2024 Winterset Bios

ANGELA ANTLE is a writer, artist, and producer based in St. John’s. Her work has been recognized by the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Atlantic Journalism Awards, The New York Festivals, Gabriels, and Gracie Allen Awards as well as Berlinale, Dublin, Nickel, and Wexford Film Festivals. She is currently completing an interdisciplinary PhD in energy humanities at Memorial University and her debut novel will be published by Breakwater Books in 2025.

HEATHER BARRETT is a veteran journalist and storyteller. She is the host and producer of Weekend AM on CBC Radio across Newfoundland and Labrador. Her work has been aired on many national and local CBC radio/audio programs and her radio documentaries have received international awards. She is the co-author, with Xaiver Michael Campbell, of Black Harbour: Slavery and the Forgotten Histories of Black People in Newfoundland and Labrador, published by Boulder Books. Heather lives in St. John’s with her family. In her spare time, she knits and runs, but not at the same time. 

TED BLADES is a Happily-retired journalist and longest-serving host of CBC Radio’s afternoon show, “On The Go”. Three-time finalist at the New York Festivals International Radio Competition and Gold Medal winner in 2015 for best interview. Winner of the inaugural Atlantic Journalism Award for best podcast, in 2017. 

MICHAEL CRUMMEY is the author of 13 books of poetry and fiction. His most recent poetry collection is Passengers (Anansi 2022). The Adversary, his latest novel, was published in 2023. It was this year’s finalist for the BMO-Winterset Award. Michael lives in St. John’s with the writer and wildlife biologist, Holly Hogan.

PATRICK DEWITT is the author of the novels French Exit (an international bestseller and a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize), The Sisters Brothers (winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and a finalist for the Booker Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize), and the critically acclaimed Undermajordomo Minor and Ablutions. Born in British Columbia, he now resides in Portland, Oregon.

MARJORI DOYLE has published five books of non-fiction. Her columns and essays have appeared in the Globe and Mail, Ottawa Citizen, National Post, Fiddlehead, Geist, Calgary Herald, Queen’s Quarterly, Antigonish Review. Her broadcast career included hosting the national CBC radio show That Time of the Night. Marjorie has been awarded a National Magazine Award, two CBC Radio Awards for Programming Excellence as well as a Golden Sheaf nomination for the documentary Regarding Our Father. As a musician, she was the first female member of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment Band.  A former Chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada, she has read across Canada and was writer-in-residence at Haig Brown House on Vancouver Island.

DANINE FARQUHARSON is Professor of English at Memorial University. She regularly freezes up whenever students ask her what her favourite book is, so she’s thrilled to be part of Winterset in the Summer 2024 in order to find some great answers to that question.

JAMIE FITZPATRICK is a writer and broadcaster in St. John’s, and a member of the Port Authority writing group. He is the author of the novels The End of Music, and You Could Believe in Nothing, which won the Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers in Newfoundland and Labrador.

ROSALIND GILL grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland, where she attended Memorial University before going on to do graduate work at McGill. She is presently a Senior Scholar in French and Translation at Glendon College, York University. She writes fiction and as well, is a literary translator. Her work has appeared in various Canadian literary reviews. She has published two short story collections, Too Unspeakable for Words (Breakwater Books, 2017) and Face into the Wind (Mosaic Press, 2023.)  As well, she has published several books in translation from French and Spanish, including a book of Cuban poems which she selected and translated. Over the years, she has volunteered her translation services to human rights organizations such as Rights Action and PEN Canada. She lives in Toronto but has maintained close contact with her native isle.

NOREEN GOLFMAN is Professor Emerita, Department of English, Memorial University. In retirement she is happily busy with many arts-based projects.

JENNIFER GUY was part of a small team of Toronto based women organized by Richard Gwyn to raise funds for the Winterset Award (now the BMO Winterset Award) a quarter of a century ago. She then joined the team which founded the Winterset in Summer Literary Festival. She served as Board member and remains an engaged supporter of the festival. She is thrilled to see the growth and continued success of all events associated with Winterset.

MIKE HEFFERNAN was born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He is the author of the national bestseller Rig: An Oral History of the Ocean Ranger Disaster and The Other Side of Midnight: Taxicab Stories. Rig was originally adapted to the stage by Rising Tide Theatre and the following year had a sold out run at the Arts and Culture Centre. In 2023, Rig was presented by RCA Theatre at the LSPU Hall. Let It All Fall: Underground Music and the Culture of Rebellion in Newfoundland, 1977-95 is his latest book. Mike’s essays have appeared in Riddle Fence, This Magazine, Geist, The Newfoundland Quarterly, Our Times and have been performed on CBC Radio. He’s currently working on a book about the Dana Bradley murder investigation, which will be adapted to the stage.

