Dave Bidini (Can) brings two memoirs to WordFest: his second book for young adults, For Those About to Write, a quirky account of his path to becoming a writer, and the autobiographical, Around the World in 57 1/2 Gigs, recounting what it is like to travel to unlikely places in search of rock ‘n’ roll. He is the author of five previous novels, including the critically acclaimed On a Cold Road and Tropic of Hockey, the latter of which was made into the Gemini Award–winning film The Hockey Nomad. Bidini was the rhythm guitarist for the iconic Canadian indie rock band the Rheostatics, which released eleven albums during its influential twenty-year reign.

Susan Juby (Can) was an editor with a self-help book publisher when she first set out to pen a comedy that would make her friends and relatives laugh. The work eventually became her acclaimed debut novel, Alice, I Think, which became Amazon.com’s Top Teen Book of 2003 and is now a television series and published in three languages. She followed it up with the equally acclaimed sequels Miss Smithers and Alice MacLeod: Realist at Last. Juby returns to WordFest with her latest youth book, Another Kind of Cowboy, about the coming-of-age of two dressage riders.

Dennis Lee (Can) has written more than twenty books of poetry for children and adults, including Alligator Pie, now a children’s classic, and Civil Elegies, which won the 1972 Governor General’s Award for Poetry. He was one of the founders of House of Anansi Press and, from 2001 to 2004, served as Toronto’s first poet laureate. He also wrote most of the song lyrics for the television show Fraggle Rock and contributed to two fantasy films by Jim Henson: The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. His most recent collections are SoCool, for younger teenagers, and yesno, for adults.

Valerie Mason-John (UK) is a respected spoken-word poet, known as a “veritable monarch of marauding mayhem.” She has won numerous awards for her poetry and performance, and also as a novelist and playwright. Her career is as varied as her talents, ranging from international correspondent to artistic director of London’s Mardi Gras. She has also received national recognition for contributions to both the Black and gay communities in Britain. She is the author of two novels, including Borrowed Body, which won the 2006 Mind Book of the Year Award. She brings her “marauding mayhem” to WordFest.

Morgan Lewis (Aus) is an award-winning hip hop artist, spoken word performer, director and community activist from Sydney, Australia. He has performed from Bondi Beach to the Bronx, the Sydney Opera House to Long Bay Jail, Tanzania to Tokyo. His one-man hip hop theatre show, “Crouching Bboy Hidden Dreadlocks,” sold out and toured in Australia, the UK and New York. Morganics has won awards for his work with socially and economically disadvantaged people; has taught hip hop in jails, community centres and isolated Aboriginal communities throughout Australia; and has performed, directed and conducted workshops for ex street kids in the UK, New York and Tanzania.

Martine Noël-Maw (Can) was born and raised in Quebec, and has made Saskatchewan her home since 1993. There she draws from the province’s enchanting landscape and rich history for her writing. In 2007, she collaborated with students in Moose Jaw to create two youth books: Drôle de zèbre, a tragic story of a zebra transformed into a hideous ogre, and La malchance d’Austin, a story about a twelve-year-old boy who is fitted with a revolutionary bionic leg after a farm accident. Her second book, Amélia et les papillons, won many honours, including the Prix du Livre Français of the 2006 Saskatchewan Book Awards.

Teresa Toten (Can) has been nominated twice for a Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature. She has published a number of books for young adults, including Onlyhouse, The Game, Me and the Blondes, and her most recent book, Better than Blonde. A sequel to Me and the Blondes, Better than Blonde draws the reader into the life of fifteen-year-old Sophie as she deals with her first romantic crisis, her father’s release from prison and the disintegration of her parents’ marriage. Toten’s books often deal with the difficulties of growing up as an immigrant in urban Canada. She arrived in Canada from Croatia when she was just thirteen days old and spent much of her childhood in Toronto.

Priscila Uppal (Can) is a gifted poet and fiction writer whose work includes five collections of poetry and one novel. Her most recent poetry collection, Ontological Necessities, was recently short-listed for the prestigious Griffin Prize for Excellence in Poetry, where she was lauded for bringing a new voice to poetry. Her work has been translated into Korean, Croatian, Latvian, Italian, Dutch and Greek. Uppal teaches literature at York University and is the coordinator of York’s Creative Writing Program.

