MA CRW Alumni Biographies

Meghan Blythe Adams was born in Coral Harbor, Nunavut. She completed her B.A. in English at the University of Western Ontario in 2009. She completed her M.A. in English in the field of Creative Writing in 2011, under the supervision of Jane Urquhart. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario, working on theories of the body and space in video games. Her work has appeared in Literary Mary and EnRoute, AirCanada’s in-flight magazine. She won the 2010 CBC Literary Prize in Short Fiction. She continues to polish Thieves of Dust, the manuscript written under Jane Urquhart’s guidance. She blogs about roller derby at http://thepaperecdysiast.blogspot.com/.

Graham Arnold is a graduate of the University of Toronto's MA in the Field of Creative Writing program and completed his mentorship thesis in 2009 with Michael Winter. He currently lives in Toronto where he teaches English as a Second Language. His work has appeared in The Malahat Review, Echolocation, Event Magazine, Ninth Letter, Asia Literary Review, and he has an upcoming story to be published in Glimmer Train. He has also been a finalist for Glimmer Train’s Open Short Fiction and Very Short Fiction contests, is the recipient of both a Pushcart nomination and an Ontario Arts Council grant, and has been a jury member for the OAC’s Writer’s Works in Progress Grant competition. He is now working on a collection of short stories about Japan as well as a novel set during the 1923 Tokyo earthquake.

Andrew Battershill is a novelist and editor. His first novel, Pillow, was longlisted for the Giller Prize and shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Award. His second novel, Marry, Bang, Kill, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2018. He was the co-founder of Dragnet Magazine and is the Fiction Editor of This Magazine. He lives in British Columbia with his wife, the poet and essayist Suzannah Showler.

Laura Boudreau was born in Toronto, Canada. She first studied creative writing at the University of Western Ontario, where she earned a BA in English and Media, Information, and Technoculture. She went on to complete an MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, where she worked under the mentorship of Michael Winter.

Her short stories have appeared in a variety of literary journals and anthologies, including The Journey Prize Stories 22, Canadian Notes & Queries, 10: Best Canadian Stories, The New Quarterly, and The Fiddlehead. She is the winner of the 2009 PRISM International Award for Short Fiction. 

The Toronto Star called Kerry Clare "a fantastic, fun new novelist on the Canadian scene" in its review of her debut novel, Mitzi Bytes, which was published in March 2017. Kerry is also editor of the acclaimed essay collection, The M Word: Conversations About Motherhood (2014), and was shortlisted for a National Magazine Award in 2011 for her essay "Love is a Let-Down." She edits the Canadian books website 49thShelf.com and writes about books and reading at her own blog, PickleMeThis.com. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children. 

Laura Clarke is the author of Decline of the Animal Kingdom (ECW, 2015), which was named one of the National Post’s 99 Best Books of 2015 and Globe and Mail’s 100 Best Books of 2015. You can find her poetry, criticism and other writing in The National Post, Hazlitt, PRISM International, Riddle Fence, Grain and The Puritan. She is the 2013 winner of the Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers from the Writers’ Trust of Canada and a 2018 writer-in-residence for the Al Purdy A-Frame Residency. She’s from Hamilton, Ontario and currently lives and writes in Toronto.

Jessica Druker is a writer from South Africa. Prior to coming to U of T in 2006, she received her BA in Dramatic Art from Johannesburg (University of the Witwatersrand). Her passion for South African stories, characters, and the tradition of oral storytelling and performance is prevalent in her fiction, which is primarily set in contemporary, post-apartheid South Africa. Jessica has a number of publications. Her short story, “The Broom Plant,” was selected for publication by Nobel Laureate, J. M. Coetzee, and appears in a S.A. Pen anthology, African Compass: New Writing from Southern Africa. Jessica is currently finishing a short story collection, and is half way through her first novel written under the guidance of her supervisor at U of T, Camilla Gibb. Jessica has a background in advertising, but is currently working for the coca-cola company in South Africa doing corporate communications.

Jonathan Garfinkel is the author of a book of poetry, Glass Psalms, and three plays, including House of Many Tongues, which has been produced in Germany and Canada. His Masters Thesis at U of T, Ambivalence: Crossing the Israel/Palestine Divide, was published in Canada, the UK and the US. His poetry has been published in journals across Canada and has been translated into Lithuanian, Spanish and Swedish. His play, The Trials of John Demjanjuk: A Holocaust Cabaret, was produced in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria and was published by Playwrights Canada Press (2006). Jonathan is currently a fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Germany, where he is working on a novel. He is a frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail and Walrus magazine. 

