Authors

Derek von Essen

Derek von Essen is a photographer, painter, graphic designer, video and mixed-media artist. He specializes in fine arts, dance, theatre, music, film and publishing projects. During the 1980s, von Essen photo-documented the underground music scene in a style the Vancouver Westender called, “confrontational, kinetic and the result of a keen eye for the perfect moment”. Through the 90s to present day, von Essen’s art and photography has been exhibited in numerous galleries and can be found in permanent collections across North America and Europe. He was honoured by the BC Business and Arts Awards and profiled on CBC television. His installation series, Horizons + Intersections (photography and video projection, 2004-2007) exhibited in multiple cities, with screenings across Canada, China, Italy and at various international art festivals. The photography for A Verse Map of Vancouver was created with a myriad of cameras: vintage mediumformat Japanese TLRs and German folding cameras, 35mm SLRs and rangefinders and a high resolution digital SLR.
To see more of Derek’s work, visit www.derekvonessen.com

Gabor Gasztonyi

Gabor Gasztonyi has had exhibitions across Canada, including Vancouver, Montreal, and the Arta Gallery in Toronto in 2008. His awards include The Professional Photogaphers of BC Nikon Prize, Society of Canadian Artists Award of Excellence, runner-up Magnum Scotia Bank Scholarship, and a Canadian nomination for the International Black & White Spider Awards in 2008. He operates a photographic studio and Art Gallery in New Westminster, BC.

Alexandra Leggat

Alexandra Leggat is the author of two previous collections of short fiction, Pull Gently, Tear Here (nominated for the Danuta Gleed First Fiction Award), Meet Me in the Parking Lot, and a volume of poetry entitled This is me since yesterday. As well as being a freelance writer and editor, she teaches creative writing classes through the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and lives in Toronto.

Nelly Arcan

Nelly Arcan was born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Her first novel Putain (2001; Whore, 2004, Grove Press), drawing on her experience working in the sex trade in Montreal, caused a sensation and enjoyed immediate critical and media success. It was a finalist for both the Prix Médicis and the Prix Femina, two of France’s most prestigious literary awards. Two more novels followed, establishing her as a literary star in Quebec and France: Folle (2004), also nominated for the Prix Femina; and À ciel ouvert (2007). She is also the author of an illustrated book on the beauty myth for young girls: L’enfant dans le miroir (2007).

Paradis, clef en main (Exit) was her fourth novel and was completed just days before she committed suicide in 2009 at the age of thirty-six.

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David Scott Hamilton has a degree in linguistics and French, and has worked as a freelance translator since 1995, producing significant works for numerous clients, including the Canadian Museum of Civilization. He divides his time between Chambéry, France, and Vancouver, B.C.

Tammy Armstrong

Tammy Armstrong grew up in St. Stephen, New Brunswick and lived in Vancouver, BC for several years, where she earned a BA and an MFA from the University of British Columbia. She currently lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Armstrong has two books of poetry published with Anvil Press: Unravel and Bogman’s Music (a Governor General’s Literary Award nominee). Her poems have appeared in the following publications: The Antigonish Review, Event, The Fiddlehead, Grain, The Malahat Review, Pottersfield Portfolio, Prairie Fire, Room of One’s Own, subTerrain, TickleAce, and Zygote. “A Proper Burial for Song Birds” placed third in the League of Canadian Poets’ National Poetry Contest, Vintage 2000. “If In a Marriage to a Car Salesman” and “Clam Bake 1974” were performed on International Women’s Day 2000 at the National Art Gallery.

Michael Barnholden

Michael Barnholden is associate director of Humanities 101 at the University of British Columbia and the author of several books of poetry and non-fiction, most recently, Reading the Riot Act (Anvil 2005). A Vancouver resident since 1970, Michael works as an advocate with the B.C. Coalition of People with Disbilities.

Jackie Bateman

Jackie Bateman writes fiction and dabbles in commercial copy. Originally from England, she will always champion the marmite sandwich, but is now settled in beautiful Vancouver with her husband and two children. Nondescript Rambunctious is her first novel. She can be found at www.jacbateman.com.

Catherine Bennett

Catherine Bennett is a Vancouver writer, whose work has appeared in numerous magazines, including Grain, subTerrain, Tessera, and Mirage/Period(ical). She won first prize in the 1991 Short Grain Contest (Postcard Story Category). For many years, she was a member of the Kootenay School of Writing Collective. She holds a BA in creative writing and an MA in English literature. Currently, she makes her living as a freelance editor.

Dennis E. Bolen

Since his first highly-acclaimed 1991 novel, Stupid Crimes (Anvil Press), Dennis E. Bolen has written three other novels: Stand In Hell, Krekshuns, and Toy Gun (Anvil Press). He is also the author of the short story collection Gas Tank & Other Stories (Anvil Press). He has worked as a parole officer in Vancouver and has taught creative writing at the University of British Columbia. For many years Mr. Bolen held the post of fiction editor for the literary journal subTerrain, contributing editor to the Vancouver Review, and has acted as a columnist and part-time editorial board member at the Vancouver Sun.

Bonnie Bowman

Bonnie Bowman’s debut novel, Skin, won the inaugural ReLit Award. Her writing has been published in subTerrain, The Vancouver Review, Reader’s Digest, and in the anthologies Exact Fare Only I and Body Breakdowns. Bonnie is also a songwriter, journalist, freelance writer and has been a finalist for the Western Magazine Awards. She was born in Toronto, where she now lives after a longish stint in Vancouver. Spaz is her second novel.

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