bios

LITERARY BIO

PUBLICATIONS
Books
Ancient Light, (with Karen Curry), Anteism, 2017, Lyric Essay & Paintings, 84 pages.
The Discipline of Undressing, Leaf Press, 2007, Poetry, 100 pages.
Hannah and The Holy Fire, 2003, Oolichan, 2003, Poetry, 63 pages.
Transforming Abuse: Nonviolent Resistance and Recovery, New Society, 1995, Essays, 175 pages.
Chapbooks
The Green Room, Leaf Press, 2005, Lantzville, B.C., 31 pages.
The Letter Poems, 2000, Spinks Press, Gabriola Island, 13 pages.
Essays/Conference Papers
Imagination and Inquiry 1, Keynote Paper, Vancouver Island Haven Society, 2003.
Imagination and Inquiry 2: Keynote Paper, National League of Women, 2001.
More Than Suffering: Transformation and Thriving, Keynote Paper, BC/Yukon Society of Transition Houses Conference, 1997.
Nonviolence: Our lives, Our Work, Our Future, Keynote Paper, B.C. Institute of Family Violence, 1995.
To Live in Peace: Nonviolence in Families and Communities, Essay, Argenta Press, 1993.
A Full Circle: The Manitoba Committee on Wife Abuse 1983-1989, Essay/Archival Document, Manitoba Committee on Wife Abuse, 1989.
Double Oppression and Women: Violence and Sex Trade Workers, Essay/Archival Document, Manitoba Action Committee on the Status of Women, 1988.
COLLABORATIONS
Ancient Light, with painter, Karen Curry, 2017.
that thing in the heart, with composer & musician, Lee Pui Ming, Poetry Gabriola-Enisling, commission, 2017.
Foun10 of Uth, with Poetry Gabriola, 2016.
Ancient Light studio launch, with Karen Curry, painter, 2016.
Translations I, with Gabriola Institute of Contemporary Arts, Residency, 2010.
Reading with Marilyn Bowering, Gabriola Poetry Festival 2009.
The Liquid Art of Unlocking, with pianist Leah Hokanson, Lulu Performing Arts, 2008.
Let’s Meet Somewhere in Transit, with painter, Karen Cain, 2005.
Fire on Water, An Oratorio, with puppeteer, Odette Laramee, Cliff Performance and Film Production, 2002.
RESIDENCIES
Literary Arts Residency, Banff Arts Centre, Spring, 2014.
Gabriola Institute for Contemporary Arts, 2010.
B. C. Sooke Poetry Residency, 2001-2003.
AWARDS/HONORS
B.C. Council for the Arts Literary Grant Award, 2015.
The Discipline of Undressing was a finalist for the ReLit Award for Poetry, 2008; Vancouver Sea Poetry Festival, 2005; Poetry in Transit, National Book and Magazine Festival, 2004; Room of One’s Own Contest Award, 2003; Burnaby’s Writer’s Contest Award, 2002.
ANTHOLOGIES/ JOURNALS/COLLECTIVE CHAPBOOKS
Moving Small Stones: An Anthology edited by Patrick Lane, Who Comes, Jean-Paul, Firescreen Press, 2001; Poems from the Basement, Leaf Press, The Invention of Birds, Leaf Press, 2003; Masks, Leaf Press, 2004, Half in The Sun: An Anthology of Mennonite Writing, Room of One’s Own, Canadian Bulletin of Medical Journal, and Event.

 PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

  • Writing and publication, violence prevention, community development, social justice work, and clinical practise including program development, support and administration, trauma and critical incident recovery, nonviolence training, community education, strategic planning and review, policy development, mediation and mentoring.
  • Expertise in non-binary ethics, trauma response and recovery, social justice revision and poetics of change.
  • History of alliance-based activism, creative resistance, progressive leadership, diversity practices encouraging difference, radical love and alternatives to speed, stress and striving.
  • Rooted in community-centered ethos, transformation, peace, feminism and imagination.  International collaboration, inquiry, intervention, writing, feminist ethics and peaceful approaches to unrest.
  • Instructor at university, college and community levels.  Guest lecturer for Social Work, Literature, Philosophy and Women’s Studies departments on topics of poetics, imagination and inquiry, feminism, ethics, social justice and policy.
  • Researcher and analyst for non-profit and government institutions.
  • Publications include Transforming Abuse: Nonviolent Recovery and Resistance (used internationally in Bosnia, Ireland, New York, New Zealand and Australia), two books of poetry, Hannah and the Holy Fire & The Discipline of Undressing, collaborative art book, Ancient Light with painter, Karen Curry, numerous documents, conference papers, literary journals, chapbooks and anthologies. My writing continues to develop a wild ethic that protests indifference to both suffering and joy.
  • Masters Degree in Social Work, Cherishing Differences – Non-Binary Ethics, University of Manitoba, 1991. Bachelor of Arts, University of Winnipeg, 1983.
  • Collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects celebrating community and arts, most recent, that thing in the heart, with composer and musician, Lee Pui Ming.
  • Participation in direct democratic governance models of sustainability and land stewardship, most recent with Gabriola Commons, including development of a Community Commons Covenant and commonwealth resource sharing.
  • Clinical Director and Programs Manager at Haven Society and other large, progressive organizations devoted to providing safety and support to children, youth, women and men fleeing and healing from violence.
  • Past work includes Nanaimo Nonviolence Society, Brannen Lake Penitentiary, Evolve Domestic Abuse Program (Klinic), Manitoba Committee on Wife Abuse, Fort Gary Women’s Resource Centre, Manitoba Action Committee on the Status of Women, Private Clinical and Consulting Practise.
  • Mediator for Community Services, Arts Programs, and Educational Institutes.
  • Community Development and Nonviolence Training in First Nations and Rural Communities.
  • Organizer/Facilitator of numerous symposiums and seminars on violence and recovery, crisis intervention and prevention, colonialism, social change and alternatives to violence, principles and practises of nonviolence, individual and group counseling , community evolution, conflict resolution, ethics, poetics, health and renewal.
  • The ERA BC Community Service Award for extraordinary work within the field.