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CURRENT EVENTS
274 Garry St. OPEN EMAIL
What people are saying: Kelly, you are one pure, unalloyed smart ass for the ages and I like that. - Jeff Monk
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Writer-in-ResidenceAqua Books is one of only two bookstores in Canada with a writer-in-residence program, the other being the U of A Bookstore. But I bet the U of A Bookstore doesn't have two spacious studios dedicated for such a purpose, do they? I thought not. (We have a third studio, the aptly-named Studio 1, which is rented out to a notable writer who has requested anonymity.) Bean
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Dana Bean grew up in small town Manitoba, starting music at a young age. She showed an immediate interest in the piano, often teaching herself her favorite melodies by ear. She started songwriting at age 11 and has been honing her craft since. Bean began to experiment with her live show, introducing backup tracks and live looping, giving her an interesting edge. Recent accomplishments include writing, performing and recording the music for the documentary Waging Peace airing on over 130 ABC-TV stations in the U.S., with planned airings in Canada in early 2012. Dana Bean’s first released single Secret Holiday was chosen as one of CBC Scene’s top 10 songs for 2011. Look for Bean’s first CD release in 2012.
Born to translator parents, singer and multi-instrumentalist Claire Morrison has always known the power of language. This 19-year-old performer, driven by her love of music and fascination with words, is proving herself as an evocative and passionate songwriter. Producing songs in both English and French, she is garnering attention throughout Manitoba for her compelling lyrical content and attractive melodies. She most often takes the stage as half of folk and bluegrass duo Fire and Smoke, with the pair representing Manitoba at francophone music competition Chant’Ouest 2011 in Moose Jaw. Watch for the release of their first EP, Maiden Voyage, in September.
Rob Fordyce is a visual artist and writer who wears corrective lens and has a deep mistrust of words. His work in video, installation and performance is an attempt to understand and to express empathy with the inability to understand.
Fordyce has studied at the University of Manitoba, Video Pool New Media Arts Centre and MAWA. He was a recipient of Video Pool’s New Artist in New Media fund in 2009/2010.
His current project explores aging, obsolescence and the use of surveys to pursue happiness.
Fordyce lives and works in Winnipeg. His work has been exhibited locally and nationally.
Keith Cadieux lives and writes in Winnipeg, where he grew up. His first published work was the novella Gaze which was released by Quattro Books in 2010. He holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Manitoba where he also received the Robert Kroetsch Creative MA Thesis Prize. Keith teaches English at the University of Winnipeg and will be working on a new collection of short stories while serving as Aqua Books W-i-R.
Marcel Desilets is a thoughtful and poetic songwriter with remarkably talented guitar fingers. Some of his songs are humourous, some are sweet, and some are downright cosmic, but all of them are loving celebrations of life. Marcel draws you in by his gentle way of singing and knack for pointing out truths in simple things. He adds to his poetic sense of lyric just a beautiful touch on guitar, giving way to original songs that come with over thirty-five years of writing.
Chadwick Ginther would enjoy Can-Lit so much more if it included even one dragon or robot. His story “First Light” is forthcoming from On Spec, the premier Canadian magazine of speculative fiction, and his reviews have appeared in Quill and Quire, Prairie Books NOW and The Winnipeg Review. A bookseller for ten years, when Chadwick’s not writing his own books, he’s selling everyone else’s. He has twice been nominated for the Harper Collins Handselling Award, winning in 2008. He lives and writes in Winnipeg.
Bowen Smyth is happily paying off three degrees that are still rolled up in their original cardboard tubes. He has been hired to write about the need for arts facilities in Ontario, social innovation in the non-profit sector, and anal sexual health for Manitoba’s queer communities. As the drag persona Owen Head, Smyth shared a Winnipeg stage with trans writer and activist Kate Bornstein. He is delighted to have a writers’ residency in Winnipeg at the same time as Ivan E. Coyote. Beware of the transgender takeover!
George Colligan is a New York-based jazz pianist, organist, drummer, trumpet player, educator, composer and bandleader. He was on the faculty of the Julliard School for two years, and is now Assistant Professor for the U of M's Jazz Studies program.
David Jón Fuller, Aqua Books Emerging Writer-in-Residence for
January, was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As an actor he has
been in multiple held-over plays at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, and
performed with two orchestras, including excerpts from Shakespeare for
the world-renowned Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra before an audience of
1600. In addition to writing hundreds of newspaper articles, he has
had fiction published online in The Harrow and in the bestselling
chapbook anthology Ten Best Pages. He’s been the editor of North
America’s oldest surviving ethnic newspaper, Lögbgerg-Heimskringla,
and currently works as a copy editor for the Winnipeg Free Press.
