Past Writers in Residence
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2011 Writer-in-Residence:
Wayde Compton
Wayde Compton is an acclaimed writer, poet and historian who has written three books.
Mr. Compton is also an English instructor who has turned spinning a turntable into sound poetry art, which he calls re-mix culture. Using turntables, he combines sound recording, audio collage, live mixing and other aspects of the recorded word as a means of creating and editing poetry.
Mr. Compton's first book, 49th Parallel Psalm (Arsenal Pulp Press), is dedicated to the memory of Emery Barnes and Stokely Carmichael and was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. This was followed by Performance Bond (Arsenal Pulp Press) and After Canaan: Essays on Race, Writing and Religion (Arsenal Pulp Press), which also received rave reviews.
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He also edited the groundbreaking Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature & Orature (Arsenal Pulp Press), which The Globe & Mail called a “treasure trove” and “valuable historical reference work that attempts to trace a cultural lineage for a population that has always been in flux.
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2010 Writer-in-Residence:
Spider Robinson
Robinson has written 36 novels, which have been published in 10 languages, including the long-running series of raucous tales set around Callahan's Crosstime Saloon and The Stardance Trilogy, written in collaboration with his late wife Jeanne Robinson. His short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies around the world. He has won numerous awards, including science fiction's top international honours, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, a Nebula Award and three Hugo Awards. In 2008 he won the Robert A. Heinlein Award for Lifetime Excellence in Literature.
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Robinson is also an accomplished musician, writing songs in collaboration with musical legend David Crosby and being accompanied by guitar legend Amos Garrett.
In 2006, Robinson became the only writer to collaborate on a novel with science fiction grand master Robert A. Heinlein, posthumously completing the critically acclaimed Variable Star.
Listen to 2010 Writer in Residence SciFi 101 podshop sessions online (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3) or download a copy of the 2010 podshop Chapbook.
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2009 Writer-in-Residence:
Ivan E. Coyote
Born and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, award-winning author Ivan E. Coyote is one of Canada’s most-engaging and beloved storytellers.
Coyote’s four story collections are Close to Spider Man, One Man's Trash, Loose End and The Slow Fix. Her novel Bow Grip won the 2007 ReLit Award and was named the Stonewall Honor Book of the year by the American Library Association. She has also won the Danuta Gleed Short Fiction Prize, been twice short-listed for the Ferro-Grumley Women's Fiction Award and in 2008, Loose End was a finalist for VPL’s One Book, One Vancouver program. Coyote is also a long-time columnist for Xtra! in Toronto and Xtra! West in Vancouver.
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While enjoying immense success as a writer, Coyote’s first love is live storytelling. Over the last thirteen years she has become an audience favourite at music, poetry, spoken word and writer's festivals from Anchorage to Amsterdam.
Coyote has taught creative writing at Capilano and Carleton universities and was Carleton’s Writer-in-Residence in 2007-2008. In January 2007, she was Artist-in-Residence at the Klondike Institute for Arts and Culture in her native Yukon.
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2008 Writer-in-Residence:
Caroline Adderson
Caroline Adderson was once hailed by Toronto Star critic Philip Marchand as one of the four most notable emerging writers in Canada and by Margaret Atwood as one of the country’s most promising women writers.
She is the author of two internationally published novels, A History of Forgetting and Sitting Practice, and a widely anthologized previous collection of stories Bad Imaginings. Her work has received two Ethel Wilson Fiction Prizes, three CBC Literary Awards and many nominations including The Governor General's Literary Award, the Rogers Trust Fiction Prize and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
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Her most recent work of adult fiction, Pleased to Meet You, a short story collection inhabited with surprising characters, was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Caroline is most recently the author of three books for children: Very Serious Children, I, Bruno and its sequel, Buno For Real. Caroline has also written for film and radio. Along with her many other achievements, in 2006, Caroline was awarded the Marian Engel Award, given annually to a female writer in mid-career in recognition of her body of work.
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2007 Writer-in-Residence:
Hiromi Goto
Hiromi Goto is an award-winning writer whose work has won world-wide acclaim. Born in Japan and immigrating to Canada with her family at the age of three, she is the author of four books.
Her first novel, Chorus of Mushrooms, was the 1995 recipient of the Commonwealth Writer's Prize Best First Book Canada and Caribbean Region and the co-winner of the Canada-Japan Book Award and her third novel, The Kappa Child, won The James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award in 2001. In 2003, Ms. Goto was selected by TV Ontario's Imprint as one of the top 10 Canadian writers under 40 worth watching.
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Her short stories, critical writing and poetry have appeared in a wide variety of publications, including Ms magazine, Nature, and the Oxford University Press anthology, Making A Difference.
She also co-wrote the script for the award-winning NFB short animation film, Showa Shinzan. Her most recent book, Hopeful Monsters, is a collection of short stories and her latest young adult novel, Half World, is now being promoted online with a book trailer and was released in January 2009.
As a creative writing facilitator Hiromi has worked with learners of all ages and has read and lectured at institutions throughout Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Taiwan, Germany and Japan. Currently, Hiromi lives with her family in British Columbia.
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2006 Writer-in-Residence:
Gary Geddes
Raised in the Commercial Drive area of Vancouver, Gary Geddes is an acclaimed and award-winning writer, poet, editor and critic, who has travelled extensively, published and lectured widely on Canadian literature. He has written and edited more than 30 books, including the bestselling Sailing Home, and more recently, Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things.
Gary is considered to be one of the most influential literary editors in British Columbia. His honours include over a dozen national and international awards, among them the Commonwealth poetry regional prize and the Gabriela Mistral Prize. Recently, he was Distinguished Professor of Canadian Culture at Western Washington University.
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2005 Writer-in-Residence:
Maggie de Vries
Maggie de Vries is a writer for children and adults and a children's book editor. Her book, Missing Sarah, was nominated for the 2003 Governor General’s Award Nomination for Non-Fiction, later winning the 13th annual VanCity Book Prize and the first annual first annual George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in BC Literature in 2004. She is also the winner of the 2006 ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award and 2007 Christie Harris Illustrated Children's Literature Prize for Tale of a Great White Fish.
Maggie lives in Vancouver, writing and teaching creative writing in various venues. She travels extensively, speaking at conferences and doing workshops and author readings for both children and adults.
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