Elbows up, p.23
Elbows Up!, page 23
JILLIAN HORTON is the author of We Are All Perfectly Fine: A Memoir of Love, Medicine and Healing. It won the 2022 Edna Staebler Award for creative non-fiction and is currently being adapted for television. She is a regular contributor to the Globe and Mail, the Los Angeles Times, and other high-impact print media, where she writes about subjects ranging from medicine to culture and politics. She is an associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Manitoba.
LESLIE HURTIG was born into a house of books and has worked in a range of senior positions across the Canadian literary landscape for the last thirty years. She is the artistic director of the internationally acclaimed literary festival the Vancouver Writers Fest.
JESSICA JOHNSON was born in Saskatoon and has lived in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. An award-winning magazine writer and editor, she has published essays, columns, and features in The Walrus, the Globe and Mail, the New Republic, and many other publications across North America. From 2009 to 2016, she was the head copywriter behind the international rebranding of Hudson’s Bay, and in 2017 became the first woman to edit The Walrus, Canada’s leading general interest magazine, a role she held for almost six years. In 2025, she released “What Should the cbc Be?”—the results of a two-year national research project on public media in Canada for McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology, and Democracy. Jessica lives in Toronto and Ottawa.
MARGARET LAURENCE (1926–1987) was a Canadian writer born in Neepawa, Manitoba. After graduating from Winnipeg’s United College in 1947, she worked as a reporter before living in Africa from 1950 to 1957, where she began writing fiction inspired by her experiences. Returning to Canada, she published works set in Ghana and later moved to England, writing five novels about the fictional town of Manawaka, based on her hometown. Settling in Ontario in 1974, she continued writing fiction, essays, and children’s books, earning two Governor General’s Awards and numerous honours.
JEN SOOKFONG LEE was born and raised in Vancouver’s East Side, and she now lives with her son in North Burnaby. Her most recent horror novel, The Hunger We Pass Down, explores family secrets and the ghosts we can never outrun. Her memoir Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart was a finalist for the 2024 Forest of Reading Evergreen Book Award and the City of Vancouver Book Award, named a best book of 2023 by the Globe and Mail and Apple Books Canada, and was a TODAY Show Recommended Read. She is also the author of The Conjoined, nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize; The Better Mother, a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award; The End of East; The Shadow List; and Finding Home. Jen acquires and edits for ecw Press.
CATHERINE LEROUX is a Quebec novelist born in 1979. Her novel The Party Wall (Le mur mitoyen) was nominated for the 2016 Giller Prize. The Future (L’avenir) won the 2024 edition of Canada Reads. Her latest work, Peuple de verre, a speculative fiction about the housing crisis, will be published in English in 2026 by Simon & Schuster. She lives in Montreal with her two children.
CANISIA LUBRIN was born in Saint Lucia. Living in the territories of the Gunshot Treaty of 1792, she is the author of Voodoo Hypothesis, The Dyzgraphxst, Code Noir, and The World After Rain. Her numerous honours include a Windham–Campbell Prize for poetry, ocm Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, Griffin Poetry Prize, Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and Danuta Gleed Literary Award. She teaches and coordinates the creative writing mfa at the University of Guelph and is the poetry editor at McClelland & Stewart.
ANN-MARIE MACDONALD is a novelist, playwright, actor, broadcast host, recreational hockey player, and proud Canadian. She was born on a nato base in the former West Germany to a Lebanese Canadian mother and a Scottish Canadian father, both of whom hailed from Cape Breton Island/Unama’ki. She grew up on the move as a Royal Canadian Air Force kid. Her writing for the stage includes the plays Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Belle Moral: A Natural History, and Hamlet-911; the libretto for the chamber opera Nigredo Hotel; and the book and lyrics for the musical comedy Anything That Moves. Her novels are Fall on Your Knees, The Way the Crow Flies, Adult Onset, and Fayne. She has performed on stages across Canada and in numerous tv series, including Due South, The L Word, and Slings & Arrows, as well as feature films including Better Than Chocolate and I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing. Her written work has been honoured with awards including the Commonwealth Prize, the Chalmers, the Governor General’s, the Quebec Writers’ Federation, the Dora Mavor Moore, the John Drainie, the Gascon-Thomas, the Canadian Authors Association, and the Canadian Booksellers Association; and, as a screen actor, she has been recognized with a Gemini Award. Most of all, as a veteran of the collaborative arts, Ann-Marie is honoured by opportunities like this anthology. In 2019 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of her contribution to the arts and to LGBTQ2SI+ rights. She now lives in Toronto with her wife, theatre director Alisa Palmer, with whom she has two children.
PETER MANSBRIDGE is best known for his five decades of work at the cbc, where he was chief correspondent for cbc News and anchor of The National for thirty years. He has won dozens of awards for outstanding journalism, has fourteen honorary doctorates from universities in Canada and the United States, and received Canada’s highest civilian honour, the Order of Canada, in 2008. He is the former two-term chancellor of Mount Allison University, now its chancellor emeritus, a distinguished fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, and is a member of numerous boards and committees. Peter believes strongly in the future of Canadian journalism and has personally funded major new programs at three different Canadian universities: King’s University College, Carleton University, and the University of British Columbia. Peter is involved with several projects and initiatives alongside his charitable work. He is the president of Manscorp Media Services, where his work includes documentary film production. In addition, he hosts one of Canada’s leading political podcasts, The Bridge, and writes the weekly newsletter The Buzz for National Newswatch. Peter is also the author of four national bestsellers: One on One (2009), Extraordinary Canadians (2020), Off the Record (2021), and How Canada Works (2023).