David Stubel is a long-distance truck driver who memorizes great literature at truck stops. An underground hero in Winnipeg's spoken word scene, David has performed at bars, bookstores, and as part of the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. Erudite and self-effacing, David Stubel is a working-class artist in the old school tradition of Rimbaud and Kozak. David is the January 2011 Artist-in-Residence at Aqua Books.
Jenny Berkel’s deep, resonant voice and truly poetic lyrics have been garnering fans ever since she started performing with her guitar three years ago. In that time, she has played with bands The Wandering Goose and Lady o’Lakes, toured across Canada, busked on the streets of Paris and Belfast, and been nominated for two music awards. This summer she released her first solo recording, Gather Your Bones. Jenny’s songs are both haunting and starkly honest, drawing their substance from personal experience and collective history, free of the all-too-easy cliché of folk lyrics. Her voice is also unique—deep and smoky, broad as the Manitoba prairie where she now lives.
Maureen Fergus is the author of funny, engaging books for young readers, including Exploits of a Reluctant (But Extremely Goodlooking) Hero, Recipe for Disaster and, most recently, Ortega. Her novels have been nominated for a number of awards, including Manitoba Book of the Year for Young People and the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children. Her first picture book is scheduled to be published by Kids Can Press in the spring of 2012. When she isn’t writing, Maureen works as a business professional, coaches soccer, studies karate, bakes and hangs out with her husband, three kids and the family dog.
Kerry Ryan lives and writes in Winnipeg. Her first collection of poetry, The Sleeping Life, was published by The Muses’ Company in 2008 and nominated for the Aqua Lansdowne Prize for Poetry in 2009. She has had poetry published in a number of journals, including Prairie Fire, Grain, Room, CV2 and Carousel. Her second collection, Vs., is forthcoming from Anvil Press in fall 2010. Kerry is Aqua Books Writer-in-Residence for September-December 2010.
Greg "Milka" Crowe has been a contributing member of the Winnipeg independent music
scene since 1992. After playing guitar in upstart local hardcore outfit
XchoplogicX, Crowe turned to the ska idiom and hasn't looked back since.
From 1993-2000, Crowe fronted local ska outfit Whole Lotta Milka. During
those seven years, Milka released two full length albums, Got Milka?
and Al's Diner, for Montreal-based Stomp Records.
After Whole Lotta Milka's departure from the Canadian ska scene in 2000,
Crowe established The Wedgewoods, a ska-rock group that released a self-titled record in 2002 on Bacteria Buffet Records. Also in 2000, Crowe began to play solo gigs, emphasizing the more traditional side of the ska genre.
After submitting three solo tracks (with full instrumentation – all played by Crowe himself) to Bacteria Buffet Records’ first compilation ‘Peg City Skank, Crowe formed a small band around his solo act to incorporate the full sound of the recordings to his live show. Greg Milka Crowe released his debut full length solo album, Bhakta Basics, on Bacteria Buffet Records in 2004 while continuing to perform and tour with The Greg Milka Crowe Band.
Crowe has since reformed the band to include not only ska and reggae, but also soul and rockabilly to present a truly diverse performance under the name of The Scarlet Union.
Today, in addition to teaching high school Music and History at Nelson McIntyre Collegiate in Winnipeg, Crowe currently performs, tours, and records with The Scarlet Union. The band has started to work on their first album, and is projected for a fall 2010 release.
hannah_g is a visual artist and writer who was born in Billericay, England, in the year Elvis Presley died. Her practice centres around stories and intervention in order to engender enchantment in everyday life. hannah is currently the programmer of the artist-run centre, aceartinc.
Gillian Sze was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her poetry collection, Fish Bones (DC Books, 2009), was shortlisted for the QWF McAuslan First Book Prize. She is the author of three chapbooks published by Withwords Press and her work has appeared in a number of national and international journals. The Anatomy of Clay, a poetry collection, is forthcoming from ECW Press in April 2011. She is also co-founder and co-editor of Branch Magazine. Gillian has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Concordia University and resides in Montreal. 
Rebecca Hiebert is a member of Stone Soup Storytellers of Winnipeg. She has performed at the Winnipeg International Storytelling Festival, the SUNDOG storytelling festival, the national storytelling conference, in schools, at the Manitoba Museum, and at other events throughout Winnipeg. Rebecca is a lively and energetic teller who knows how to connect with an audience.
David Robertson is an Aboriginal writer who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with
his wife and three children. As he was growing up, David became
acutely aware of the lack of accurate, comprehensive, Aboriginal
history being taught in schools. For this reason, he wrote The Life of
Helen Betty Osborne - to engage and educate youth about an integral
event in Canada's Aboriginal history. The first book in his upcoming series of graphic novels, 7 Generations, will be released in Spring 2010.
