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(Each writer is linked to his or her entryContents – just click on the name.) Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. 3 Foreword ..........................................................................................................................4 Frequently Asked Questions .....................................................................................6 Timothy Anderson ........................................................................................................8 John Ballem ..................................................................................................................18 Marty Chan ....................................................................................................................21 Joan Crate ......................................................................................................................25 Paulette Dubé ...............................................................................................................29 Dave Duncan .................................................................................................................33 Will Ferguson ................................................................................................................38 Cheryl Foggo .................................................................................................................48 Fil Fraser ..........................................................................................................................52 Cecelia Frey ....................................................................................................................56 Richard Harrison ..........................................................................................................59 Greg Hollingshead ......................................................................................................67 Faye Reineberg Holt ...................................................................................................71 Hazel Hutchins .............................................................................................................75 Frontenac House Marie Jakober ...............................................................................................................79 Myrna Kostash ..............................................................................................................83 Robert Kroetsch ...........................................................................................................94 Alice Major .................................................................................................................101 Sid Marty .....................................................................................................................107 Shirlee Smith Matheson .........................................................................................115 Suzette Mayr ..............................................................................................................118 George Melnyk ..........................................................................................................125 Don Meredith.............................................................................................................129 Tololwa Mollel ...........................................................................................................133 Sarah Murphy ............................................................................................................137 Michael Penny ...........................................................................................................144 Ken Rivard ...................................................................................................................149 Gail Sidonie Sobat ....................................................................................................154 About Bob Stallworthy ...........................................................................................159 Fred Stenson ..............................................................................................................161 Richard Stevenson ....................................................................................................168 Aritha van Herk .........................................................................................................173 Tom Wayman .............................................................................................................178 Lyle Weis ......................................................................................................................189 Sheri-D Wilson ...........................................................................................................195 Christopher Wiseman ..............................................................................................204 Mary Woodbury ........................................................................................................210 Frontenac House 2 Contents Acknowledgements Copyright © 2006 by Bob Stallworthy Some of these profiles have been previously published in the Writers All rights reserved, including moral rights. No part of Guild of Alberta’s magazine, WestWord. this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical Thank you to my wife, Marilyn, who first suggested that I spend my time including photocopying, recording, or any information learning my craft. storage retrieval system without permission in writing from the author or publisher, or ACCESS copyright, Thank you to Marilynn Stratton, the first Book Display Co-ordinator, who except by a reviewer or academic who may quote brief passages in a review or critical study, or by a researcher talked me into applying for the job. or student who may print out the article for his own research purposes. Thank you to Mary Walters, the first Executive Director of the Writers Guild Book and cover design: Shadow Box Creative Media of Alberta, who hired me as the Book Display Co-ordinator. Without her We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council acceptance, I would never have met all the writers I now know. for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the support of The Alberta Foundation Thank you to all the writers presented in the following pages for your for the Arts. time and patience. This e-book is dedicated to the writers of Alberta. “Are there any (many) writers in Alberta?”Foreword Prior to 1985 that would have been a question on my lips too. Not that I was uninterested in reading, I just didn’t do a lot of it. I had a hard time learning to read as a youngster and to this day I read very slowly. My difficulty made reading less than an enjoyable pastime. And with the exception of some rather childish po- etry written to my girlfriend after Grade 12 and two poems to the woman who became my wife (not the same person), I had made no effort to write anything but social worker reports since graduating from university. In 1984 it was apparent that I was burning out as a social worker so I left the field, as it turned out, forever. Thanks to my wife’s suggestion, and assurance, I began writing every day and I joined the Writers Guild of Alberta. Within the year I found myself in charge of the travelling Book Display for the Guild. The Display consisted of copies of the books writ- ten by Alberta writers who were members of the Guild. It travelled to Teachers’ Conventions and Book Fairs around Alberta. The major benefits of this volunteer job were twofold: 1) I got to go places in the province I had never been before, 2) I met face-to-face a great many of the writers working in the province. During the years 1985 - 1990, when I travelled with the Display, I think it is safe to say that I knew more writers in Alberta on a first name basis than anybody else. I am happy to say that some of those writers have become fast friends and the others are colleagues that complete a network for me in the writing community. As my own writing career grew and as my involvement with the Guild also grew, it occurred to me that there were a lot of writers working in the province who didn’t know about each other. This was particularly evident within the Guild as it began to increase in membership. I volunteered to write “profiles” of members for the Guild’s newsletter/magazine, West- Word. These profiles ranged in length from 500 to 1500 words. As the number of profiles increased, I started to think about what else I might do with them. The rationale for this e-book is that, if individual writers are still not sure who else is working in the province as a writer, the chances are pretty good that non-writers will not know either. The criterion for inclusion is, at a minimum, having at least one book, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or children’s work, published by a recognized publisher. Almost all people profiled live in Alberta. You will find a few who live outside the province who, nevertheless, built much of their ca- reer while living here. They are all hard working writers. Some, I’m sure, you have already met through reading their work. If so, I hope you’ll get to know them better through this e-book. I encourage you to continue to read their work. Many, you may not have met before. It is my great plea- sure to introduce you to them. This is a work in progress. New profiles will be added on an ongoing basis as soon