Patricia MacQuarrie is a professional writer with a degree in criminology, which greatly influences her writing choices. She has been a member of the WGA since 2007 and a member of the WGA board since 2008. She is also a member of the Writer’s Union of Canada and the Creative Nonfiction Collective. She has been published by the CBC and The Globe and Mail as well as a true crime book with Quagmire Press, Deadly Canadian Women.  She works from home where she writes, edits, and works with organizations on contract proposals and final reports.

Julie Sedivy is a citizen of three nations (Canada, Czech Republic and the U.S.A.), and moved to Calgary in 2008 from Rhode Island, where she was an Associate Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences at Brown University.  She is the lead author of a forthcoming popular science book (Sold on Language: How Advertisers Talk to You and What It Says About You, to be published by John Wiley & Sons).   Having recently left full-time academic life to focus on writing, her ambitions span the entire range from scholarly to literary.  She holds an adjunct appointment at the University of Calgary, where she teaches courses on language and persuasion, and is currently at work on a textbook on the psychology of language, as well as a collection of poetry (Behind the Sacristy). 

David Richardson, a Chartered Accountant in Grande Prairie, has been actively involved in many not for profits as a board member, treasurer and president, with such diverse groups as SPCA, Prairie Art Gallery, Safe Communities and Rotary. He has in the last ten years been in three stage productions and has worked more than 500 hours as a freight train conductor based out of Grande Prairie. He has a large collection of Canadian Railway publications from the mid nineteenth century to current and loves to travel.

Rosemary Griebel, BA, MA, MLS, is a writer, librarian and community activist. She has worked at Calgary Public Library (CPL) for the past 20 years in a variety of roles including Manager of the Humanities Department where she was responsible for organizing literary events and developing collections that supported the work of the writing community. Currently, she is CPL’s special projects librarian and is involved in planning, research and advocacy. Her poetry has been published in various media including CBC Radio, on buses, anthologies, literary magazines, and chapbooks. Yes, a full-length book of poetry will be published in April 2011. She is passionate about words, community and the land.

Audrey Seehagen has been a Board Member for the Writers Guild of Alberta since 2006. She brings 25+ years of business communications experience to the Board from within the Oil and Gas Industry, the Federal Government, Alberta Health - Capital Region, and the University of Alberta. Her work in communications is in: administration, research, knowledge translation, project management, public relations, product development, team developing, scientific writing, and editing. Audrey also writes short stories and poetry. She believes that each person has something profound to say, and that through association with groups such as the Writers Guild of Alberta, opportunities become visible.

Leslie Greentree, Red Deer

Leslie Greentree’s second book of poetry, go-go dancing for Elvis, was short-listed for the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2004. Her poetry and short fiction has won several CBC competitions, and has appeared internationally in the New York Times and the London Sunday Times. Her short fiction collection A Minor Planet for You won the 2007 Howard O’Hagan Award. In 2008, Leslie was awarded a City of Red Deer Mayor’s Recognition Award for Fine and Performing Arts. She is currently completing another collection of short fiction before moving on to a novel.

Jen Kunlire is an avid supporter of community and strength in numbers. In the past 3 years she has been involved in numerous Spoken Word projects and events. Some include, winner of the 2009 CBC Poetry Face-Off for Calgary, performance in the Calgary International Spoken Festival 2009 & 2010. Jen currently sits on the Board for Spoken Word Canada (SpoCan) as the Calgary rep and has slammed at the National level with the Calgary Slam Team in 08/09.Her poetry has appeared in numerous recordings and she has self published 3 chapbooks, her most recent being Critical Condition, 2010 Humblelinepress. Currently, she is planning a Canadian Tour and working on her 1st Manuscript.

Teresa Wouters has been a 'practicing' author for thirty years. While working on writing projects, Teresa leads a Young Author's Club and the Cygnets Writers Group.  She teaches English at the Grande Prairie College. She won several speech contests through Toastmasters; she had a poem and an award winning short story published; she was also a finalist in the Writers Union of Canada - Children’s Story Contest. Teresa is a board member for the Grande Prairie Theatre and for the Peace Regional Cultural Industry Coalition. Next July, Teresa will pursue a Masters in Fine Arts degree for Creative Writing. Teresa’s experiences, as a writer and board member, will be an asset to the WGA.  She believes in promoting and supporting both ‘practicing’ and professional authors.

Dianne Linden’s poetry, essays and short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals and have been anthologized in Canada, Britain and the US. She is co-editor of Running Barefoot: Women Write the Land, an anthology of women’s writing.  Her first young adult novel, Peacekeepers, was short-listed for the R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature and the Red Maple Young Reader’s Choice Award. Her second, Shimmerdogs, was a finalist for the 2008 Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature and also for the R. Ross Annett Award. Dianne lives and writes in Edmonton.