Eufemia Fantetti was born in Toronto, Ontario and is now a Vancouver-based playwright and performer. She studied theatre and creative writing in Canada and the United States. Eufemia has worked as a journalist for L'Eco d'Italia, BC's Italian Language Newspaper where she created and regularly wrote the popular column Daughter of Italy. Her work has been published in the anthologies Contours (Irwin Publishing, 1993), Contemporary Canada (Prentice Hall Canada, 1996), eye wuz here (Douglas & McIntryre, 1996) Beyond Crazy (McClelland & Stewart, 2002) Concrete Daisy & Other Plays (Sears Ontario Drama Festival, 1991) and her produced plays include The Last Moon, The Waiting Room, It's All bthe Rage, An Italian Tale and selections from Couples, Singles & Other Freaks of Nature

Venera Fazio was born in Bafia, Sicily and now lives in Bright's Grove, ON. She has a Masters Degree in Social Work. She is the co-editor of the anthologies Sweet Lemons: Writings with a Sicilian Accent, Writing Beyond History, and Strange Peregrinations: Italian Canadian Literary Landscapes. Her writing has been read on radio, published in the anthologies The Many Faces of Woman and The Dynamics of Cultural Exchange and in literary magazines in Italy, Canada, and the USA. She is working on a sequel to Sweet Lemons. Venera has been an member of the Executive Team of the AICW since 1998 and currently volunteers as vice-president.

Sylvia Fiorita-Smith is the only member of her family that was born in Canada. As a result, she had to learn to live in a family of immigrants and worked very hard to understand how to live in the middle of two cultures. This lifelong journey has provided her with many enriching stories to tell and she is finally beginning to find the cou rage to share them.

She is a member of the AICW and the West Island Writers' Group. She contributed to two of their anthologies, "Winter Magic" and "Winter Memories", and was published in "Curaggia:Writings by Women of Italian Descent". She has been a guest reader at local coffeehouses and at the Salotto Letterario at Toronto's Columbus Centre.

She has been married to Ian for many years, has three grown children and lives in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. She attended McGill and Concordia Universities where she completed studies in Religious Studies, Family Life Education and Teaching of English as a Second Language. Her interests lie in journaling as a form of self-expression and therapy.

Cofondatrice des Éditions du Noroît (1971-1991), Célyne Fortin est née à La Sarre, Abitibi, en 1943. Diplôme d'infirmière en main, elle suit des cours d'arts visuels à l'atelier du Frère Jérôme. Après plusieurs expositions (1963-) elle publie de la poésie dont : Femme fragmentée (Noroît, 1982), Chanterelles (Lanctôt, 2000), Commandements, litanies et autres imprécations,(les Heures bleue, 2003), des nouvelles : Jours d'été (la Pleine Lune,1998), des haïkus :Au cœur de l'instant (Noroît,1986) et dans plusieurs anthologies.

Créatrice de livres d'artiste, elle a aussi réalisé des conceptions graphiques et/ou illustrations, participé à des lectures publiques et à un renku écrit à quatre écrivains intitulé La Corbeille paru sur la Toile. Elle a également publié soit des textes, soit des dessins, dans des revues au Québec : Estuaire, Possibles, Cahiers, XYZ, Le Sabord, Arcade, Urgences ; aux USA : Osiris ; en France : la Table Rase, les Cahiers bleus, Travers, Poésimages, RegArt et en Allemagne : Poésie Europe.

De plus elle a participé à un colloque sur Internet intitulé RÉSEAU (X), initié par le groupe Cuentos de l'université Laval, dirigé par Vincent Nadeau ; ce colloque a porté sur le texte bref (conte, récit, nouvelle) de langues française et espagnole. Elle est aussi membre de l'UNEQ, de l'AÉIC, de l'AAM (Association des auteurs de la Montérégie) et du RAAV (Rassemblement des artistes en art visuel).

Anna Foschi Ciampolini è nata a Firenze e vive a Vancouver dal 1983. Scrittrice di racconti, giornalista, traduttrice., scrive in italiano e inglese. I suoi lavori sono stati pubblicati in Italia, Canada, Stati Uniti e Australia. Co-fondatrice del Premio Letterario F.G. Bressani del Centro Culturale Italiano di Vancouver, è stata direttrice delle attivita' culturali e scolastiche del Centro stesso. Ha prodotto e condotto programmi educativi per radio e televisione di lingua italiana ed ha organizzato numerosissimi avvenimenti culturali. Ha vinto il terzo premio della "Settimana Italiana-Ottawa", il premio speciale Sommariva del concorso "Voci di Donne-Citta` di Savona" ed e` stata finalista del Premio Pietro Conti-Filef. Dal 2000, Anna è Presidente della Associazione Scrittori/Scrittrici Italo-Canadesi.

