The WordStorm Featured Performers

February 19th, 2009

Hilary Peach:Audio poet Hilary Peach is an inter-disciplinary performer whose work marries song and poetry. For 15 years she has performed internationally at events that include the Vancouver International Folk Music Festival, Montreal’s Voix Des Ameriques, and the Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam. She has released an exquisite debut CD, Poems Only Dogs Can Hear, in which she suspends surreal vignettes inside a matrix of music. Peach was a finalist in the 2004 CBC Radio Poetry Face-Off, and has recently released a short film, Pennsylvania. She is currently working on a literary collection of poetry and a Folk Opera about her boilermaking work called Suitcase Local with musicians Andreas Kahre, Alex Varty and Leah Hokanson. Hilary Peach is Artistic Director of the Poetry Gabriola Festival.

February 19th, 2009

Judith Millar: WordStorm audiences who have wanted to hear more of Judith Millar's humorous pieces won't want to miss February 19! A writer of short stories, essays, poems and song lyrics, Judith has published over 100 pieces, and has won awards for her creative writing in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Recent awards include first prize in Hamilton's "Creative Keyboards" Short Story Contest. She recently has also published a number of children's song lyrics on children's entertainer RONNO's CDs, released by New Jersey publisher Kimbo Educational. A former corporate communications manager, Judith moved to Nanaimo, BC from Kitchener, Ontario in 2007.

February 19th, 2009

Zlatko Zvekich has performed across Europe on the keyboards prior to his settling in Ontario. After moving to Vancouver Island in 2001 Zlatko has switched from playing the Hammond Organ (B3) to playing classical, nylon string guitar. He studied all major musical styles in order to accompany his inventive tunes and story-like poems with rich harmonies and parts progressions. Arrangements of his music crisscross boundary between classical, jazz, and folk guitar playing.
Since coming to Nanaimo Zlatko completed over 100 songs and he is working presently on recording his 4th CD titled Best Nothing Vol. 4.

March 19th, 2009

Ann Graham Walker is a working journalist, a former CBC current affairs radio producer, and a former speechwriter to (now deceased) NS premier and humanitarian, Dr. John Savage. She’s had poetry published in the Rocksalt Anthology, PRISM International, the Gaspereau Review, Pitkin Review, the Windfire Anthology, Leaf Press’s Monday’s Poem series, and two chap books edited by Patrick Lane: All that Uneasy Spring (2007) and A Small Grace (Fall, 2008). She is a graduate of Goddard College’s MFA/Creative Writing program, and is currently working on her novel about growing up in 1950s Argentina: The Girl in the Garden.
Ann’s lived all over the world – mostly due to her father’s job in the film industry when she was growing up. She first came to North America when she travelled from her previous home in Australia to go to college in the States, at 18. She came to Canada in 1973 and lived in Nova Scotia for a very long time – raising three kids there with her husband Joseph – before the kids flew the nest and Ann and Joseph moved to Nanoose Bay, in 2002. They’re still there – in Nanoose Bay – not retired yet but hiking a lot, walking their border collie, serving as butlers to three rescue cats who’ve agreed to live with them, and reflecting on the fact that one of the big reasons they moved here was mild winters.
She’ll be reading on March 19th from The Girl in the Garden – a novel she’s currently revising for the last time before sending it out, so she’s hoping that many of you will give her feedback.

March 19th, 2009

Tricia Dower was a business executive before reinventing herself as a writer in 2002. Her short fiction has appeared in Room of One's Own, The New Quarterly, Hemispheres, Cicada, NEO, Insolent Rudder and Big Muddy. Born in New Jersey, she now lives and writes in Victoria, BC, where she served on the board of the Victoria School of Writing. Silent Girl is her first book.

March 19th, 2009

Glen Sorestad, a Life Member of the League of Canadian Poets, was born in Vancouver, but has lived in Saskatchewan most of his life. He taught school for over twenty years, founded Thistledown Press with his wife Sonia, and remained its President until he and Sonia retired from publishing in 2000. Sorestad was appointed the first Poet Laureate of Saskatchewan in November, 2000. He and Sonia have lived in Saskatoon since 1967. Sorestad has over a dozen books of poetry to his credit and his poems have appeared in over 40 anthologies and textbooks. He has given public readings of his work in every province of Canada, in 15 U.S . states,as well as in France, Norway, Finland and Slovenia.