Camille Bouchard (Can) has enjoyed a varied writing career, creating comic strips, young adult and children's books and a wide range of work for cinema, television and the stage; his latest book for young readers is Les Larmes de Viracocha.

Clem Martini (Can) is a Governor General's Award-winning playwright and author who returns to WordFest with the latest installment of his Feather and Bone: The Crow Chronicles trilogy, The Judgement, and a guide to drama in The Blunt Playwright.

Anne Robillard (Can) had been penning fantasy stories for many years before her series Les Chevaliers d'Émeraude caught the attention of publishers; the ninth and latest installment in this bestselling fantasy epic is L'héritage de Danalieth.

Lemn Sissay (UK) is a renowned poet, playwright, editor, filmmaker, recording artist and broadcast journalist; the author of four poetry collections, he has performed his work around the world and appeared on such seminal recordings as Leftfield's Leftism.

Maxine Trottier (Can) is a prolific and award-winning writer for youth whose home state of Michigan has named a day in her honour; she comes to WordFest with the post-war novel Three Songs for Courage.

Susan comes to WordFest with the third novel in this amazing series, Alice MacLeod: Realist at Last.

Richard moved to Calgary in the mid-Nineties, and currently teaches creative writing at Mount Royal College. He comes to WordFest this year with a brand-new collection of poems, Worthy of His Fall.

Baba has toured his hit theatre show The Rap Canterbury Tales to seven cities around the world, including Prague, Montreal, Edinburgh and San Francisco, and brings it with him this year to WordFest.

C.C. Humphreys is an actor and writer who happily admits that the swashbuckling hero of his latest series is his own fantasy alter-ego – featured most recently in The Blooding of Jack Absolute.

Dave Bidini is the guitar player for the well-known Canadian rock band, the Rheostatics. He is also the author of The Tropic of Hockey and On A Cold Road. His newest book, For Those About to Rock, is a guidebook for any teenager who has dreamed of being in a band and making it big.

She is the acclaimed Australian writer of Feeling Sorry for Celia. Moriarty brings her delightful new novel, The Year of Secret Assignments to this year’s festival. Moriarty’s books have been well received internationally, especially by high school students.

Garth Nix counts The Ragwitch, Sabriel, Shade’s Children and Lirael among the multiple award-winning novels that feature his original fantasy vision; his latest is the immensely popular Abhorsen.

Carole Fréchette is one of the most recognized playwrights in Québec theatre, and has also penned wonderfully lyrical novels for young people such as the recently translated In the Key of DO.

Dennis Foon is an award-winning author, screenwriter and playwright; his newest books for young people include the edgy coming-of-age story SKUD and the stunning, evocative fantasy The Dirt Eaters.

 

2002

Sharon Butala has given an important voice to rural women in her fiction; her most recent works are the short story collection Real Life and Old Man on His Back, with Courtney Milne.

Michèle Marineau is a two-time Governor General’s Literary Award-winning children's authornoted for her clarity and insight; her work in English translation includes award-winners The Road to Chlifa and Lean Mean Machines.

Arthur Slade is a major new voice in children's literature; he won a Governor General’s Literary Award in 2001 for Dust and trains his sights on high school in his latest, Tribes.

 

2001

Quincy Troupe is a two-time winner of the prestigious Heavyweight Champion of Poetry award.

Ben Gadd is one of the greatest living authorities on the natural world of the Canadian Rockies.

Isobelle Carmody is one of Australia's most highly regarded and prominent authors of fantasy fiction.

 

2000

Todd Babiak explores rural life, definitions of "manhood" and the paradoxical allure and pointlessness of violence in his quirkily original début novel, Choke Hold.

Witi Ihimaera became the first Maori novelist when he published Tangi in 1972, and has since distinguished himself as a novelist, short story writer, playwright and librettist.

Mark Jarman is widely published in numerous literary magazines and publications, is a novelist and poet, and has earned critical praise for his latest, darkly humorous short story collection 19 Knives.

Eden Robinson published her first book - the award-winning story collection Traplines - in 1996, and unites comedy with the dark underside of life in her début novel Monkey Beach.

Leon Rooke has written six novels and over a dozen story collections, and now adds the irresistible high-octane road novel The Fall of Gravity to his remarkable oeuvre.