Spencer Gordon is the author of the acclaimed short story collection Cosmo (Coach House Books, 2012), called “startling and invigorating” and “Canada’s Most Underrated Book” by Quill and Quire. This fall, Nightwood Editions will publish his debut collection of poetry, Cruise Missile Liberals. Spencer is also the author of the poetry chapbooks Anno Zombie Dance (Emergency Response Unit), Conservative Majority (Apt. 9) and Feel Good! Look Great! Have a Blast! (Ferno House, 2011, shortlisted for the 2012 bpNichol Chapbook Award. He is co-founder and a senior editor of the online literary magazine The Puritan, and his other writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Toronto Star, EVENT, THIS Magazine, Poetry Is Dead, The Winnipeg Review, CNQ, and many other forums. He has taught writing across the city at OCAD University, George Brown College, Humber College, and with the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies.

Chris Gilmore is the author of Nobodies, a short story collection. He graduated in 2014, and his writing has since appeared in McSweeney’s, Hobart, The New Quarterly, Matrix, and The Puritan. In 2017, he won the U of T Magazine Short Story Contest.

Alexandra Grigorescu is the author of Cauchemar (ECW Press, 2015). Her writing has previously been published in Echolocation, Acta Victoriana, and the Hart House Review. She lives in Toronto.

Helen Guri graduated from the University of Toronto's MA in Creative Writing program in 2008, where she worked under the mentorship of George Elliott Clarke. Immediately following her degree, she went on to participate in a writing residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Helen has published widely in Canadian literary journals, including The Antigonish Review, Grain, Event, Descant, Riddle Fence, and others. Her first book, Match, was published by Coach House press in 2011.

Liz Harmer , a 2015 grad, is publishing her debut novel, The Amateurs, with Knopf Canada in 2018 as part of the New Face of Fiction program. Her short stories and essays have been published in This Magazine, The New Quarterly, PRISM, Literary Hub, The Malahat Review, Grain, Little Brother, and elsewhere; her book reviews have been published in the Literary Review of Canada, The Puritan, and The Globe and Mail. In 2014, she was nominated for two National Magazine Awards and won gold for Personal Essay. After a lifetime spent in Hamilton, Ontario and the surrounding area, she recently moved to Southern California with her young family.

Sandra Huber is currently working on a project of poetry in collaboration with the sleep laboratory at the Centre for Integrative Genomics in Lausanne, Switzerland (http://www.artistsinlabs.ch/english/program.php). She has published in various literary journals and read at festivals, including the Vienna Lit Fest and London Word. She was recently included in the forthcoming Ditch Anthology 4 "(innovative) (poets)" and her short story "Eels" was chosen by Dzanc Press as part of their Best of the Web Anthology 2008. Sandra has received funding from both SSHRC and the Toronto Arts Council, and has recently completed her first novel. Alongside writing, she spends her time curating an online journal of experimental literature, DearSir, which can be found at http://www.dearsir.org/. 

James Irwin writes songs, poems, and stories. In 2017, he completed a novel draft as the thesis of the MACRW program. His writing has appeared in some magazines and books he won’t mention—either out of shame or out of an objection to the etiquette of literary bio resumé listing. James has released five albums as a songwriter, the most recent two, Unreal and Shabbytown, on Montreal label Sainte Cécile. More here: jamesirwn.ca.

Kasia Juno is originally from South Africa and emigrated to Canada at the age of 13. She graduated from Montreal's Concordia University with a BA in English and Creative Writing, and was a two-time recipient of the Irving Layton Award for Fiction. In 2009, Kasia received the Quebec Writer's Federation prize for short fiction, and her winning story, “The Fox”, was published in Maisonneuve Magazine. Two of her plays, Kite Maker’s Blues, and While You Were Sleeping, were performed at Concordia’s Black Box Theatre in 2009 and 2010 as part of the University’s annual theatre festival. Kasia completed her MA in English in the field of Creative Writing at the University of Toronto in 2011, under the mentorship of Anne Michaels. She is currently at work on a novel.

Lauren Kirshner:  A finalist for the 2010 City of Toronto Book Award, Lauren Kirshner was also named Best Emerging Author by NOW magazine in 2009. Her first novel, Where We Have to Go (M&S) has been translated into German and Dutch, with U.S. publication slated for Spring 2012. Lauren is a 2007 graduate of the University of Toronto Masters of Creative Writing Program, where she was mentored by Margaret Atwood. Her fiction, non-fiction and poetry has appeared in Exile, The Hart House Review, Chatelaine, Taddle Creek, ELLE CANADA, The Globe and Mail, and many other publications. Her creative non-fiction work "Twenty Poems for Claudia," about the maquiladora workers of Juarez, Mexico, appeared in the acclaimed paper documentary, I Live Here (Pantheon). In 2010 Lauren founded Sister Writes, a creative writing program for marginalized women in Toronto. She was appointed 2011-2012 Writer in Residence for the County of Brant Public Library and is at work on her second novel.
http://www.lauren-kirshner.com/

Elin Hellmark Kristoffersson (play a lighter note on the ‘E’, you’re almost there) is originally from Stockholm, Sweden. She received her BA in English and Politics from University College in Cork, Ireland, and she graduated from the MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing at University of Toronto in 2011. She has worked for 10TAL Magazine, Sweden’s leading literary magazine and has recently and somewhat reluctantly moved back to Stockholm, where she is rediscovering the Swedish language. She currently works as a freelance translator and tutors inner city kids. She hopes to complete her first novel, Sags like a Heavy Load, before the end of the year. The existence of this novel is in part due to her fantastic mentor, Susan Swan, the tallest modern woman of the world, with whom Elin worked during her time in Toronto.