April 16th, 2009

Joelene Heathcote writes poetry, fiction, and non-fiction essay. She has published widely and won many awards. Her work has been included in anthologies, Breaking the Surface (SonoNis Press, 2000), Mocambo Nights (Ekstasis Editions, 2001), Translit Vol. (Blitzprint, 2006), and String to Bow (Leaf Press, 2005). Her collection of poetry, What’s Between Us Can’t Be Heard (Ekstasis, 2002), was a finalist for the Pat Lowther Award. Inherit the Earth (Rubicon Press, 2006),and a chapbook of poems, 2007. She is currently at work on a larger collection of poetry and a book of short stories.

April 16th, 2009

Sue Wheeler was born in Texas in 1942. In 1964 she received a B.A. from Rice University in Houston. In 1972 she immigrated to Canada and has lived since on a seaside farm on Lasqueti Island, British Columbia.

May 21st, 2009

Susan Stenson's work has appeared in several literary magazines, most recently, Fiddlehead, Geist, CV2 and sub-TERRAIN and anthologies including Threshold: six women six poets, Vintage ’99 and 2000, and No Choice But to Trust. In 2004, she won first prize in the ARC Poem of the Year Contest, Lush Triumphant, sub-TERRAIN Magazine’s Annual Writing Contest and the Rona Murray Prize for Poetry, sponsored by the Victoria Arts Council. She also won first prize in the Great Canadian Literary Hunt, This Magazine’s Poetry Contest 2000, the League of Canadian Poets National Contest in 1999 and the Hawthorne Chapbook Award in 1997 for her manuscript, A Little Less Swing, A Little More Sway. Her poems have been short listed several times for the CBC literary prize and are also featured on buses throughout British Columbia in the Poetry in Transit program. As a participant in the national literacy Random Acts of Poetry Weeks, 2004 and 2006, Susan has read poems to politicians, police officers, principals and pupils. Her work has also been commissioned for CBC radio’s Out Front Program. Sono Nis Press published her first book of poems, Could Love a Man, spring 2001, to rave reviews in several magazines including Arc, Malahat Review, Boulevard, Monday, and Prairie Fire. She lives ecstatically in Victoria with her family where she co-publishes The Claremont Review, a literary magazine for writers aged 13 to 19 which was Write Magazine’s choice for magazine of the year, 2001. Susan teaches English and creative writing to high school students in Saanich School District, has taught at Kamhlaba United World College in Mbabane, Swaziland and for The Victoria School of Writing. She is a regular on the roster of literary festivals, most recently for Poetry Africa in Durban, South Africa, Words Aloud 3, in Durham, Ontario, and for Forest Fest, in Port Alberni, British Columbia.

May 21st, 2009

John Beaton is a retired actuary who was raised in the highlands of Scotland and has lived in Qualicum Beach since 1988. He recites humorous poetry at Celtic gatherings and performances of the musical group “Celtic Chaos”. He moderates a metrical poetry workshop on the internet and his poetry has been published in newspapers, literary and fishing magazines, and internet sites and journals.

September 17th, 2009

Isa Milman< is a poet, visual artist and occupaitonal therapist who has lived in Canada for the past 30 years. Her first poetry collection, Between the Doorposts, won the 2005 Poetry Prize at the Canadian Jewish Book Awards. She has also published a chapbook, Seven Fat Years, and her work has appeared in a number of journals and anthologies.

A daughter of Holocaust survivors, Isa Milman was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany before immigrating to Boston. She graduated from Tufts University, then lived in San Francisco and Paris, involving herself in improvisational dance and theatre activities. She obtained her masters degree in rehabilitation science, and secured a job teaching occupational therapy at McGill University. She currently works as a program coordinator at the Victoria Epilepsy and Parkinson’s Centre.

From the author:
I was born into a family that lost almost everything. Our inheritance was a few photographs, an ancient tradition, and memory. My mother kept our family history and tradition alive – and though she passed this on through stories, teachings and songs, she didn't write it down. From a very early age, I felt that it was my mission to do so. How else to acknowledge my parents' and grandparents' lives? It's hard to explain how precious and deep is this impulse to insist that existence matters. It's a comfort to me to think that in my small way, during my time on earth, I can contribute to the discourse, add my few pages to the astonishing history of human letters, and hope that here and there, a spark flies, a heart opens, souls meet. We're here but for an instant, but we've left a memento of ourselves behind. That's why I write.

