Rudy Wiebe lives in Alberta, where for many years he taught both English and Creative Writing at the University of Alberta. He has been a presence in Canadian Literature since 1962, when he published Peace Shall Destroy Many. Some of his books since then include My Lovely Enemy, Sweeter Than All the World, The Temptations of Big Bear, A Discovery of Strangers. He recently published Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest, winner of the 2007 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction, and Big Bear, in Penguin's "Extraordinary Canadians" series.
Wiebe was awarded the Governor General’s Award for fiction in 1973 and again in 1994. He was also the winner of the Lorne Pierce Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Canada for his contribution to Canadian literature in 1987. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000. His books and stories have been translated into nine European languages, as well as Chinese, Japanese and Hindi.
Wiebe instructed at the Canadian Mennonite University in 2007 and 2008.
Sarah Klassen (Poetry) Poet and fiction writer Sarah Klassen has published six poetry collections, the most recent being A Curious Beatitude (2006) and Simone Weil: Songs of Hunger and Love (1999). In addition, her work has appeared in literary magazines across Canada and in various anthologies, including A Capella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry (ed. Ann Hostetler, University of Iowa Press, 2003) and Waging Peace: Poetry and Political Action (ed. Susan McMaster, Penumbra Press, 2002). Her fiction collections include A Feast of Longing, published in 2007.
Klassen’s awards include the National Magazine Gold Award for Poetry (2000) and The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award (1988). Her editing experience includes Lithuania Christian College: A work in Progress (2001) and Poets in the Classroom (co-edited with Betsy Struthers, 1995). Klassen has taught high school English in Winnipeg and Brandon, as well as English language and literature in Eastern Europe. She has also taught creative writing workshops to adults and teenagers and mentored emerging writers through the Manitoba Writers’ Guild.
Klassen instructed at the The School of Writing in 2007 and 2008.
David Bergen (Advanced Fiction) Winnipeg writer David Bergen's many celebrated books include Sitting Opposite My Brother (1993), A Year of Lesser (1996), See the Child (1999), The Case of Lena S. (2002), and The Time in Between (2005). He has received the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, the Giller Prize, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, and been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. His latest novel is The Retreat (2008), published by McClelland & Stewart.
Bergen instructed at The School of Writing in 2009.
David Elias (Intermediate Fiction) David Elias lives in Winnipeg and his brand-new novel from Coteau Books is called Waiting for Elvis (2008). His first two books were collections of short fiction, from which his short story, “How I Crossed Over,” was a finalist for the 1996 Journey Prize. His novel Sunday Afternoon, published in 2004, was nominated for several awards, including The Books In Canada First Novel Award, The McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, and The Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Elias instructed at The School of Writing in 2007-2009.
Myrna Kostash (Creative Non-Fiction) Myrna Kostash, from Edmonton, is one of Canada's best-known writers of creative non-fiction. She is the author of All of Baba's Children (1978), Long Way From Home: The Story of the Sixties Generation in Canada (1980), No Kidding: Inside the World of Teenage Girls (1987), Bloodlines: A Journey into Eastern Europe (1993) and many other works. She has served as Chair of The Writers' Union of Canada, is the founder of the national Creative Nonfiction Collective, has taught widely, and been a popular writer-in-residence in many cities. One of her most recent works is the bestseller The Next Canada: Looking for the Future Nation (2000). In 2009 she edited The Frog Lake Reader, a collection of journal entries, interviews, memoirs, contemporary fiction, and eyewitness accounts of the 1885 Frog Lake Massacre.
Kostash instructed at The School of Writing in 2009.
Rudy Wiebe lives in Alberta, where for many years he taught both English and Creative Writing at the University of Alberta. He has been a presence in Canadian Literature since 1962, when he published Peace Shall Destroy Many. Some of his books since then include My Lovely Enemy, Sweeter Than All the World, The Temptations of Big Bear, A Discovery of Strangers. He recently published Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest, winner of the 2007 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-fiction, and Big Bear, in Penguin's "Extraordinary Canadians" series.
Poet and fiction writer Sarah Klassen has published six poetry collections, the most recent being A Curious Beatitude (2006) and Simone Weil: Songs of Hunger and Love (1999). In addition, her work has appeared in literary magazines across Canada and in various anthologies, including A Capella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry (ed. Ann Hostetler, University of Iowa Press, 2003) and Waging Peace: Poetry and Political Action (ed. Susan McMaster, Penumbra Press, 2002). Her fiction collections include A Feast of Longing, published in 2007.
David Elias lives in Winnipeg and his brand-new novel from Coteau Books is called Waiting for Elvis (2008). His first two books were collections of short fiction, from which his short story, “How I Crossed Over,” was a finalist for the 1996 Journey Prize. His novel Sunday Afternoon, published in 2004, was nominated for several awards, including The Books In Canada First Novel Award, The McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, and The Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction.
Myrna Kostash, from Edmonton, is one of Canada's best-known writers of creative non-fiction. She is the author of All of Baba's Children (1978), Long Way From Home: The Story of the Sixties Generation in Canada (1980), No Kidding: Inside the World of Teenage Girls (1987), Bloodlines: A Journey into Eastern Europe (1993) and many other works. She has served as Chair of The Writers' Union of Canada, is the founder of the national Creative Nonfiction Collective, has taught widely, and been a popular writer-in-residence in many cities. One of her most recent works is the bestseller The Next Canada: Looking for the Future Nation (2000). In 2009 she edited The Frog Lake Reader, a collection of journal entries, interviews, memoirs, contemporary fiction, and eyewitness accounts of the 1885 Frog Lake Massacre.