Anna Foschi Ciampolini was born in Florence, Italy and came to Canada in 1983.She is a writer, journalist, translator and has done educational radio and television productions. Anna writes in Italian and English and her short stories and interviews with authors were published in Canada, Italy, the USA and Australia. In 1996, she was awarded third prize in the national literary contest "Settimana Italiana Ottawa", in 1998 she won the special jury prize for the Premio Citta' di Savona "Voci di Donne"and was shortlisted for the "Premio Primo Conti". She is a co-founder of the Literary Prize F.G.Bressani of the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver, and organized the first and seventh National Conference of Italian Canadian Writers and since 2000 is the President of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers.

Pubblicazioni/Publications:

"Emigrante: Storie, memorie e segreti della buona cucina dei nostri pionieri" - Anthology (A. Foschi, G. Bitelli, 1985, Grandview Printing, Vancouver)
"Writers In Transition: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: The Proceedings of the First national Conference of Italian-Canadian Writers" - Anthology (A. Foschi, D. Minni, 1992, Guernica Editions, Toronto/ New York)
"Interviews with Mary Di Michele, Len Gasparini, Antonino Mazza" - translated from the Italian by the Author in the Anthology "Pillars of Lace" (1998, M.De Franceschi Ed., Guernica, Toronto/New York)
"Le Forbici" Short story. Third Prize, National literary competition "Settimana Italiana Ottawa" 1996.
"The Scissors" Short story. Translated by J. Pivato from the Italian "Le Forbici", in "The Anthology of Italian Canadian Writing" (1998, Pivato Ed., Guernica Ed., Toronto/New York)
"Una giornata come un'altra". Short story. Finalist, Premio Pietro Conti/FILEF Umbria Region, in the Anthology "Racconti dal Mondo" (1998, Edizioni FILEF, Roma, Italy)
"Starting at Square One" An interview with Antonio d'Alfonso, translated from the Italian by A. D'Alfonso in, "In Italics: In Defense of Ethnicity" (1996 Guernica editions, Toronto/New York)
"Passato Presente" Short story, in the Anthology, "Voci di Donne" (1997, Edizioni Comune di Savona ). International Literary Contest by the City of Savona, Italy. Special Jury Prize.
"Deviazione di percorso" Short story, in the Anthology Gola Gioconda, (2002, Edizioni Aida, Firenze)
" Conversazione notturna" Short story, in the Anthology The Dynamics of Cultural Exchange (Licia Canton, Ed., Montreal 2002, Cusmano/Canton Publishing)
"Il Profondo Sud nel cinema italiano anni '60" to be published in the forthcoming Anthology "The Challenge of Ethnic Minority Representation" (Cusmano/Canton Publishing, Montreal.)

Emilio Francescucci è nato a Guardiagrele, provincia di Chieti, (Abruzzo, Italia). Ha emigrato in tenera età in Belgio, poi in Canada. Dopo aver conseguito una laurea in pedagogia presso 1'Università di Montréal e poi del Wisconsin ha operato un laboratorio di diagnostica di problemi d'apprendimento. Ha insegnato la pedagogia all'Università del Québec e svolto delle attività di consulenza presso il Ministero della Publica Istruzione del Québec. Ha fondato nel settembre 2000 un'Associazione di poeti di lingua francese, il Carrefour de poésie de Lanaudière e ne assume tuttora la presidenza. Nello scorso anno ha publicato in francese una raccolta di poesie ÉCHOS DU SILENCE (Editions Carrefour de poésie Lanaudière, 2002) e ha vinto con questo libbro il primo premio di creazione e d'interpretazione letteraria del Consiglio della Cultura della regione Lanaudière (Québec, Canada). In occasione di una gita in Abruzzo ha publicato un libbro di poesie in dialetto abruzzese SERENATE A GUARDIE Dl GRELE, (Carrefour de poesie de Lanaudiere 2003) ed ha vinto il primo premio di poesia al concorso letterario della settiman italiana ad Ottawa, giugno 2003, con il poema "Luce del silenzio ". Emilio Francescucci organizza e partecipa a diversi " récitals " di poesia ed è membro dell'Union des écrivains du Quebéc, dell'Association des écrivains italo-canadiens (AEIC), dell'Association Littéraraire de Lanaudìere, del Forum de la population de la Régie régionale de la Santé de Lanaudière et del Comité Culturel de la Ville de Repentigny. Si passiona per la filosofia ed è sempre presente la dove batte la vita, fiammeggia il calore umano e canta l'amore.