September 17th, 2009

Lorraine Gane was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and grew up in Toronto. In the mid '70s, she graduated from Carleton University's Honours Jouralism Program, then worked as a full-time writer and editor for major Canadian newspapers and magazines until 1989, when she began freelancing. In the early '90s, she also started teaching writing at universities and colleges such as Ryerson, McMaster and Georgian, as well as conducting her own private workshops. Selections from Lorraine's first poetry book, Even the Slightest Touch Thunders on My Skin (Black Moss Press, 2002), were shortlisted for the Canadian Literary Awards in 1997 and the League of Canadian Poets chapbook contest in 2000. Lorraine moved to Salt Spring Island, B.C. in 1998, where she lives with her partner. She is working on the next two volumes of poetry to complete a trilogy on love, loss and renewal. She is also working on a book about writing, among other projects. Lorraine gives talks on writing at universities and other locations and teaches writing through online courses and workshops to students across Canada.

October 15th, 2009

Jay Ruzesky has recently guest-edited a special issue of The Malahat Review on environmental literature called "The Green Imagination". His novel about a medieval monumental astronomical clock is called The Wolsenburg Clock and has just been published by Thistledown Press. He was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1965 and raised in Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Calgary, and Kelowna. He studied at Okanagan College (with John Lent), the University of Victoria (with Constance Rooke), the University of Windsor (with Alistair MacLeod), and at the Banff Centre for the Arts (with Don Coles and Don McKay). His poems and stories have appeared in Canadian and American journals such as Caliban, Prism international, Canadian Literature, Event, Saturday Night, Descant, Border Crossings, and Poetry Northwest. His books include Blue Himalayan Poppies (Nightwood, 2001), Writing on the Wall (Outlaw Editions, 1996), Painting The Yellow House Blue (House of Anansi, 1994), and Am I Glad To See You (Thistledown, 1992. He is on the editorial board of the Malahat Review and teaches English, Creative Writing and Film Studies at Vancouver Island University. Essays, interviews and art criticism have appeared in Brick, Poetry Canada Review, and selected gallery publications. He is currently working on another novel, a play, and a manuscript of poems. He lives on Vancouver Island. Web Site - Recent Book

October 15th, 2009

Michael Kenyon , born in Sale, Cheshire, is the author of nine books, most recently The Beautiful Children, a novel (Thistledown Press, Spring 2009), and a collection of poems, The Last House (Brick Books, Autumn 2009). He has lived for over forty years on Canada’s West Coast and presently divides his time between Pender Island and Vancouver, having in both places a private therapeutic practice. The Beautiful Children link

October 15th, 2009

John Lent was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia in 1948; he grew up in Edmonton, Alberta. He studied at the University of Alberta from 1965-71, concentrating in his graduate studies on Modernist art movements and experiments with form. He was taught by the noted Canadian novelist, Sheila Watson, and the Canadian playwright, Wilfred Watson. Lent's thesis was on the plays of T.S. Eliot : an analysis of "the schizophrenic adjustment we all have to make to the demands of Western society--a society that imposes material, social and spiritual roles." Lent pursued Doctoral studies at York University on Malcolm Lowry and the issue of subjectivity. For the last twenty years he has taught English literature and Creative Writing at a number of universities: Alberta, Notre Dame (Nelson), Regina, and Okanagan University College. Lent currently lives and teaches in Vernon, British Columbia. Media Link

November 26th, 2009

Margaret Doyle
With her background in theatre, Margaret has an abiding love of the spoken word, having written three plays, performance pieces and monologue's including, Winter Variations, a one-act play made up of thirty-one poems that was produced by her theatre company on the Sunshine Coast. Her poetry is likewise infused with a dramatic voice and is full of tactile imagery and provocative subjects. Margaret's work has been published by Midwifery Magazine, Ascent Publishing, online at Leaf Press, and in the Chiron Review. More recently, Margaret has been enjoying writing non-fiction and has been published in Monday Magazine, Alberta Hospitality Magazine, and various blogs including Todd Lucier's www.tourismkeys.ca. In her 'day job', Margaret writes about tourism frequently on her blog, www.fthm.wordpress.com and consults small business on how to craft their 'message'.

