Elamin Abdelmahmoud
Elamin Abdelmahmoud is a culture writer for BuzzFeed News and was the host of CBC’s pop culture show Pop Chat, and is the host of new CBC Radio show Commotion. He was a founding co-host of the CBC Politics podcast Party Lines, and he is a contributor to The National’s At Issue panel. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Globe and Mail, and others. When he gets a chance, he writes bad tweets.
Kate Beaton
Kate Beaton was born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada. After graduating from Mount Allison University with a double degree in History and Anthropology, she moved to Alberta in search of work that would allow her to pay down her student loans.
During the years she spent out West, Beaton began creating webcomics under the name Hark! A Vagrant, quickly drawing a substantial following around the world. The collections of her landmark strip Hark! A Vagrant and Step Aside, Pops each spent several months on the New York Times graphic novel bestseller list, as well as appearing on best of the year lists from Time, The Washington Post, Vulture, NPR Books, and winning the Eisner, Ignatz, Harvey, and Doug Wright Awards. She has also published the picture books King Baby and The Princess and the Pony.
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Ann-Marie MacDonald is a novelist, playwright, actor, and broadcast host. Her work has been honoured with numerous awards, including the Chalmers, the Governor General’s, Gemini, Dora Mavor Moore, John Drainie, the Gascon-Thomas, the Canadian Authors Association, the Canadian Booksellers Association, and the Commonwealth Prize. Her writing for the stage includes the plays, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning, Juliet), Belle Moral: A Natural History, and Hamlet-911; the libretto for the chamber opera, Nigredo Hotel, and book and lyrics for Anything That Moves; her novels are Fall On Your Knees, The Way the Crow Flies, Adult Onset, and Fayne. Ann-Marie graduated from the Acting Program of The National Theatre School of Canada in 1980. In 2019 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. She is married to theatre director, Alisa Palmer, with whom she has two children.
Peter Mansbridge
Peter Mansbridge is one of Canada’s most respected and recognisable figures, having spent 30 years as CBC News’ chief correspondent and anchor of The National. He joined the CBC in 1968, where, over the course of five decades, he covered almost every major Canadian and international event. From the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the 9/11 terrorist attacks to more than a dozen Olympic Games, and more than a dozen federal
elections from 1972 to 2019. Peter is also the bestselling author of four books: Mansbridge: One
on One; Extraordinary Canadians; Off The Recordand his latest, How Canada Works.
After retiring from the CBC in 2017, Peter now serves as the president of Manscorp Media Services, where he develops documentary films, and hosts one of Canada’s leading political podcasts, The Bridge. He is also Senior Counsel at Spark Advocacy in Ottawa, and the Honourary Colonel of Canada’s Special Forces Regiment. And finally, Peter is Chancellor Emeritus of Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto.
Rick Mercer
Rick Mercer is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist and author. He is best known for his work on the CBC Television comedy shows This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Made In Canada and Rick Mercer Report. He is the author of four books all of which have been national best sellers. Mercer has received nearly 30 Gemini Awards and Canadian Screen awards for his work on television. His CBC Television special Talking To Americans remains the highest rated Canadian comedy special ever with 2.7 million viewers.
Rick holds Honorary Doctorates from Memorial University, Laurentian University, University of British Columbia, McMaster University, Bishop's University, Brock University and the University of Guelph. In 2014, he received Honorary Doctorates from the Royal Military Academy and from University of Western Ontario and York University.
He is on the board of directors of Historica Canada, an organization dedicated to promoting Canadian history, identity and citizenship. They are the "Heritage Minute" people.
He is a recipient of the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement and in 2014 was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is a native of St. John's, Newfoundland.
Donna Morrissey
Donna Morrissey has written eight nationally bestselling novels. She has received awards in Canada, the U.S., and England. Her novel Sylvanus Now was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and she was nominated for a Gemini for best writing for the film Clothesline Patch. Her fiction has been translated into several different languages. Born and raised in Newfoundland, she now lives in Halifax.
Louise Penny
Louise Penny is a member of the Order of Canada and the Ordre Nationale du Quebec. Her 18 crime novels, featuring Chief Inspector Gamache of the Surete du Québec, have been translated into 31 languages, won 9 Agatha and 6 Anthony awards, and debuted atop international bestseller lists.
In 2021 Louise and Hillary Clinton co-wrote a political thriller, State of Terror, which follows a new female secretary of state forced to contend with a series of terrorist attacks. It was a #1 global best seller.
Her much-anticipated new book The Grey Wolf, number 19 in the Gamache Series, will be published on October 29, 2024.
Sara Power
A former artillery officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, Sara has a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from The Royal Military College of Canada, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from The University of British Columbia. Sara’s writing has appeared in literary journals across Canada, the US, and the UK, including the anthology Best Canadian Stories 2024 which was edited by Lisa Moore. Her fiction has been awarded The Malahat Review Open Season Award, The Riddle Fence Fiction Prize, and been a finalist for The Toronto Star Short Story Contest, The New Quarterly Peter Hinchcliff Award, The Bath Short Story Award, and the RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award. Originally from Labrador, Sara now lives in Ottawa with her husband, three children, and hound dog. Art of Camouflage is her first book.
Waubgeshig Rice
Waubgeshig Rice grew up in Wasauksing First Nation on the shores of Georgian Bay, in the southeast of Robinson-Huron Treaty territory. He’s a writer, listener, speaker, language learner, and a martial artist, holding a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He is the author of the short story collection Midnight Sweatlodge and the novels Legacy, Moon of the Crusted Snow, and Moon of the Turning Leaves. He appreciates loud music and the four seasons. He lives in N’Swakamok - also known as Sudbury, Ontario - with his wife and three sons.
Susie Taylor
Susie Taylor lives in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. She is the author of two books, Vigil and Even Weirder Than Before, both published by Breakwater Books. Her short stories have appeared in several literary magazines including Geist, PRISM International, The Fiddlehead, Room Magazine, and Riddle Fence. Taylor is an art school grad and former retail worker. The year she turned 40, she quit smoking and started writing.
David Ferry
David Ferry is a director, dramaturge, actor, and writer. His short story April’s Fool was published in Riddle Fence Magazine. His full length play Breaking Windows (November 9, 1938) has been commissioned by the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company in Toronto and will be workshopped in September 2022. He recently edited and wrote the forward to the award winning historical look at Theatre Passe Murialle by Peter Jobin (Beyond Walls -Porcupine’s Quill.) He has written a stage adaptation of the music CD 11/11 (songs by Ron and Connie Hynes) that is in development for production. He has adapted or written, and directed/produced 11 previous pieces for Short Waves, Short Stories, a program he developed for Writers at Woody Point. He produced, directed and co-wrote the site specific promenade play The Postman which was commissioned by the 2015 PanAmerican Games in Toronto. David’s most recent play, Tobacco Road, is a one person play for actor Stuart Hughes, with Blues songs played by Stuart, that is in development for production. He has voiced many Audio books and has directed over 20 of them for Penguin-Random House, Audible and ECW Press. In 2011, David was the recipient of the City of Toronto Barbara Hamilton Memorial Award for contribution to the Arts.
Des Walsh
Des Walsh’s published writings include poetry and screenplays of the international hit miniseries’ The Boys of St. Vincent and Random Passage. His work has won many prestigious international awards including a Gemini Award and the Gold Medal at the Banff Television Festival, the UmbriaFiction Award in Italy, the Grand FIPA d’Or Cannes and the 1995 Peabody Award.