Curtain Call

Philip J Ashdown is a newcomer to Ottawa. Previously, he did public library work in Fredericton, N.B., Sudbury, ON, and Fraser, Michigan. He was born in Winnipeg, MB.

 

Gary Barwin is a writer and multimedia artist, the author of many books including the forthcoming novel, The Comedian’s Book of the Dead. He was born in Ireland of South African parents of Lithuanian Jewish descent.

 

John Bemrose was born in Paris, On. The town served as inspiration for his first novel, The Island Walkers (2003), short-listed for the Giller Prize and long-listed for the Booker Prize. He published The Last Woman (2009) and The River Twice (2022), as well as poetry and short stories.

 

Cecelia Brooks is a member of the Wolastoqiyik Nation at Eqpahak in New Brunswick where she operates Soul Flower Herbals and Wabanaki Tree Spirit Tours with her family.

 

Nicole Boyce’s work has appeared in EVENT, The Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, Prairie Fire, and more. She received her MFA from UBC’s Creative Writing Program.

 

Megan Callahan is a writer, translator, and former linguist. Her award-winning stories have appeared in Canadian and American publications. She lives in Montreal with her husband and two daughters.

 

Lucian Childs’s books include Dreaming Home (author), Confluence (co-author), Building Fires in the Snow (contributing editor). His stories appear in Grain, Ex-Puritan, Prairie Fire, and others.

 

Suzanne Doerge is a creative writing facilitator and community gardener. Footfalls: Poems of the Camino was her debut book of poetry. Her current writing is inspired by journals penned when living in Nicaragua in the 1980’s. She resides with her compañero Joe, in Ottawa, ON.

 

Janina Fogels writes across genres for diverse audiences. She won third prize in the Random House (now Penguin Random House) of Canada Student Award in Fiction. She lives in Tkaronto/Toronto.

 

Lindsay Foran’s fiction has been a finalist for CBC, PEN, The Fiddlehead, The Writer’s Union, and has appeared in a variety of journals including carte blanche.

 

Susan Glickman is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently Cathedral/Grove (2023), four novels for adults, three novels for kids, a selection of essays and a work of literary history.

 

Alexander Hackett grew up on a farm in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Sometimes he can still hear the coyotes. He lives in Montreal.

 

Ruby Harris is a writing student at the University of Victoria, but calls the traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations (Vancouver) home. She primarily writes fiction, poetry, and regrettably, research essays.

 

Liz Johnston’s prose has appeared in Poets & Writers, The Fiddlehead, Grain, among others. She is an editor of Brick magazine and author of The Fall-Down Effect (Book*hug Press, 2026).

 

Aga Maksimowska is the author of the 2013 Toronto Book Award finalist novel Giant. Her novel, Becalming, came out in April, 2026. Aga’s stories and essays have been published widely.

 

Gareth Marks is an emerging writer of poetry and short fiction from Stratford, ON. His work has appeared in Blank Spaces, Toronto Journal and The Antigonish Review.

 

Rishi Midha’s short fiction has appeared in Biblioasis Press’ Best Canadian Stories 2026, subTerrain, and The New Quarterly. His debut story collection is We Are Busy Being Alive, (Anvil Press, June 2026).

 

George Murray is the author of ten books, most recently, Problematica: New and Selected Poems, 1995 – 2020. He lives in St. John’s.

 

Lisa Richter is a poet, writer, and educator based in Toronto. Her third poetry collection, Sublunary, is now available with University of Alberta Press.

 

Raymond Sewell is a professor at Saint Mary’s University Halifax. An accomplished musician, and composer Raymond puts melody to poetry daily.

 

Jill Solnicki has two collections of poetry, This Mortal Coil and The Fabric of Skin. Her latest book, The Darkening House, will be published by Guernica Editions in 2027. Jill’s poems have appeared in Literary Review of Canada, and Liber, A Feminist Review.

 

Gordon Taylor is a queer poet who walks an ever-swaying, braided wire of technology and poetry. His work has appeared in Malahat Review, Fiddlehead and more, and was long-listed for the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize.

 

Kelly S. Thompson holds a PhD in creative writing and teaches at King’s MFA in Nonfiction. Both of her memoirs were national bestsellers. Her third book, Disciplinarian, releases April, 2027.

 

Alex Turner was an author, artist, and educator. His short fiction appears in the journal Prairie Fire. Confluence, his debut novel co-authored with Lucian Childs, is forthcoming fall 2026.

 

Erin Wilson is from an island community of a couple hundred people, in Northern Ontario, Canada, the traditional lands of the Anishnawbek. Her poems have appeared widely, internationally. She refuses to carry a cell phone.

 

Jan A. Wozniak (he/him) is an autistic writer, therapist, and researcher based in Toronto. His writing has been featured in Acta Victoriana, Autism, Autism in Adulthood, CBC Books among others.

 

Jaeyun Yoo is the winner of the 2023 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize and her work has appeared in Best Canadian Poetry. Her chapbook when a country teaches you (Baseline Press) is forthcoming in July 2026.

 

Ashraf Zaghal is a writer and environmental consultant. His poetry has appeared in The Literary Review, Transference, and Metamorphoses. His debut novel is Seven Heavens Away (House of Anansi, 2026).