Jean Rae Baxter holds a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Toronto and a B.Ed from Queen’s. She lived for many years in Eastern Ontario, where she taught secondary school English.

She turned to full-time writing ten years ago. Although her original intention was to write historical fiction for young adults, she soon discovered a talent for noir. This discovery took her by surprise, since she had not previously been aware that she had kinky sensibilities, as one reviewer has said. Her short story collection, A Twist of Malice (Seraphim Editions, 2005) received high critical acclaim. In April 2008, Seraphim Editions launched her literary mystery novel Looking for Cardenio. A second collection of noir short stories is well underway.

Jean’s stories have also been published in several Canadian literary journals and anthologies, such as Hardboiled Love (Insomniac Press, 2003) and Revenge (Insomniac Press, 2004).

Despite the allure of noir, Jean did not abandon her plan to write young adult historical fiction. Her short story, “Farewell the Mohawk Valley,” set during the American Revolution, was included in the anthology Beginnings: Stories of Canada’s Past (Ronsdale Press, 2001). Her recent novel, The Way Lies North (Ronsdale Press, 2007) taps the same rich vein of Canadian history. She is presently working on a sequel.

Jean is one of the organizers of the LiT LiVe Reading Series in Hamilton, where she is an active member of the literary community.

www.jeanraebaxter.ca

Catherine Graham is the author of The Watch (Abbey Press), Pupa (Insomniac Press) and a forthcoming poetry collection The Red Element (Insomniac Press). She teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto where she was nominated for an Excellence in Teaching Award, McMaster University and through Descant’s SWAT writer-in-residence program. Her work has been anthologized internationally and published in The New Quarterly, LRC, Taddlecreek and The Fiddlehead. As creativity consultant, Catherine has led her unique workshops through GlaxoSmithKline, BookExpo, York University and Environics Communications. Her poems are featured in Discovery Landing, Burlington’s new waterfront building and her work as a poetry coach is highlighted in Poet’s Market 2007. She is Vice President of Project Bookmark Canada, a non-profit organization that seeks to mark the real places that serve as the settings for imagined stories and she is Marketing Coordinator of the Rowers Pub Reading Series.

www.catherinegraham.com - www.cmgcreativity.com

Peter McEwen has been involved with the arts for many years as an art educator, visual artist, and writer. For the past decade, he has focused much of his creative energy on poetry and has a book length manuscript of selected work which is scheduled for publication by Your Scrivener Press.

Peter's poetry has appeared in: Montreal Serai, The Windsor Review, Ice (a Spotted Cow Press anthology), Art City Magazine, the CPA Anthology, Voices and Outreach Connection. He was commissioned to write a prose poem for the opening of the MacLaren Art Gallery and another text work was included as part of an installation at the gallery. He collaborated in an exhibition and chap book, "Two Poets, Two Painters" at pteros gallery Toronto, and Zephyr gallery, Orillia.

“ ... Peter’s work ranges a lot, through the personal, the landscape, and the penetration of the landscape. He does a lot of poetry about the common scene, around the social interaction of people in small towns, around the common kind of social engagements. It is exemplary for its wit and penetration of social psychology.” -Al Moritz

Nauni Parkinson has performed in the Peterborough community for close to a decade. As well as being a musician, Nauni plays with the written word and attempts to find security in silence. By day Nauni can be found teaching songs, rhymes and stories to parents in the Peterborough community, by night Nauni is a mother, a partner, a writer, a cook, a mediator, a daughter, a sister, a neighbor and a friend.

As a storyteller Nauni has worked for the Peterborough Parent-Child Mother Goose program for the past 9 years. PP-CMG is an oral based program created by storytellers in Toronto and focuses on teaching parents stories, songs and rhymes in 10 week sessions. It is within this program that Nauni has been able to expand her storytelling repertoire.

As a writer, Nauni wrote one of the monologues for Mysterious Entity’s production of Skirting the Edge entitled ‘From My Rocking Chair on the Second Floor’. Nauni has read her poetry at a number of venues in and around Peterborough is a returning participant to the Cooked and Eaten Reading series.

As an actor, Nauni has performed for a number of different companies including For Home and Country, Two Rounds and a Square and The Cavan Blazers for the 4th Line Theatre, in The Enchanted Forest for R. Murray Shafer/Patria Productions, Skirting the Edge for Mysterious Entity, and Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel and Sleeping Beauty for Arbour Theatre.