Giuliana Gardellini was born in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, where she lives with her family. She obtained her M.A. in Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Bologna in 1994, and her Ph.D. in English Studies from the University 'Ca' Foscari (Venice) in 1999. In 2001, she obtained a two-year, post-doc grant from the University of Bologna, then another two-year grant from the Scuola Superiore di Studi Umanistici in Bologna (2004-2005). She has worked as a teacher, translator, interpreter and as a voluntary assistant at the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Bologna. She published a volume of criticism: The Silent Shadows of Language. The Poetry of Alice Thompson Meynell (Bologna, CLUEB, 2001) and a number of essays in the fields of English and Canadian literature (J. Austen, S. Beckett; M. Atwood, G. MacEwen, A. MacLeod , R. Mistry , S. Moodie, J. Newlove, P. Verdicchio). She has a fellowship for the Chair of North-American Studies at the University of Bologna and is doing research on Italian-Canadian poetry in English. She collaborates with the Centro Studi Canadesi "Alfredo Rizzardi" in Bologna.

Frank Giorno is the editor of the newsletter of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers.

Frank was born in Montalto Uffugo, Calabria, Italy, Feb.12, 1955 and arrived in Canada in 1959 with his family. Frank lives in Toronto with his two children Sophie and Giancarlo. He graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from York University and a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Ryerson University. He has worked as a journalist, environmental activist and government communications and media relations specialist including for the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, Region of Peel Public Works and Toronto Public Health.

His first book of poetry "Elvis in America" was published in 2006. His second "Arrivederci! Plastic-Covered Couch" was published in 2008. Both are published by LyricalMyrical Press, Toronto. Frank's writing has been featured in Accenti Magazine, The Ontario Poetry Society's Verse Afire Magazine and Garden Variety a collection published by Quattro Books.

Frank is very involved with heritage issues and heritage themes frequntly find there way into his works. In September he presented a talk on "L'histoire d'Italiens à Toronto" at L'Société D'histoire Française. His passions besides writing are music, movies, history and heritage issues, politics and sports. He is a founding partner in Fransonian Communications.

To watch video clips from Frank's past readings including, Montreal's Settimana Italiana (August 16th, 2008), The Ontario Poetry Society (Sept. 14th, 2008) and the Art Bar Poetry Series (Oct.21st, 2008) visit his YouTube site: http://hk.youtube.com/Giornalisti.

D. C. Iannuzzi is a Montreal writer and an unabashed news and history junkie. Having lived his entire life as a member of the city's north-end Italian community, he has gained a unique perspective on the political and language debate that has raged in Quebec since the 1960's. It is against this backdrop that in City of Sinners, his first novel, he tells a story of seething anger, broken dreams, and a lifelong search for redemption. Employing a writing style that reveals his shameless devotion to the film noir genre of American film-making, he brings the emotions of his narrative to the fore through his characters, setting, and tone. D.C. earned his MBA and Bachelor of Engineering degrees from Concordia University and, when he's not contemplating the darkness that lurks in men's souls, earns his living as an Investment Advisor. He currently lives in the former Ville d'Anjou with his wife and two teenage daughters.

Italian born, Isabella Colalillo Katz is a poet, writer, editor, holistic educator, translator and storyteller based in Toronto. She holds a Doctorate in Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at University of Toronto.

She is the author of two books of poetry Tasting Fire (Guernica, l999), and Light Remains (in press). She is preparing a new book of poems entitled, The Uses of Thorns.

Her poetry has appeared in magazines, journals, and in anthologies, including Pillars of Lace (Guernica, l999). Isabella has contributed diverse articles to journals and magazines on creativity, holistic education, new paradigms and culture. She writes science fiction and short stories. As a translator, Isabella is currently translating into English E. Vittorini's Conversazioni in Sicilia. She is a co-editor of a collection of essays on holistic education, Holistic Learning: Breaking New Ground (SUNY, 2004).

