Sandra Birdsell, President
Sandra Birdsell is a writer and editor of fiction. Among her books are the bestselling novel The Russländer, nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. The Chrome Suite, Waiting for Joe and her short stories, The Two-Headed Calf were nominated for the Governor General Award. She is the recipient of the Marion Engel Award, several Saskatchewan Book Awards, City of Regina, and the WHSmith/Books in Canada Books First Novel. Her books and stories have been published in Italy, Poland, Germany and Brazil. She is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.
Jeanette Lynes, Vice President
Jeanette Lynes is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently The New Blue Distance (Wolsak and Wynn) and It’s Hard Being Queen: The Dusty Springfield Poems (Freehand Books). Her first novel, The Factory Voice (Coteau Books) was long-listed for the 2009 Scotiabank Giller Prize and a ReLit Award.It was also podcast on CBC Radio’s “Between the Covers.” Jeanette’s poetry has been short-listed for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and a National Magazine Award. She has received the Bliss Carman Poetry Prize and the Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Prize. Jeanette has taught at the Sage Hill Writing Experience (Introduction to Poetry and Fiction with Robert Currie, 2006-2008) and the Banff Centre (Writing with Style, 2009). She has been Writer in Residence at Saskatoon Public Library and Northern Lights College in Dawson Creek, BC, as well as a Visiting Writer at the University of Manitoba. She is currently Coordinator of the MFA in Writing at the University of Saskatchewan.
Bernadette Wagner, Secretary
Bernadette Wagner is a poet and nonfiction writer whose work has appeared in journals, anthologies, and magazines and on radio, television and film, in schools, on stages, in the streets and on the web. She is a three-time Sage Hill Experient and a long-time participant in the Sask Writers/Artists Colony. Her work has been recognized with an apprenticeship in the Saskatchewan Writers Guild Mentorship Program for Emerging Writers, a Saskatchewan Arts Board Individual Assistance Award, and a Canadian Feminist Blog Award. this hot place (Thistledown Press, 2010) is her first book and has been shortlisted for a Saskatchewan Book Award.
Jackie Lay, Treasurer
Jackie Lay is a creative writer, journalist and a communications/promotions specialist. Most recently Jackie was the executive director of the Saskatchewan Book Awards. Her articles have been published in the Regina Leader-Post, the Regina Sun Community News and various rural newspapers throughout Saskatchewan. She has worked for the Canadian Red Cross, the Saskatchewan Publishers Group, the MS Society and for the TV shows Disasters of the Century and Crime Stories as a researcher, interviewer and field producer.
Dave Carpenter, Director
Dave Carpenter was conceived in Saskatoon and born in Edmonton where he grew up on Saskatchewan stories. He moved to Saskatoon in 1975 and began writing the following year. His recent book A Hunter’s Confession is the Saskatchewan Book of the Year 2010. Carpenter’s writing credo is as follows (and it may not apply to poets): Most writers must learn to make a pact with dullness. Not boredom, or lack of imagination or passion, but dullness of routine. Keep your daily appointment with the computer screen and keep your ass on the chair until you’ve reached your daily quota. However rich your inner life may be, seek also the dullard within.