authors, facilitators, and Other Fancy Foxes
Faciliator: Jean E. Pendziwol
Jean E. Pendziwol is an award winning Canadian author. Born and raised in northwestern Ontario, she draws on the culture, history and geography of the region for inspiration for her stories.
An instant national bestseller, Jean's debut adult novel The Lightkeeper's Daughters is a story about family, identity, and art involving a decades-old mystery. Vividly drawn, Lake Superior is almost a character in itself, changeable yet constant, its shores providing both safety and isolation. Published by HarperCollins in North America, the book is also available in multiple other languages around the world.
Jean's latest picture book, When I Listen to Silence, published by Groundwood Books and illustrated by Carmen Mok, explores creativity and the imagination. Jean's other children's books include the Governor General's Literary Awards shortlisted Once Upon a Northern Night (Groundwood Books, Illus. Isabelle Arsenault) and the bestselling No Dragons For Tea: Fire Safety for Kids (and Dragons) (Kids Can Press, Illus. Martine Gourbault). A new picture book Skating Wild on and Inland Sea, illustrated by Todd Stewart, will be released by Groundwood Books in 2023. For more details, click PICTURE BOOKS.
Jean's adult work is represented by Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency.
Jean's children's work is represented by Olga Filina of 5 Otter Literary.
Website: www.jeanependziwol.com
Jean E. Pendziwol is an award winning Canadian author. Born and raised in northwestern Ontario, she draws on the culture, history and geography of the region for inspiration for her stories.
An instant national bestseller, Jean's debut adult novel The Lightkeeper's Daughters is a story about family, identity, and art involving a decades-old mystery. Vividly drawn, Lake Superior is almost a character in itself, changeable yet constant, its shores providing both safety and isolation. Published by HarperCollins in North America, the book is also available in multiple other languages around the world.
Jean's latest picture book, When I Listen to Silence, published by Groundwood Books and illustrated by Carmen Mok, explores creativity and the imagination. Jean's other children's books include the Governor General's Literary Awards shortlisted Once Upon a Northern Night (Groundwood Books, Illus. Isabelle Arsenault) and the bestselling No Dragons For Tea: Fire Safety for Kids (and Dragons) (Kids Can Press, Illus. Martine Gourbault). A new picture book Skating Wild on and Inland Sea, illustrated by Todd Stewart, will be released by Groundwood Books in 2023. For more details, click PICTURE BOOKS.
Jean's adult work is represented by Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency.
Jean's children's work is represented by Olga Filina of 5 Otter Literary.
Website: www.jeanependziwol.com
Zoom Guest Author/Critique Sessions Karen Connelly
Connelly was born in Calgary, Alberta. At seventeen, she lived in a Thai village thanks to a Rotary exchange scholarship. She returned to Canada a year later. At nineteen, she left for Spain, where she lived almost two years. Having no work visa, she supported herself by, among other things, teaching English as a second language. In her spare time, she wrote about her experiences and took photographs with which to illustrate her writing. She also reworked the letters and journals, which she had written in Thailand, into a manuscript that was to become Touch the Dragon.
In 1991, she moved to France and settled in Montclar, Avignon, where she studied French and Spanish. Soon after, she travelled to Greece, spending most of her time on the island of Lesbos, to which she has occasionally returned. She then moved back to Canada for an extended period, writing and promoting her work.
Her first book, a poetry collection entitled The Small Words in My Body (1990), won the Pat Lowther Award for poetry in 1991. Her second book, Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal (1992), won the Governor General's Award for non-fiction. Three poetry collections followed, This Brighter Prison (1993) The Disorder of Love (1997) and The Border Surrounds Us (2000). She also compiled a book of letters, One Room in a Castle, detailing her experiences in Europe.
In 1996, she returned to Thailand and also visited Myanmar (she prefers the older name, Burma). Her experiences there served as the basis for her novel about a political prisoner, The Lizard Cage, which won the Orange Broadband Prize for New Writers and was longlisted for the 2007 International Dublin Literary Award. Connelly remained in Thailand for two years before returning to Canada, where she married. She lives in Toronto.
Website: www.thecourageroom.ca
Facilitator: Marion Agnew
For more than 25 years, Marion Agnew has worked as a writer and editor, both as a freelancer and for a variety of employers. Her fiction and creative nonfiction has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council and has appeared in literary journals in Canada and the US (and cyberspace); two essays have been anthologized in Best Canadian Essays. Recently, she has supported university scientists pursuing research funding and edited fiction for a U.S. publisher. She has written and edited textbooks, curriculum guides, newsletters, speeches, reports, and feature articles. She served as senior editor for a computer trade publishing company, a science writer and editor at two national laboratories, and an administrator and grant writer for a government science improvement program. She holds a B.A. with Distinction in English and an M.A. in Technical and Expository Writing, and she’s studied American Sign Language. After visiting her family camp for decades of summers, she relocated full-time to Shuniah ten years ago.
Her first book, Reverberations: A Daughter's Meditations on Alzheimer's, was released by Signature Editions in October, 2019 and was shortlisted for the Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in literary journals in the U.S., Canada, and online, and have received support from the Ontario Arts Council. Her short nonfiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and a National Magazine Award. Her debut novel, Making Up The Gods, will be published by Latitude 46 in October, 2023.
Website: www.marionagnew.ca
For more than 25 years, Marion Agnew has worked as a writer and editor, both as a freelancer and for a variety of employers. Her fiction and creative nonfiction has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council and has appeared in literary journals in Canada and the US (and cyberspace); two essays have been anthologized in Best Canadian Essays. Recently, she has supported university scientists pursuing research funding and edited fiction for a U.S. publisher. She has written and edited textbooks, curriculum guides, newsletters, speeches, reports, and feature articles. She served as senior editor for a computer trade publishing company, a science writer and editor at two national laboratories, and an administrator and grant writer for a government science improvement program. She holds a B.A. with Distinction in English and an M.A. in Technical and Expository Writing, and she’s studied American Sign Language. After visiting her family camp for decades of summers, she relocated full-time to Shuniah ten years ago.
Her first book, Reverberations: A Daughter's Meditations on Alzheimer's, was released by Signature Editions in October, 2019 and was shortlisted for the Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in literary journals in the U.S., Canada, and online, and have received support from the Ontario Arts Council. Her short nonfiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and a National Magazine Award. Her debut novel, Making Up The Gods, will be published by Latitude 46 in October, 2023.
Website: www.marionagnew.ca