Isabella is a co-creator, producer of the award winning children's audiotape: Crocket, Carob and Crystals: The C3 Trilogy. She taught two popular writing courses at the University of Toronto, Personal Creativity and Writing and Imagination and Writing: the Writer Inside You. She also offers seminars and workshops on creativity and writing. She has given numerous poetry performances, workshop presentations and storytelling in Canada, internationally and on CBC radio. See: www.astralsite.com/Isabella.

Maria Francesca LoDico is a Montréal writer, journalist, and editor.

Her work has aired on CBC's "All in a Weekend," "Homerun," and "Sounds Like Canada" and been published in the National Post, Canadian Geographic, and enRoute. Her personal essay, "An Affair to Remember," appeared in Mamma Mia! Good Italians Girls Talk Back (ECW Press) and her short story, "Caffé Italia," appeared in Ribsauce: An Anthology of Words by Women (Véhicule Press). "Tarantella" was shortlisted for the 2002 PRISM International Short Fiction Contest.

As a food writer she has interviewed some of North America's leading personalities including Anthony Bourdain, Jacques Pepin, and Bob Blumer. She is a former food columnist and restaurant critic for Hour, a Montreal weekly, and the editor of the Montreal Zagat Survey 2006-2007. She also wrote the Dining chapter for Montreal: Unknown City (Arsenal Pulp Press) and co-created World Bites, a television series exploring ethnocultural traditions in Canada and the emotional connections between food and identity (produced by Copie Zero). The World Bites pilot, "Legacy in a Jar," which featured Marianna Simeone, was screened at What's For Dinner? The Daily Meal Through History, a conference held at the McCord Museum and co-organized by The McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. Most recently her essay, "Al Dente," was published in Matrix Magazine.

In 2002 she attended the Banff Writing Studio; in 2001 she participated in the Simon Fraser Publishing Summer Program.

In January 2007 she is leaving her post as the publicist/copywriter for McGill-Queen's University Press to complete a first book with the help of creative writing grants from the Canada Council and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. The Giants of Agrigento is a magic realist novel based on her childhood in Sicily.

She will also be teaching a course on writing the memoir/autobiography in January 2007 at Dawson College.

Maria Francesca LoDico
1120 Bernard Avenue, #10
Outremont (Montreal), Quebec
HV2 1V3

(514) 278-7367
flodico@videotron.ca

Darlene Madott is a Toronto-born lawyer and writer. Prior to entering law school, she worked on the editorial staffs of Saturday Night and Toronto Life magazines, and did occasional book reviews for the Toronto Globe & Mail. Her call to the Ontario Bar in 1985 coincided with the publication of a collection of short stories, Bottled Roses, Oberon. Her short stories have appeared in anthologies, including, Italian Canadian Voices (Mosaic Press, 2006), The Anthology of Italian-Canadian Writing, (Guernica, 1998), of which the story "Vivi's Florentine Scarf" won the Paolucci prize of the Italian-American Writer's Association, 2002, Curaggia, Writing By Women of Italian Descent, (Women's Press, 1998), Pillars of Lace, (Guernica, 1998),and Aurora, New Canadian Writing (Doubleday, 1978), as well as appearing in literary periodicals across Canada, including Canadian Forum, Canadian Ethnic Studies, Waves, Grain, Quarry, Wascana Review, The Capilano Review, Fiddlehead, Dandelion, ACCENTI. Her most recent book is a collection of short-stories, Joy, Joy, Why Do I Sing? (Women's Press/Canadian Scholar's Press, 2004), Other works are the film-script Mazilli's Shoes (Guernica, 1999), Bottled Roses (Oberon Press, 1985), and a first novel, Song and Silence (Borealis Press, 1977). A mother of one son, she continues to write and practice, primarily in the area of matrimonial law.

Elisabeth studied both Italian and French literature and grammar at the University of Toronto. Here she obtained an Honors Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education from the Faculty of Education. She has taught French and Italian at both the elementary and secondary levels.

Elisabeth's passions include reading and writing English, Italian and French poetry, short stories and essays. She has published a chapbook, "Nocturnal Laments" with Beret Days Press under her pen name Lady Elisabeth Viscount. She belongs to various poetry groups and associations which include the League of Canadian Poets, The Ontario Poetry Society, Canadian Authors Association-Executive Member, Vaughan Poet's Circle, The Association of Italian-Canadian Writers, Canadian Federation of Poets, The Writers' Circle of Durham Region, The Poetry Society, UK and Toastmasters International where she has shared her poetry.