November 26th, 2009

Dinah D: "Dinah D is a West Coast gem, a real rarity, whose presence, style, and sound will all stick in your head from the very first time you hear her. Dinah is not only a solid upright bass player—thumping out that low register downbeat almost effortlessly—she’s also a gifted singer; a seductive contra-alto with a wry sense of humour. Dinah’s skill as a performer is backed up by strong song-writing talent with roots that go deep—far back to the days of Viper jazz—and a sound that is steeped in the blues. If you get the chance to see Dinah perform, do not hesitate to make the gig!" -James Booker, CHLY Radio Malaspina

November 26th, 2009

Kate Braid Please visit her Web Site

January 28th, 2010

Douglas Burnet Smith is the author of fifteen books of poetry. Nominated for the Governor General's Award, Canada's most prestigious literary honour, he has won many prizes for his writing, including The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize. He has represented Canada at international writers’ festivals including: the Belgrade International Writers’ Meeting, the Sarajevo International Poetry Festival , Le Scriptorium: Marseille, and Le Marché de la Poésie, Paris, the Marlborough Festival, England, the DH Lawrence Festival, Sante Fe. The National Gallery of Canada's audiotape guide to its permanent collection contains his work. He has served as the President of the League of Canadian Poets and as Chair of the Public Lending Right Commission of Canada. He teaches at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and at the American University of Paris.

January 28th, 2010

Kim Goldberg Rumblings from the RED ZONE
where poetry meets modern dance...
with Kim Goldberg, Holly Bright, Allannah Dow

Don't miss the world premiere of this modern dance adaptation of Kim Goldberg's latest book RED ZONE -- poems of homelessness and urban decay. Kim spent three years verse-mapping downtown Nanaimo's back alleys, graffiti galleries, underpasses and homeless camps to create RED ZONE. Holly Bright and Allanah Dow join her onstage for a risk-filled fusion of spoken word, dance and cello. Take the journey with them -- if you dare.

BIOS:
Kim Goldberg is an award-winning poet, journalist and author. Her work has been widely published in magazines and anthologies around the world including Macleans, Canadian Geographic, Cimarron Review, Geist, Tesseracts, The Capilano Review and elsewhere. She is the 2008 winner of the Rannu Fund Poetry Prize for Speculative Literature. Her first poetry collection, Ride Backwards on Dragon, was shortlisted for Canada's Lampert Memorial Award. pigsquash.wordpress.com/

Holly Bright is a performer and dance educator who specializes in solo dance interpretation of works by established Canadian choreographers. She has taught and performed across Canada and the U.S. Holly choreographs for dancers and professional musical theatre. She is founder/director of The Crimson Coast Dance Society (Nanaimo), an organization that supports the creation and presentation of professional dance events in Nanaimo, B.C. www.crimsoncoastdance.org

Allannah Dow spent more than 30 years playing cello in a classical and orchestral environment until a spiritual quest, coupled to a desire to sing her own song, led her into a new relationship with her century-old cello, Sebastian.

February 25th, 2010

Father/Poet/Teacher Paul Nelson, is co-founder of SPLAB, author: Organic Poetry (Oct. 08, VDM Verlag, Germany) & A Time Before Slaughter (Oct. 09, Apprentice House,) a serial poem re-enacting the history of Auburn, WA (originally called Slaughter. Worked 26 years in radio, interviewed Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, Sam Hamill, Robin Blaser, Wanda Coleman, Eileen Myles, Jerome Rothenberg, George Bowering & others. He earned his M.A. from Lesley University in Organic Poetry, a study of North American poets writing (to different degrees) spontaneously, writes one American Sentence every day & lives in Seattle.
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February 25th, 2010

M.C. Warrior was born in England and educated Harrow School and U.B.C. Worked as a coast logger for eight years (rigging slinger, chaser, landing bucker) and a commercial fisherman (seine crew) for 23. Also worked as Fishermen’s Union Organizer and now works as the Lead Strategic Researcher for the Labourers’ Union’s organising drives in Western Canada. He has read at City Lights Books for San Francisco’s Labor Fest and been published in various magazines and anthologies, both here and abroad– most recently in Rocksalt.

February 25th, 2010

Leanne Boschman is a prairie transplant to the West Coast. Her poems have been published in Other Voices, Dandelion Magazine, Geist Magazine, Prism International, Room of One's Own, and Rhubarb. They have also been included in Creekstones: Anthology of Northern BC Poets, Half in the Sun: Anthology of Mennonite Writing, and Rocksalt: An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry. Leanne's first collection of poems entitled Precipitous Signs: A Rain Journal was published in April 2009 by Leaf Press.



Leanne's day job has been teaching English, Creative Writing, and Women's Studies for Northwest Community College since 1991. This year she teaches one on-line class each semester because she has just begun a PhD program called Languages, Cultures, and Literacies at Simon Fraser University. She will be commuting there from Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.

