Curtain Call

Megan Beadle is an emerging writer and freelance editor from Toronto. Her writing highlights include being published in The Antigonish Review, having a cover story for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, getting picked as the winner by Catherine Hernandez for the Room Magazine Short Story competition in 2019, and recently getting an OAC recommender grant from Anansi Press.

Robert Benz is a child of immigrants. He was born on Nakota territory, grew up in Denendeh, and has spent most of his adult life on Cree and Métis land. He has been a bush pilot, an actor, and, when budget allows, a wanderer. His work has appeared in New Welsh Review, The Dalhousie Review, and The Antigonish Review. He is an MFA in Writing student at the University of Saskatchewan.

Marilyn Bowering is a poet and novelist who lives in Victoria BC. She was the winner of the 2023 Ruth and David Lampe prize for poetry. Her most recent book is the non-fiction literary investigation and memoir, More Richly in Earth, A Poet’s Search for Mary MacLeod (MQUP 2024).

Robert Bowerman is a retired teacher living on Vancouver Island. Among others, his work has been published in the White Wall Review, Sea and Cedar Magazine, Portal Magazine, Counterflow Magazine and The Van Island Poetry Collective. In 2022, he won the Island Review Short Fiction Contest and in 2023 the Van Isle Poetry Collective Poetry Contest.

Frances Boyle is the author of the poetry collection Openwork and Limestone (Frontenac House, 2022), Seeking Shade, an award-winning short story collection (The Porcupine’s Quill, 2020), Tower, a Rapunzel-infused novella (Fish Gotta Swim Editions, 2018) and two previous books of poetry. Recent and forthcoming publications include work in The Fiddlehead, Freefall, Consilience, The Ekphrastic Review and Pinhole Poetry. Frances lives in Ottawa. Visit www.francesboyle.com for more.

Glenn Clifton (he/him) writes fiction, plays and academic articles. His stories have appeared in The Fiddlehead, SubTerrain, Prairie Fire, On Spec, and other places. His story “Bottom’s Dream” can be found in Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction, Vol. 1 (Ansible Press). He teaches English and creative writing at Sheridan College.

Nikita Eaton-Lusignon is a writer, teacher, workshop leader, farm labourer and parent currently residing in Montréal. She has taught English in both Czechia and Taiwan, and has a BA in Creative Writing with a minor in Sustainability from Concordia University. Her work had been published by Soliloquies Anthology.

Tam Eastley (she/her) is a Canadian writer and web developer based in Berlin, Germany. She is working on her second novel and her work has appeared in publications such as Berlin Flash Fiction, Fusion Fragment, and The Wild Word. In 2023 she participated in The Stinging Fly’s summer school fiction workshop. She can be found online here: tamwrites.space.

Bill Garvey’s collection of poetry, The basement on Biella, was published in 2023 by DarkWinter Press. His poems have been published or are forthcoming in Rattle, One Art, San Antonio Review, Connecticut River Review, Cimarron Review, Nixes Mate Review and others. Bill is a dual citizen of Canada and the USA. He is retired, and lives in Nova Scotia and Toronto with his wife, Jean.

Natalie Hryciuk is an emerging writer living in Surrey, B.C. She is a first-generation Ukrainian Canadian, and explores that aspect of her identity in some of her writing, including both poetry and prose.

Eric Lee is an award-winning writer of fiction and plays, His work has been featured in Blank Spaces, F(r) iction Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Queens Quarterly, as well as on stages across Canada and the U.S.A. He loves and is deeply inspired by his family and he is learning to slow down enough to watch the clouds go by.

Nadja Lubiw-Hazard is a Toronto-based writer and a veterinarian. Her books include the novel The Nap- Away Motel, and the children’s chapter book, TIZZY & ME: Fifteen Ways to Love a Mink. Her short stories have been published in Understorey, Room, Canthius, The Fiddlehead, The Dalhousie Review, and The New Quarterly. Nadja facilitates writing workshops with The Writers Collective of Canada, and with CAMH Collaborative Learning College. She lives with her wife, their two adult daughters, and a feisty fluffy cat. www.nmlhazard.com.

Adrian Markle is the author of the novel Bruise. He has numerous short stories in magazines and anthologies around the world, including EVENT, Queen’s Quarterly, and Pithead Chapel. He has a PhD from the University of Exeter and teaches at Falmouth University in Cornwall, UK, where he lives with his partner, the writer Eleanor Walsh.

Molly McCarron writes fiction and non-fiction in a backyard shed in Toronto. Her work has appeared in The Humber Literary Review, The Globe and Mail, and other publications.