Most recent publications include The Poet Band Company, the Ontario Poetry Society, Canadian Federation of Poets, Tertulia Magazine and Brindin Press, UK.

Egidio Marchese studied at Liceo Classico Galileo in Florence and graduated in Law at the University of Florence. He earned an M.A. in Italian Literature at the University of Toronto, where he took further Ph.D. courses in Italian and Comparative Literature and Literary Criticism. He has been a Lecturer in advanced courses at the University of Guelph. He has published many articles in newspapers and journals, including Italian Canadiana. He was the editor of “Bibliosofia - Canadian Literature” (www.bibliosofia.net) and he’s still a collaborator. He lives in Toronto.

Egidio Marchese ha studiato al Liceo Classico Galileo di Firenze, si è laureato all’Università di Firenze in Giurisprudenza, e in Lettere (M.A.) all’università di Toronto, dove ha seguito gli ulteriori corsi (Ph.D.) in letteratura italiana, letteratura comparata, e critica letteraria. Ha insegnato come Lettore in corsi avanzati all’Università di Guelph, Ontario. Ha pubblicato diversi articoli in giornali e riviste, inclusa Italian Canadiana. E stato direttore di “Letteratura Canadese e altre culture” della rivista online Bibliosofia (www.bibliosofia.net), dove collabora tutt’ora. Risiede a Toronto.

Corrado Mastropasqua, nato il 16 febbraio 1929 a Cimitile (Napoli), e' residente a Montreal. Laureato in medicina e chirurgia all'universita di Napoli nel 1953, e' stato ufficiale medico della marina militare italiana dal 1954 al 1961, anno in cui emigro' in Canada. Attore di cinema e di teatro, ha fondato il gruppo teatrale "Le Maschere" nel 1974, ed ha partecipato, come attore protagonista, a dodici commedie in italiano. Ha girato come attore sette films in francese e in inglese ed ha partecipato a vari serial televisivi, fra cui "Omerta'" e "Urban Angels." Poeta, ha pubblicato 3 volumi di poesia: Na Lacrema e na risa, raccolta di poesie napoletane (D'Alessandro, Napoli, 1969). Ibrido, (Guernica, 1988). Prova d'armonia, (Lisi, Taranto, 2001).

Ha vinto parecchi premi letterari, tra cui il concorso Ital Canada 1999 primo premio e Ital Canada 2000 primo e secondo premio. E stato primario anestesista dell'ospedale Santa Cabrini a Montreal dal 1967 al 1996.

Connie Guzzo McParland is a small business operator by day and a creative writer the rest of the time. She has just completed a Master's degree in creative writing at Concordia University in Montreal and a novel/thesis, titled, Girotondo. In 2005, an excerpt from this novel, Verso Halifax, won second prize at the ninth edition of the Premio Letterario Cosseria in Cosseria, Italy, and consequently published in Un Crocevia…(2005). Another excerpt, Deceptions and Floating Devices, was published in Writing Beyond History (2006). She has been an active member of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers since 2000 and is the current secretary. For the last three years she has helped organize various literary events in Montreal with the aim of promoting Italian Canadian literature. She lives in Montreal with her two sons.

Carmelo Militano was born in the village of Cosoleto, Province Reggio di Calabria, Italy. He moved to Canada with his parents at the age of two. He Holds a B.A.Honours in English Literature from the University of Manitoba and a Joint Master's degree in History and Political Studies from the University of Winnipeg as well as a Certificate in Education from the University of Manitoba. Carmelo has also done graduate work at Oxford University (Exeter College), U.K., and the Italian University for Foreigners, Perguia, Italy. As a writer he has worked as a freelance journalist and broadcaster for CBC Radio One and Radio Three. He has written numerous scripts for CBC including commentary on the 2000 federal election and hosting the national broadcast of 'First Call'.

His poetry has appeared in several Canadian and American journals such as Accenti, ARC, MIndcaviar, Prairie Fire, Shakespeare Magazine, and SlipStream. In 2002 he was the winner of the San Bernardo Literary Prize (Italy) for poetry under the rubric of Italian authors aboard. His collection of poems Ariadne's Thread won the F.G.Bressani Award for poetry in 2004. His art/poetry piece called 'The Mediterranean in a Suitcase' was one of fifteen exhibited at the Piano Noblie Gallery in the Centennial Concert Hall in 2004. The piece was also part of an exhibit at the Ken Seigul Gallery in Winnipeg.

