Find Saskatchewan Writers

Seven years ago I arrived in Val Marie, SK, birthplace of my mother and gateway to Garsslands National Park, as writer-in-residence at The Convent Inn. I soon learned that Grasslands is the quietest place in North America, according to acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton and a Dark Sky Preserve as designated by the Royal Astronomical Society. For the sake of my writing I decided to stay. Since then I have had 2 newspaper columns which focus on the come uppance of an urban nature-loving person in a rural community. The first column was  called The Story Pool, the second is Pop89. (oyenecho.com) I also teach writing to a group of teens through Sage Hill Writing School and write book reviews for Saskbooks.

Before Val Marie I worked as a writer-braodcaster for a daily English CBC radio program in Quebec. My job was to travel the field and report on air every afternoon with a current afafirs or arts related story. After Quebec I worked as a documentary writer-producer for various Toronto-based shows: Inside the Music, Tapestry, Dispatches, Q, etc. My documentary "She Moves between Worlds" on Lhasa de sela won a NYC worlds best radio award and my doc on Americana music, "Portarit of Lincoln with the Wart" has been noted a primer for the Americana genre in jounals like Atlantic Monthly and NoDepression. I've created short run series based on various ideas, like: Hump Day-the fact of Wednesday, the changing face of religious worhisp in BC, the world of Jazz, Under_Score, the story behind the song, THis Day in Music History, etc. I also wrote book reviews for The Globe & Mail, artscanada, I hosted various short-term shows in Quebec, Montreal, Windsor.

My training is in performance and English Lit. I have been writing and perfroming monolgues and one-woman shows for over thirty years.  (The Book of Revolutions, Sister Jupiter's Rubber Soul, Lolita at 60, angry planet @12h00hrs, Body Language, What a Trip etc) My latest "Mother's Apron" is based on the stories behind aprons I collected for our local museum. I am in the process of finsihing a novel based on the monologue. I am also a singer-songwriter and had my own band in Quebec called Aunty Maddy and toured for 9 years with The Amercan bluesman James Armstrong as a back-up singer. I lived for a year in Memphis TN, studying the blues, ie: spending my days and nights on Beale Street. 

Some of the journals I've been published in include: Quill & Quire, Capilano Review, Room, Fireweed, Freelance, etc. My piece "Hearth Day", written as writer-in-res at Stegner House, won 2020 Prairie Fire Creative Nonfiction contest. 

I've taught creative writing and interviewing workshops, some using collage and/or masks as prompt tools, for over thirty years.
I've also collaborated on World sStorytelling Day with emerging elder Joseph Naytowhow in a storytelling show we call "Holy Smoke".
I'm available for teaching and writing assignments. I love being a writer in Saskatcehwean because this province values their storytellers and it shows in the work produced.