DAVID MOSCROP is a political columnist, commentator, and author of Too Dumb for Democracy?: Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of British Columbia, where he studied the psychology of democratic deliberation. He lives in Ottawa.
FARLEY MOWAT (1921–2014) was born in Belleville, Ontario. Following his service in World War II (1940–1945), he began his writing career in 1949 after two years in the Arctic, and travelled extensively across Canada and beyond, including Siberia. Author of forty-two books published in over fifty languages and sixty countries, Mowat’s notable works include People of the Deer, Never Cry Wolf, and Virunga. His stories and articles appeared in major magazines.
Toronto-born, Berkeley, California–based writer and musician PAUL MYERS communicates popular culture for a living. He is the author of the recent biography John Candy: A Life in Comedy, and critically acclaimed previous works Kids in the Hall: One Dumb Guy; A Wizard, A True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio; It Ain’t Easy: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues; and Barenaked Ladies: Public Stunts, Private Stories. Paul was an executive producer on the 2023 Canadian Screen Award–winning, two-part documentary series Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks, and is the host of the weekly Record Store Day Podcast.
CAROL OFF is an author and broadcaster. She is the former co-host of cbc’s radio program As It Happens, where she conducted more than 25,000 interviews over fifteen years. Before that, Carol spent three decades as a field reporter, covering events in Canada and around the world while producing news and current affairs for cbc radio and television. She is the author of five award-winning and bestselling books, most recently At a Loss for Words: Conversations in an Age of Rage.
TOM POWER is the award-winning host of Q on cbc Radio One, where his thoughtful and captivating interview style has drawn international acclaim. Since taking over Q in 2016, Tom’s ability to blend depth with humour has earned him multiple accolades, including gold medals for best interview at the New York Festivals for conversations with Michael J. Fox (2021), Bono (2022), and Mick Jagger (2023). A native of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Tom began his broadcasting career at twenty-one, becoming the youngest national radio host in cbc history with Deep Roots. He later moved to Toronto to host Radio 2 Morning, before stepping into his current role on Q. His work has extended beyond radio to include the national tv show What’re You At?, where he connected with Canadians during the early days of the pandemic. In addition to his broadcasting career, Tom is a co-founder of The Dardanelles, a critically acclaimed band that has played a vital role in the revival of traditional Newfoundland music. The band’s energetic performances and dedication to bringing obscure folk tunes to modern audiences have made them a cornerstone in Newfoundland’s musical history. Whether behind the mic or on stage, Tom brings his signature warmth and curiosity to everything he does—and when he’s not working, he can often be found in pool halls across Canada, trying (and failing) to improve his snooker game.
IAIN REID is a screenwriter and New York Times bestselling author of five books, including two works of non-fiction. His debut novel I’m Thinking of Ending Things was adapted for Netflix by Oscar-winner Charlie Kaufman. His work has been nominated for various awards including the Governor General’s Literary Award and Shirley Jackson Award. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages.
MORDECAI RICHLER (1931–2001) was a celebrated Canadian novelist, journalist, screenwriter, and editor born and raised in Montreal’s working-class Jewish neighbourhood. After studying at Sir George Williams College, he lived in London from 1954 until returning to Montreal in 1972. Richler’s work often depicted Montreal and Canada, blending satire, humour, and critical insight. He received numerous honours, including the Giller Prize and two Governor General’s Awards.
DAVID A. ROBERTSON is a two-time Governor General’s Literary Award winner and has won the td Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the Writers’ Union of Canada Freedom to Read Award. He has received several other accolades for his work as a writer for children and adults, podcaster, public speaker, and social advocate. He has been honoured with a Doctor of Letters from the University of Manitoba, and a Doctor of Laws from the University of Lethbridge. He is a member of Norway House Cree Nation and lives in Winnipeg.
NIIGAAN SINCLAIR is Anishinaabe from Peguis First Nation. He is an award-winning writer, editor, and professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba, whose first book, Wînipêk: Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre (McClelland & Stewart, 2024), was a national bestseller that won the 2024 Governor General Award for Non-fiction.
JESSE WENTE is a husband and father, as well as an award-winning writer and speaker. Born and raised in Toronto, his family comes from Chicago and Genaabaajing Anishinaabek, and he is an off-reserve member of the Serpent River First Nation. Jesse is best known for more than two decades spent as a columnist for cbc Radio’s Metro Morning. Jesse spent a decade with the Toronto International Film Festival as a curator, including leading the film and gallery programming at the tiff Lightbox. In 2018, Jesse was named founding director of the Indigenous Screen Office, and in summer 2020 he was appointed chair of the Canada Council for the Arts. His award-winning first book, Unreconciled: Family, Truth, and Indigenous Resistance, was a national bestseller. Jesse was recently named the Storyteller-in-Residence at Toronto Metropolitan University. His first children’s book, Danger Eagle, is being published by Tundra Books.
Various, Elbows Up!