Matthew R. Loney returned from a three-year stint as an English teacher in Japan to participate in the Creative Writing program. His graduate thesis was a full-length work of fiction titled, The Tiger-Wolves Stop to Drink, written under the mentorship of the late Canadian novelist Paul Quarrington. He is currently at work on a collection of short-stories, That Savage Water, which is concerned with the politics of tourism in South-East Asia and the liminal moral and cultural spaces the traveler is forced to negotiate. Six of the stories from this collection have been published in Canadian and American literary journals and most recently in Delhi, India. "The Stampede" was anthologized in Clark-Nova's inaugural edition, Writing Without Direction: 10.5 Canadian Authors Under 30.

Kulsum Merchant received her MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing in 2007 and was awarded SSHRC funding during her studies. She also holds a degree in Communications from Concordia University. Kulsum worked in the Canadian book publishing industry for five years, primarily in the independent literary publishing community with ECW Press and the Literary Press Group of Canada, after which she returned to India, and became interim digital editor for GQ Magazine, and later, the head of external relations for McKinsey & Company in India. Presently, she resides in the United Kingdom, works in the professional services industry, writes for her own joy, and is currently completing a novella and a collection of short stories.

Edmund Martin Nolan is a poet, essayist and editor. He edits interviews at The Puritan, where he’s also published numerous essays, interviews and blog posts. He teaches in the Engineering Communication Program at The University of Toronto. Born and raised in Detroit, he attended Loyola University New Orleans and received his MA in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. His essays and poems have appeared in Arc, CNQ and CV2, among others. His long, illustrated poem about Donald Trump, “Great Again,” can be found here. His non-fiction writing focuses on literature, sports and music. His first book of poems, Still Point, was published with Invisible Publishing in 2017.

Rebecca Rosenblum graduated from the MACRW program under the supervision of Leon Rooke in 2007. She is the author of two short-story collections, Once and The Big Dream, both from Biblioasis, and the novel So Much Love (McClelland & Stewart, 2017). Her work has been shortlisted for the Journey Prize, the Danuta Gleed Award, the National Magazine Award, and the Amazon First Novel Award. She lives in Toronto, where she works in publishing, writes, and sometimes sleeps. Her website is http://www.rebeccarosenblum.com.
Her website is www.rebeccarosenblum.com

Annie Russell grew up in Portland, Oregon, and then moved to New York. She received her BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, and went on to work for a small design studio, a small magazine, and finally a small private school. In 2011, Annie completed her MA at the University of Toronto under the mentorship of Michael Redhill. Her story Heat the Woods appeared in the Summer 2011 issue of Brick Magazine. She currently lives in Oregon, where she is writing a novel.
 

Suzannah Showler is the author of the poetry collections Thing Is (McClelland & Stewart, 2017) and Failure to Thrive (ECW, 2014), a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Award and named one of the best books of the year by the National Post. Her nonfiction has appeared in Slate, Buzzfeed, The Walrus, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Hazlitt. Rose Ceremony, a book of cultural criticism about The Bachelor, is forthcoming in Spring 2018. She is a 2017-18 Presidential Fellow at The Ohio State University. She and her husband, novelist Andrew Battershill, will soon live in British Columbia.

Andrew F. Sullivan is from Oshawa, Ontario. He is the author of the novel WASTE (Dzanc Books), named a Best Book of the Year by The Globe & Mail, The Walrus, CBC Books, and The Writers' Trust in 2016. His short story collection, All We Want is Everything (ARP Books), was shortlisted for the ReLit Award for Short Fiction and named a Best Book of the Year by The Globe & Mail in 2013. Sullivan's fiction and criticism haves appeared in the National Post, Hazlitt, TIFF, The Globe & Mail, The New Quarterly, PRISM, Riddle Fence, Longform, and other publications. Sullivan now makes his home in Toronto.

Jess Taylor is a Toronto writer and poet. She founded The Emerging Writers Reading Series in 2012 and is the fiction editor of Little Brother Magazine. In 2015, her first collection of short stories, Pauls, was published by BookThug, and the title story from the collection, “Paul,” received the 2013 Gold Fiction National Magazine Award. She’s also released two chapbooks of poetry, And Then Everyone: Poems of the West End (Picture Window Press, 2014) and Never Stop (Anstruther Press, 2014). Jess is currently at work on a second collection, a novel, and continuation of her life poem, “Never Stop.”