March 23rd, 2010

Award-winning author Richard Lemm was born in Seattle, Washington, and immigrated to Canada in 1967. He has an MA in English from Queen's University and a PhD from Dalhousie University. He has been a faculty member at the Banff School of Fine Arts, and has been writer in residence and poetry instructor for various community colleges, regional libraries, public school districts, and summer writing programs across the country.

An award-winning poet and past-president of the League of Canadian Poets, he is the author of four books of poetry; his most recent collection is Four Ways of Dealing with Bullies. He is the author of Milton Acorn: In Love and Anger, a biography of the "People's Poet" of Canada. In 2007, Shape of Things to Come, a collection of stories was published by Acorn Press.

Richard lives in Charlottetown where he is professor of Canadian and English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Prince Edward Island.

March 23rd, 2010

Born in northern England, Pam Galloway now lives in Vancouver. Her poetry is published widely in literary magazines and anthologies and on the website of the Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate (www.parl.gov.ca ). In 2008/2009 one of Pam's poems travelled on the skytrain and buses as part of "Poetry In Transit".

She worked collaboratively with Quintet, a group of poets in Vancouver to produce their poetry collection, Quintet: Themes and Variations, (Ekstasis Editions 1998). Her first book of poetry Parallel Lines was published in 2006, (Ekstasis Editions). Recently, her poetry was included in the photographic/poetry collection A Verse Map of Vancouver. She has an MFA in creative writing from UBC.

March 23rd, 2010

Winona Baker is a poet, wife, and mother of four children. She has won international awards for haiku and tanka; her poems have been translated into French, Croatian, German, Greek, Japanese, Romanian, and Yugoslavian and are published in over 80 anthologies in North America, Europe, New Zealand, and Japan. She has published five poetry books: Clouds Empty Themselves, Not So Scarlet a Woman (Red Cedar Press, 1987), Beyond the Lighthouse (Oolichan, 1992), Moss-Hung Trees (Reflections, 1992), and Even a Stone Breathes (Oolichan, 2000).

March 23rd, 2010

Kirsty Elliot lives on a little island homestead and is delighted to be leaving the dirty diapers behind to join you for a night of poetry.

May 31st, 2010

Frank Moher's plays have been seen internationally, at theatres including South Coast Rep (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the Canadian Stage Company (Toronto), Workshop West Theatre (Edmonton), the Asolo Theater (Sarasota, Fla.), Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary), The Bunkaza Theatre (Tokyo), and Dodona Theatre (Prishtina, Kosova). They include Pause, The Broken Globe, Down for the Weekend, Odd Jobs, Sliding for Home (with Gerald Reid), The Third Ascent, Prairie Report, Kidnapping the Bride, Farewell, McLuhan: The Musical (with Gerald Reid), Supreme Dream (with Rhonda Trodd), All I Ever Wanted, Tolstoy's Wife, Weather, and Big Baby. He is currently at work on Moonbound!, a musical adaptation of H.G. Wells' First Men in the Moon. His plays are published online by ProPlay and by the Playwrights Guild of Canada.

Also a journalist, Frank edits the online magazine http://backofthebook.ca. He has taught at the University of British Columbia and the University of Alberta (where he was a Distinguished Visiting Artist), and is currently Chair of the Department of Creative Writing and Journalism at Vancouver Island University. He lives on Gabriola Island.

May 31st, 2010

Wendy Morton receives the Spirit Bear Award from Patrick Lane

Wendy Morton has 5 books of poetry in the world, and a memoir. Her lastest book, What Were Their Dreams is a book of photo-poems, about Canada's history; the poems are on archival photos. Some of the poems are stories of First Nations residents of the Alberni Valley that have been turned into poems. She is the recent recipient of The Spirit Bear Award, instituted by Patrick Lane and Lorna Crozier and The Golden Beret Award from the Calgary Spoken Word Society both honouring her enduring contributions to the poetic community in Canada. She lives in west of Sooke, in the same old house for 37 years. She is a raven watcher.

May 31st, 2010

Ronda Ganz poses with Wendy Morton.
Rhonda Ganz is delighted to have a poem in Rocksalt: An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry. A stanza from that poem showed up on Vancouver buses as part of the 2010 Poetry in Transit project. At the end of 2009, the Times Colonist newspaper commissioned her as one of five poets to write a poem to celebrate solstice. Previously published in Ascent Aspirations and several chapbooks edited by Patrick Lane, Rhonda is pleased to be a featured reader at Wordstorm, where she has often been an appreciative member of the audience. When not writing poetry, Rhonda works as a graphic designer and editor and dotes on her husband and three cats. She reads entirely too much crime fiction, if such a thing is even possible.