Carolyn Gray has worked in local theatre as a writer, actor, director, dramaturge, designer, educator,and puppeteer for over twenty years. Her play The Elmwood Visitation (Scirocco) was produced by Theatre Projects Manitoba in February 2007. The play won the Manitoba Day Award from the Association of Manitoba Archives, for excellence in archival research and being a creative work that celebrates Manitoba. She won the 2008 John Hirsch Most Promising Writer Award. Recently, her short story, The Stains, took first prize in the Marie Barton Postcard Fiction contest. She has written her first young adult novel, and is preparing her new play, North Main Gothic, for its world premiere with Theatre Projects in April 2010.
Julia Michaud started off her fledgling design career in the 80s, drawing book report covers with smelly markers for her artistically-challenged classmates at St. Ignatius School. This made her very popular. Julia joined the illustrious ranks of highly talented illustrator and designer graduates from RRC in 1999. Her first full job in the industry, doing black and white car ads at the Auto Trader, gave her the motivation to go after a more colourful position.
Marika Prokosh is a Winnipeg writer and English Literature undergraduate. Her poetry has appeared in juice, the University of Winnipeg's creative writing journal. She was an apprentice writer in the Sheldon Oberman Emerging Writers Mentorship Program (2004), and is currently a volunteer organizer for the Speaking Crow open mic poetry series.
Jaylene Johnson has a deep passion for songwriting and the power of music and lyrics. Since releasing her first record (Not Forgotten) in 2000, she has worked and traveled all over North America. She has received nominations and awards and her music has used for notable television shows like Dawson’s Creek (CBS/Sony) and Being Ericka (CBC Television). Jaylene's latest project, Happiness, will be released this year, and is her first record to feature a majority of co-written songs.
Sharing knowledge and skills is important to Jaylene, and with over ten years in the performing, creative and administrative sides of the music industry, she has much to share. She currently resides in Winnipeg, teaching high school English and preparing to launch her new record.
Tim Higgins was born into a Canadian Forces family during a posting to Washington, DC, and has lived in Winnipeg since 1952. His B.Sc. in zoology and graduate work in human genetics naturally led him to a thirty-year career in acting, directing and writing for television.
In addition to screenplays about the Northwest Rebellion, the Plains Cree and, most recently, the history of the Manitoba Telephone System, he was principal Canadian researcher for the nationally televised series, Empire of the Bay.
Tim has received two Manitoba Motion Picture Industry Blizzard nominations for screenwriting; one for an historical documentary, the other for drama. His first book, Dancing Backwards: A Social History of Canadian Women in Politics, co-authored with Senator Sharon Carstairs, was nominated for both the Margaret McWilliams and Alexander Isbister Awards for popular non-fiction.
His most recent book is the best selling Bears on Broadway: A Love Affair in Concrete. He has written and staged five Manitoba historical plays in the last decade and has taught a writing course on Creative Non-Fiction for the Manitoba Writer’s Guild.
Amy Karlinsky
is a writer, curator and teacher. Her doctoral studies at the
University of British Columbia in Art History were supported by a four-year
SSHRC grant. She has taught Theory and Criticism, Canadian Art History,
Inuit Art, and Writing About Art for Capilano College, the University of
Regina, UBC Continuing Studies, and the School of Art, University of
Manitoba, where she was a Visiting Fellow at St John's College and an
Adjunct Professor in Native Studies. Her curatorial projects have included
exhibitions for the Nunatta Sunaqutangit Museum in Iqaluit and the Quiet
Room Gallery at St. John's College. She co-curated wintercount, a public art
project by contemporary Aboriginal artists with Colleen Cutschall for the
University of Manitoba, as well as figure ground: paintings and drawings of
Ivan Eyre; and Head Space: Five Decades of Bruce Head for The Winnipeg Art
Gallery. Her art criticism has appeared in BlackFlash, Border Crossings,
Canadian Art, Études Inuit Studies, Galleries West, Herizons, Inuit Art
Quarterly, Queen's Quarterly, and the Winnipeg Free Press. Karlinsky has
written essays on aspects of contemporary art on behalf of The Marion Scott
Gallery in Vancouver; Women Artists Resource Centre and Open Studio in
Toronto; Gallery One One One, and St. John's College,University of Manitoba;
Martha Street Studio, Mentoring Artists for Women's Art, St. Norbert Arts
Centre, Urban Shaman, The Winnipeg Art Gallery and Video Pool in Winnipeg.
Karlinsky currently teaches literacy in Winnipeg's inner city.
Michael Van Rooy writes for documentaries, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet, and is the winner of the 2009 John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer. His first book, An Ordinary Decent Criminal, won the 2006 Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Writer, was a finalist for the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction and has been recently optioned by Big Mind Films to make a full-length feature film.
Award-winning young adult writer