Creative Writing Department Faculty

Permanent Faculty

Patrick Friesen, B.A. (Hons.), University of Manitoba, has published twelve books of poetry, two full-length plays, numerous radio pieces, and a book of essays. His most recent work was Interim: Essays and Mediations. He teaches at the Surrey and Richmond campuses. He’s been with Kwantlen for ten years. His particular passion is poetry, and within that, sound. His books have won the Manitoba Book of the Year in 1994, and have been nominated for the Governor General’s Award and the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Award in BC.

Patrick returns in the fall of 2006 after a year of educational leave working on a book of fado poetry.

Genni Gunn, M.F.A. (UBC), is a writer and musician. She has published seven books: two novels, two short story collections, a book of poetry and two collections of poems in translation. She has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize, the Gerald Lampert Poetry Award and the John Glassco Translation Prize. Her opera, Alternate Visions, will premiere in Montreal in 2007 (music by John Oliver). Genni most recent novel, Tracing Iris, has been optioned for film.Genni is off in the fall of 2006 on educational leave. She is working on a new novel.

Aislinn Hunter, M.F.A. (UBC), has published a novel, two books of poetry and a collection of short stories, all with Raincoast. Her work has been shortlisted for numerous awards and in 2002 she won the Gerald Lampert Award for poetry. She teaches in Richmond and Langley as well as online. Her novel, Stay, has been optioned for a film script. in Fall 2004, Aislinn was Writer in Residence at Lancaster University in England. Aislinn will be off for a year while studying for her MA (additional one) in Social Sciences and Writing.

Zoë Landale, M.F.A. (UBC), has published five books, with a sixth forthcoming. Her work has won significant awards in three genres: fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Most recently her poetry won first place in the 2003 CBC Literary Awards. Zoë teaches in Richmond, Langley, and online. Her most recent amusement is working as a lyricist with with composer Chris Kovarik. A number of their liturgical pieces have been performed at St Anne's Anglican Church in Steveston.


Sessional Faculty


Rodger Cove: B.A. in English, Simon Fraser University; MFA, University of British Columbia. Rodger began writing professionally in radio. Since then he has published short fiction, has had stage and radio plays produced, and has written eight feature length screenplays. A former editor of PRISM international, and a two time Praxis Fellow, he has also been a semi-finalist in the prestigious Chesterfield and Nicholl Screenwriting Competitions. He currently has two feature length screenplays in development with Mad Hat Productions and Rainforest Productions. Related work experience includes stints as a dramaturge, script reader, analyst, and story editor for Theatre Terrific, CBC Western Drama Development, British Columbia Film, the Praxis Centre for Screenwriting, and Movie Central. He now teaches at the Vancouver Film School and at Kwantlen University College.


Ross Laird, Ph.D. teaches creativity, psychology and counselling
at various educational institutions in Canada and the US. His
approach is experiential and collaborative, with particular emphasis on
creativity as an instrument of change. He is a clinical supervisor to
social service agencies, a corporate consultant in the psychology of
management, an award-winning poet and scholar, and best-selling author
of Grain of Truth: The Ancient Lessons of Craft (shortlisted for a
Governor General's Award). His most recent book, A Stone's Throw: The
Enduring Nature of Myth is currently in bookstores. A new book on
addictions will be released in 2007.

Jane Munro, M.F.A. (UBC), M.A. English (SFU), Doctor of Education (UBC) is a writer and educator. She has published four collections of poetry, most recently Point No Point (McClelland & Stewart, 2006). Her poetry won the McMillan Prize and has been shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award. She is also the author of an academic book and winner of the Wedemeyer Award for her research in distance education. Jane is currently teaching two online courses for Kwantlen from her home on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Billeh Nickerson, MFA (UBC),  is the author of The Asthmatic Glassblower, nominated for the Publishing Triangle Poetry Prize, and the non-fiction collection Let Me Kiss it Better: Elixirs for the Not So Straight and Narrow. He is also co-editor, along with John Barton, of the forthcoming book Seminal: the Anthology of Canada’s Gay Male Poetry.
 
Editor of Event and a contributing editor to Geist magazine, he lives in Vancouver, where he writes book reviews for the Georgia Straight and produces an annual event at the Vancouver International Writers Festival.




This page was most recently updated September 30, 2006