Upcoming Events

Colleen Winter

Colleen Winter is the author of The Gatherer series, a near-future sci-fi thriller. She is the former President of the Writers’ Community of Simcoe County, an alumni of the Humber School of Writers, the winner of the Leacock/Simcoe Erotic Prose Contest, and the winner of the Best First Sentence Contest at Thrillerfest. In a previous life she worked as a journalist and is now a communications consultant in the Ontario electrical industry. She lives near Toronto, Canada and spends as much time as she can hiking and climbing the beautiful places of the world with her family and her dog.

Kat Chabot

With an earthy vibe and calm demeanor, Kat Chabot brings a new quality to guitar-based folk in the 21st C. Her experimental tunings often serve the fundamental vibration of the instrument, while lyrics delve deeply into the essence of her Northern-Ontario mindset. Spending her youth working in a greenhouse, and growing up in a family band covering mostly RUSH and Journey songs; Kat feels most at home outside or onstage.

With her fingerstyle picking and smooth-as-silk vocal quality, audiences are mesmerized by each story Kat weaves. A typically noisy room often falls silent early in the set, as listeners tune into the magic of the performance. From showcasing at the Horseshoe Tavern performing with 3 uniquely tuned guitars, to recording live as a guest with Survivor Man Les Stroud’s band, and singing the Canadian anthem during the Vermont Expos Baseball game; her motivation and investment in mastering her craft is evident from the outset. You can catch Kat Chabot performing all over Ontario Farmer’s Markets, local festivals, bars and restaurants, either performing solo, or with Cardinal Street – a five-piece rock band.

Learn about Kat here and come see her live at Word Up!

Allan Briesmaster

Allan Briesmaster has been active in the Toronto-area literary scene for many years as a workshop leader, reading series organizer, editor, and publisher. The author of eight full-length books of poetry and eight shorter books, he has given readings and talks and hosted poetry events at venues across Canada. His newest book, The Long Bond: Selected and New Poems, was published last fall by Guernica Editions.

Elana Wolff

Elana Wolff is the author of six solo collections of poetry and a collection of essays on poems.

She has also co-authored, with the late Malca Litovitz, a collection of rengas; co-authored a chapbook of poems

with Susie Petersiel Berg; co-edited with Julie Roorda a collection of poems written to poets and the stories that inspired them; and co-translated with Menachem Wolff poems from the Hebrew by Georg Mordechai Langer.

Elana’s poems and creative nonfiction pieces have been published in Canada and internationally and have garnered awards.

She has taught English for Academic Purposes at York University in Toronto and at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

She currently divides her professional time between writing, editing, and designing and instructing social art courses.

Swoon is her sixth collection of poems.