More About Me: The NoBull Version

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"Don't shove me into your damn pigeonhole, where I don't fit, because I'm all over. My tentacles are coming out of the pigeonhole in all directions."

— Ursula K Le Guin

In the course of thirty years working as a freelance editor, festival director, university lecturer, managing editor, acquisitions editor, clerk of court, bartender, janitor, and door-to-door salesman, I have acquired an Honours degree in Afrikaans and Dutch literature, and an MA in English and a PhD in English. It’s astounding what people leave in the garbage.

I wrote my first book when I was twelve. It was awful. I hope my writing has improved since then.

If you want to know more about my writing, visit my Blog, or browse my Bull to see what I’ve been up to.


Notable Achievements, Awards, Shortlists, etc.

  • Editors Canada Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence (Winner, 2013)

    Editors Canada Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence (Honourable Mention, 2011)

    Editors Canada Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence (Honourable Mention, 2007)

    Book Publishers Association of Alberta Lois Hole Award for Editorial Excellence (Honourable Mention, 2014)

    Book Publishers Association of Alberta Lois Hole Award for Editorial Excellence (Winner, 2012)

  • Alberta Magazines Awards, Feature Writing: Short, 2021 (Silver: “Writing Reconciliation,” in WestWord)

    Jon Whyte Memorial Essay Award for Unpublished Essays, 2021 (Shortlist: “Bird”)

    • Jury comment: “Comical, poignant and quick-witted with undertones of pathos, this essay has it all: tight prose, wicked dialogue, and highlight-reel comedic timing. Ultimately, Bird is a story about trust, empathy and the flighty bonds of connection, but also reminds us of the power—and necessity—of humor to sooth and entertain a weary and skeptical new world with a feathery and hopeful touch.”

    Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, 2020 (Shortlist: let us not think of them as barbarians)

    1st Runner-up in the Toronto Fringe New Play Contest, 2017 (Barbarians)

    Robert Kroetsch City of Edmonton Book Prize, 2015 (Shortlist: Unquiet Bones )

    IBBY / ASAHI Award for Literacy Promotion, 1996 (Thuli’s Mattress)

  • 2023: DisPlace: The Poetry of Nduka Otiono (WLUP), which I selected, edited, and introduced, won the African Literature Association’s Award for Best Book (Creative Writing)

    2017: Yale University Partial Scholarship to attend the Leadership in Publishing course

    2016: American Association of University Presses Residency Grant

    2004: University of Alberta Sarah Nettie Christie Travel Bursary

    2004: University of Alberta J. Gordin Kaplan Student Award

    2004: University of Alberta Dissertation Fellowship

    2003: University of Alberta Walter H. Johns Memorial Scholarship

    2003: Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship (Honorary)

    2002: University of Alberta Walter H. Johns Memorial Scholarship

    2002: Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship (Honorary)

    2002/03: S.S.H.R.C. Ph.D. Scholarship

    2001: University of Alberta Walter H. Johns Memorial Scholarship

    2001: Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship (Honorary)

    2002: S.S.H.R.C. Ph.D. Scholarship

    2002: University of Alberta Andrew Stewart Memorial Graduate Prize

    1999: University of Alberta Ph.D. Scholarship

    1989: Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa Master’s Bursary

    1988: Sciences Research Council of South Africa Master’s Bursary

Thank you for your work. It really made the difference for me. It was so kind of you to take it on and work so hard, to a tight deadline. ... My partner said, “I can’t believe how well you two worked together —without a process or history.”

— Ruth Hassett