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About the Author

dee Hobsbawn-Smith
Contact
Audience Age Groups
Adults
Secondary (Grades 10-12)
Middle (Grades 6-9)

dee Hobsbawn-Smith

dee Hobsbawn-Smith is a poet, essayist, fictionist, journalist and food writer. Her award-winning work has appeared in books, newspapers, magazines, anthologies, chapbooks and literary journals in Canada, the USA and elsewhere.

A Red Seal chef, dee's restaurant, Foodsmith, was a leader in Calgary's emerging locavore scene between 1992 and 1994, where she served for many years as a chef, educator, journalist, gate-to-plate food tour facilitator, and culinary consultant to the Alberta government. As an Alberta-based chef and foodie, she wrote three national best-selling cookbooks and a culinary resource guide. Her fifth book, Foodshed: An Edible Alberta Alphabet, examined the politics, ethics and challenges of small-scale sustainable food production. It won the Best Canadian English-language Food Literature Award in the 2013 Gourmand World Book Awards; Best Culinary Book in the 2013 High Plains Book Awards; and in 2014, third place in Les Dames d'Escoffier M.F.K. Fisher Writing Award for North American and United Kingdom women writers.

In 2014, Hagios Press published dee's first poetry collection, Wildness Rushing In, a finalist for the 2015 SK Book Awards Best Poetry Collection and Book of the Year. Her short story collection, What Can't Be Undone, was published in 2015 by Thistledown Press. Her essay collection-in-progress, Bread & Water, came 2nd in the SWG's 2014 J. V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award, and has been accepted by the University of Regina Press, publicaton date TBA. Her long poem series, Jeanne Dark come of age on the prairie, was published by Espresso Chapbooks in 2018. Her second full-length poetry manuscript, What I didn't know I needed to say, is in process, as is her first novel, Dryland Diaries.

dee's poems, essays and short ficton have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, among them Creative Nonfiction, Gastronomica, Prairie Fire, The Malahat Review, The New Quarterly, Canadian Literature and Grain. She has had poems appear in numerous anthologies, including Wilf Perreault: On the Alley/Dans la Ruelle; Life of Pie; 70; Line Dance; Entanglements Eco-poetry; Pith & Wry; Seek It: Writers & Artists Do Sleep;The Challenge of Three; and None and All of This is True. Her essay, "Wiebo's Way", won the 2018 Prairie Fire McNally Robinson Creative Nonfction Contest.

dee completed her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Writing at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, and is currently earning her MA in English at the U of S. dee facilitated Sage Hill's Saskatoon Teen Writing Experience for three summers, served as adjunct instructor of creative writing at St. Peter's College, Muenster, SK, and as a mentor in the SWG's Mentorship Program. She served as the Saskatoon Public Library's 35th Writer in Residence, for three years as Poetry Editor for Grain, and currently writes a column for Grainews.

A passionate local foods advocate, dee was a member of Slow Food Calgary' steering committee for ten years, including three years as its leader, and she attended Slow Food's 2008 Terra Madre conference in Torino, Italy as an Alberta delegate. In 2011, she co-founded Slow Food Saskatoon, and served as its leader. She was named a Slow Food Hero in 2018 by Slow Food Canada. She has two wonderful sons, both of whom are fabulous cooks. At present, she lives on family land in Treaty 6 Territory, west of Saskatoon with her husband, the writer Dave Margoshes, their dog, cats and books. She acknowledges her relational bonds with the Cree, Nakoda, Dakota, Saulteaux and Dene, and the Metis Nation, traditional dwellers on this land.

dee Hobsbawn-Smith
writer, poet, chef, runner


Workshops Offered

Creating Character on the Page
Group Size: 4-16
Ages:
Who do you remember after you finish reading a novel or essay or short story? What characters are memorable? How did the writer capture him or her? Dee employs a variety of exercises and tools in this workshop to help you get to know your people - and put them on the page in memorable ways.
Creative writing for teens
Group Size: 6-12
Ages:
Dee led the 2013 & \'14 Sage Hill Saskatoon Teen Writing Experience, and loves teaching teens creative writing through exercises, walking meditations, prompts, and a whole bag of teen-friendly tips.
Food in fiction, poetry and creative nonfictionn
Group Size: 6-12
Ages:
There\'s more to food than flavour. Dee was a chef and culinary journalist for decades, and her words have appeared in North American magazines and newspapers from Portland to St. John’s. She has written several best-selling award-winning food-related books that investigated politics, issues, cooking methodology and recipes, philosophy and issues, growers and chefs, personalities and profiles, and the pleasure of food. Learn to define and put your personal taste on the page, politics to pasta.

Publications

What Can't Be Undone

Thistledown Press, 2015,

Wildness Rushing In

Hagios Press, 2014,

Foodshed

TouchWood Editions, 2012,

Shop Talk

Last Impression Publishing, 2008,

The Curious Cook At Home

Whitecap Books, 2004,

Double Dishing

Whitecap Books, 2002,

Dishing

Whitecap Books, 2000,

The Quick Gourmet

Whitecap Books, 1999,

Skinny Feasts

Whitecap Books, 1997,

Periodicals

Blue Skies
Category: Literary Journal
Calgary Herald
Category: Newspaper/Magazine/Trade Journal
City Palate
Category: Newspaper/Magazine/Trade Journal
CV2
Category: Literary Journal
Event
Category: Literary Journal
Flavours
Category: Newspaper/Magazine/Trade Journal
Freefall
Category: Literary Journal
Gastronomica
Category: Literary Journal
Grain
Category: Literary Journal
Grainews
Category: Newspaper/Magazine/Trade Journal
Numero Cinq
Category: Literary Journal
Other Voices
Category: Literary Journal
Prairie Fire
Category: Literary Journal
Queen's Quarterly
Category: Literary Journal
Room
Category: Literary Journal
The Antigonish Review
Category: Literary Journal
The Fieldstone Review
Category: Literary Journal
The Malahat Review
Category: Literary Journal
The New Quarterly
Category: Literary Journal
The Society
Category: Literary Journal
The Windsor Review
Category: Literary Journal
Vallum
Category: Literary Journal

Broadcast Works

Wildness Rushing In, CKUA radio, 2014-2014
Bob Chelmick, host of The Road Home on CKUA, read a selection of poetry from dee\'s collection, Wildness Rushing In.
Girl!talk, CBC Regina, 2011-2011
A suite of poems.

Writing Groups

  • Visible Ink

Genres

Electronic Media
  • Blogs
  • Websites
Fiction
  • Literary
Non-Fiction
  • Cookbooks
  • Essays
  • General Non-Fiction
  • Memoir
  • Travel
Poetry
  • Literary

Services

Academic/Research Writing
  • Essays
  • Research
  • Research Papers
Editing
  • Copyediting
  • Developmental/Project Editing
  • Manuscript Critiquing (Not Editing)
  • Proofreading
  • Stylistic Editing
  • Substantive/Structural Editing
Electronic/Online Media
  • Blogging
Genre Writing
  • Creative Non-Fiction
  • Historical Projects
  • Literary/Creative Fiction
  • Memoir
  • Poetry
Journalism
  • Feature Writing
  • General Interest/Consumer Magazines
  • Interviews
  • Investigative Journalism
  • Newspapers
  • Reviews
  • Trade/Special Interest Magazines
Lecturing/Public Speaking
  • Conferences
Teaching/Instruction
  • Professional Development Workshops
  • Writer-in-Residence
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