in FreeFall Magazine, Understorey Magazine, Blue Marble Review, and more, and she is currently querying her debut novel. |
| Youth Committee / Social Media: | Kate Gough |
| | Kate Gough is a Canadian-based poet and a member of the online poetry community. Her work modernizes romantic literary sensibilities and explores recovery from trauma and living with chronic illness. She has two poetry collections entitled “Cottage in a Mirror” and “The Maiden in the Tower”, published by Sunday Mornings at the River. She has participated in a community poetry event “Escapril” four times, releasing poetry every day for a month. She has been published in several online journals, including the Latte Edit and Nightingale and Sparrow, as well as in her local community in Disability Pride Alberta, and in the YYC Portraits of People project. She lives a cozy life, usually seen drinking a cup of chamomile tea. |
| Youth Committee: | Aubrianna Snow |
| | Aubrianna Snow (she/her) is a feminist writer of mixed Mi’kmaw/English/Irish descent living as a guest in Treaty Six Territory. Her work has been published in Decolonial Passage, Ghost Girls Zine Chatelaine, Muskrat Magazine, and the Edmonton Journal. She enjoys writing about feminism, cultural revitalization, and healing from systemic and interpersonal violence. |
| Youth Committee: | Mattias Apse |
| | Mattias Apse (a.k.a. Matti) has worked as a barista for the past three years on Treaty 7 land and makes a mean cortado. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2022, after studying philosophy, literary criticism and editing the campus literary magazine, the Sarah Lawrence Review. When not watching the Sopranos or Arrested Development, you can find him wrestling a puppy that is pretending to be a Border Collie (but actually isn’t one), or organizing with anti-imperialist activists in Mohkinstsis in solidarity with Palestine. His influences include Louise Glück, Richard Siken, and Bashō, and his poetry has been published in Grain and GLYPHÖRIA. |
| Youth Committee: | Elisabeth Shenher |
| | Elisabeth Shenher is a writer from Edmonton. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. Her fiction appears in The Fiddlehead and has won the Australian Writers’ Centre’s Furious Fiction competition. On the Story City App, her interactive story “Power Play” brings an adventure to real locations across downtown Edmonton. Recently, she received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to write a novel. She spends her days telling people what to do (i.e., writing workplace health and safety courses). In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, yoga, and buying books she swears she’ll read ‘one day’. |
| Member at Large: | Anna Shannon |
| | Anna Shannon is a writer and editor living in Calgary, Alberta on Treaty 7 land. She has publications in Bellingham Review, The Coachella Review, and others. She is currently writing STEMinist historical fiction to give a voice to the Canadian women whose stories need to be told. |
| Youth Programming: | Sadie MacGillivray |
| | Sadie MacGillivray was born and raised in Iron River, AB. They love being outside and soaking in all of the sounds and sights that nature has to offer and uses that time to come up with new project ideas as well to sneakily photograph everything that catches their eye. Sadie also enjoys taking time out of their day to learn interesting facts, watch anime, play as many Legend of Zelda games they can get their hands on, as well as sit down and work on the multitude of projects (resin art, cross stitch, knitting, painting, screenplays, poetry, sewing, etc.) they have scattered around their house. Sadie has a Professional Communications degree from MacEwan University, and is a few steps closer to becoming a book editor. Although, going back to school for a teaching degree in English or drama is definitely on the table. Sadie has decided that even though there technically isn’t enough time in each day to do everything they want to do, they are going to try to fit it all in anyway! Stay awesome and weird <3 on the table. |