Selected publications: Ariadne's Thread (Olive Press, 2004), The Minotaur's Keys (Olive Press, 2005), and Special People in a Special Place (H.J.M. Press, 1990), editor. He is currently working on his third collection of poems and a family memoir. Carmelo Militano works as a high school English and History teacher. He lives in Winnipeg with his family.

Born in Jelsi, Campobasso, Michael came to Canada at the age of five, among the early 1950s diaspora making more room for those left behind. A graduate of the UBC Creative Writing Masters Program (one of the first), he is a transplanted (originally from Montreal) Toronto novelist, short story writer, poet and playwright. Publications include two novels - Berlin and The Boarder - and two short story collections - The Formal Logic of Emotion and Hothouse Loves & Other Tales. One of his stories, “A Theory of Discontinuous Existence,” was selected for The Journey Prize Anthology, awarded for the best fiction published in Canadian literary magazines during the previous year.

His short prose has appeared in dozen of journals, as well as anthologies such as Event’s Peace & War Anthology, Telling Differences: New English Fiction from Quebec, Tesseracts 2: Canadian Science Fiction, the Collection of Italian-Canadian Fiction, and New Wave of Speculative Fiction Book 1. He has won numerous awards: The Solange Karsh Medal and Ottawa Little Theatre Certificate as first prize winner of the Canadian Playwriting Competition; the Macmillan Prize in Creative Writing; and a Canada Council Arts Award. He has also had several plays produced as well as a poetry chapbook and poetry in various journals in Canada, the U.S. and Great Britain.

Contact: mmirolla@rogers.com

Margherita Morsella was born in Duronia (antica Civitavecchia) and came to this country when she was nine (9) years old. With her family, she lived in the heart of Little Italy on Clark and Mozart Street in Montreal.
She first obtained a Bachelors Degree in History and Political Science and then a Bachelors Degree in Civil Law.
She is a member of the Quebec Bar since 1987 and has been practicing law for over twenty (20) years, her area of expertise is civil and family law.

She is Vice-President of the "Association of Italo-Canadian Jurists of Quebec". Recently (2007) she was asked to be a member on the advocacy committee for the Congresso Nazionale degli Italo-Canadesi and in December 2007 she presented a brief on Reasonable Accomodation, on their behalf in front of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission.

As an activist in the community, she was one of the founding members of the following groups or associations:
"Association de Culture Populaire Italo-Québecoise" in 1976;
"Centre des Femmes Italiennes" in 1977;
"Coopérative des Femmes Immigrantes" in 1984;
As well she was Vice-President for Quebec for the Association of Immigrant Women and Women belonging to a Visible Minority in 1991;

As far as her writing is concerned, she writes poetry as well as:

From 1976 until 1990 she wrote a column, "A Proposito di Donne" for the Italo-Canadian weekly Il Cittadino Canadese;

In 1990, She published an article in Affari Sociali Internazionali entitled "La Situazione delle Donne Immigranti nel Quebec".

As a member of the Association of Italo-Canadian writers, she organized the Salotto Letterario in Montreal for the year 2005-2006. Recently three of her poems were published in an anthology of Molisani poets. She is active and promotes literary and cultural events in her community.

Furthermore, she is a volunteer at the Montreal Women’s Center where she gives a legal clinic to women who need legal information as well as being a volunteer at Head and Hands, a community group situated in NDG which works with youth.

Art and literature come only after her passion for the law.

Born in Oregon, Peter Oliva was raised in Italy and in Canada. He has a Master's degree in English literature and has studied Japanese in Saitama, Japan. He has written for numerous periodicals, including Eyetalian magazine, BRICK, Canadian Geographic and The Globe & Mail. He founded Poetry in Motion (a program which puts poetry on Calgary's buses and trains), Wordfest (the Banff/Calgary festival of writers) and Pages on Kensington (a literary bookstore which hosted 600 author events in the six years he owned it). He is a past President of the AICW (2004-2006).

Selected publications: Drowning in Darkness, (Cormorant Books, 1993). Published in France (Gallimard, 2005) and Spain (Muchnik editores, 1996). Broadcast twice on CBC radio.

The City of Yes (McClelland & Stewart, 1999). Published in France (Gallimard, 2003). Winner of the Writer's Trust of Canada Award and The Bressani Prize. Both his novels were chosen as Editor's Choice by The Calgary Herald, The Edmonton Journal and The Globe & Mail. See also: www.peteroliva.com.