Nadine McInnis is the author of nine books of poetry, short fiction and essays. Her most recent book of poetry, Delirium for Solo Harp, won the Ottawa Book Award. Her last book of short stories, Blood Secrets, was also shortlisted for the Ottawa Book Award and the Frank O’Connor short fiction award. A long-time resident of Ottawa, she now lives on Vancouver Island.

Marco Melfi won The Fiddlehead’s 2021 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest, was longlisted for the Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest and has had poems published in Arc Poetry Magazine, EVENT, The Literary Review of Canada, PRISM, The Antigonish Review, and Prairie Fire. He lives in Edmonton on Treaty 6 Territory.

Kaye Miller grew up on the prairies but loves living by the sea. Their work can be found in Grain, Existere, The Maynard, decomp journal, Vagabond City Lit, and elsewhere. They are an MFA candidate at the University of Guelph.

Sue Murtagh lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A graduate of the Alistair MacLeod mentorship program and the Humber School for Writers, her writing has appeared in The Nashwaak Review, Grain, Carte Blanche and The Humber Literary Review. Vagrant Press will publish her debut story collection, We’re Not Rich, in October 2024.

Shane Neilson is a poet whose work has appeared in Poetry, Literature and Medicine, Prairie Schooner, and Verse Daily.

Emmy Nordstrom Higdon (they/them) holds a PhD in social work and works as a literary agent. They grew up in Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland), and live on the Haldimand Tract in Kitchener, ON, with their partner, two cats, a Dalmatian, and many plants. They keep busy with vegan cooking, textile crafts, wholesome games, too much reality TV, and reading. They probably follow your pets on Instagram.

Suzanne Nussey’s poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in The New Quarterly, The Fiddlehead, Prairie Fire, and EVENT. Since retiring from editorial work, she enjoys mentoring beginning writers of poetry and memoir. Her first poetry collection, Slow Walk Home, debuts this fall.

Peter Richardson is the author of four books of poetry. His most recent collection is Bit Parts for Fools (Goose Lane Editions). His poems have appeared in Poetry, The Sonora Review and The Fiddlehead among other journals. He lives in Montreal.

Ian Roy is the author of five books. He lives in Canada.

Born in Winnipeg, Paul Ruban is a French-language author, screenwriter and literary translator. Shortlisted for the 2024 Trillium Book Award, his novel Le parfum de la baleine (Flammarion Québec) will be released in German in 2025. He received the 2020 Trillium Book Award for his debut collection of short stories, Crevaison en corbillard, and was a finalist for the 2022 John Glassco Prize for his translation of Coconut Dreams by Derek Mascarenhas (Book*Hug Press). He splits his time between Canada and Germany.

Elizabeth Ruth’s novels are: Semi-Detached, Matadora, Smoke and Ten Good Seconds of Silence. Her work’s been recognized by the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, City of Toronto Book Award, Amazon.ca/Best First Novel Award, and One Book/One Community. Elizabeth’s first poetry collection, This Report Is Strictly Confidential will be published in September.

Andrea Scott lives in Victoria, B.C. She won the 2024 Raven Chapbook Contest for her poetry collection In the Warm Shallows of What Remains. She won the 2022 Geist Erasure Poetry Contest and was a finalist for the 2023 Room Poetry Contest, the FBCW 2022 Literary Contest and the 2020 and 2023 CBC Poetry Prize.

Trish Sissons is a BC-born writer currently based in Toronto. Her work has appeared in the Clackamas Literary Review and been a finalist for the Fiddlehead Fiction Contest and the Penguin Random House Student Award for Fiction.

Neil Smith is a fiction writer and translator from Montreal. His own books have been translated into eight languages. He has been nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Translation and won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction.

Betsy Struthers is the author of nine books of poems – Still won the 2004 Lowther Award – three novels, and a collection of short fiction. Her work has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies in Canada and internationally. A past president of the League of Canadian Poets, she lives in Peterborough, Ontario.

Jean Van Loon is a graduate of Carleton, Queen’s, the Humber School of Writing, and the University of British Columbia MFA programmes. Her second book of poetry, Nuclear Family, (McGill-Queen’s University Press) won the Ottawa Book Award for 2023. Her first, Building on River (Cormorant Books, 2018), was a finalist for that award. Her stories, poems, and reviews have been published in Event, Room, Prairie Fire, The New Quarterly, The Literary Review of Canada, among others. She is a member of Ottawa’s Ruby Tuesday poetry group.