KATE HILTON is the bestselling author of three novels: The Hole in the Middle, Just like Family and Better Luck Next Time. When not writing, Kate works with psychotherapy and life coaching clients in the area of transformational change.

HOLLY HOGAN is a writer and wildlife biologist with a focus on seabirds. During her
more than thirty years as a scientist, she has spent about a thousand days at sea
conducting avian and marine mammal surveys and providing educational programming
with expedition teams. Her work has taken her to the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans, and
every latitude in between. She has been interviewed for CBC Radio, appears in a
National Film Board series called Ocean School, and provided expertise on seabirds
and the impact of marine plastic for the award-winning documentary Hell or Clean
Water (2021). Her book Message in a Bottle: Ocean Dispatches from a Seabird
Biologist was short-listed for the 2023 Governor-General’s Award for non-fiction and
winter of the 2023 BMO Winterset Award. Holly is a mother of three and lives in St.
John’s, Newfoundland with her husband Michael, and an assortment of cats and dogs,
depending on the day.

ANDY JONES (actor, writer, director) was born and lives in St. John’s Newfoundland. There, he worked at the Resource Centre for The Arts at The L.S.P.U. Hall where he co-wrote, acted in, and directed many original productions. He worked with the well-known Newfoundland Comedy troupe CODCO in its theatrical form from 1974 to 1976; and in its television format from 1986 to 1991. He has performed in theatre productions across Canada and has also written, and performed his six one-man shows: Out of the Bin (National Tour 1984-85), Still Alive (National Tour 1994-95), King O’Fun (St. John’s, Halifax, Yukon, BC and Alberta), To the Wall (National Tour 2002; as well as Glasgow, Scotland, Waterford, Ireland (2005) and Tasmania (2007), An Evening With Uncle Val, and Don’t Give Up on Me Dad (St. John’s 2023.) His puppet show The Queen of Paradise’s Garden (co-created with Darka Erdelji) has toured extensively to theatres and schools across this province and on the Canadian mainland. His one-act play Albert has been performed in St. John’s and at the Rhubarb Festival in Toronto as well as being made into a half-hour film and being published in Contemporary Newfoundland Plays, Volume 2, a Playwrights Canada/Breakwater publication.  Running the Goat Books and Broadsides has published his seven children’s books based on Newfoundland folk tales. Boulder books has published his adaptation of Moliere’s Tartuffe.

ROSEMARY LAWTON is a decorated artist with MusicNL wins and ECMA nominations to her credit. She is no stranger to crafting an emotionally beautiful and soul-stirring tune. A classically trained violinist, with her roots firmly set in Newfoundland soil, Rosemary’s determination to learn and grow in her traditional heritage has taken her on a unique journey that has shaped her as a violinist, singer, songwriter, and storyteller.

Her latest album “Canvas” is Rosemary’s first complete album of original music. The songs cover topics of love, loss, empowerment, and positivity. In previous projects, her music has been a hybrid of both classical and traditional genres. Recently, Rosemary was able to contribute to Tony Award-Winning Broadway Musical “Come From Away’s” latest album “Covers From Away,” in which, she had the opportunity to work with the writers of the musical to arrange a new version of the song “I am Here.” In her album’s “Untamed,” “Fierce,” and her song book “Resilience,” Rosemary explores traditional Newfoundland and Labrador songs that focus on tales of empowering women. Through these projects, Rosemary’s research is helping to bring female empowerment to the forefront of Newfoundland tradition.

Rosemary is also a music educator, and focuses on bringing traditional music into schools, and advocating for marginalized groups through her work. Through her creativity, and positivity, Rosemary is helping to enrich her community, and help make the world a better place one song at a time.

LISA MOORE is the author of the novels, Alligator, February, Caught, This is How We Love and the young adult novel Flannery. She has also written the story collections Degrees of Nakedness, Open, and Something For Everyone. She has co-written a work of creative non-fiction, along with Jack Whalen, called Invisible Prisons, forthcoming September, 2024 with Knopf. Lisa has edited several story anthologies and co-edited two collections of scholarly essays. Her work has been translated in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Turkish and Greek.  She loves teaching creative writing. 

WILLIAM PING is a novelist and journalist, born and raised in St. John’s. His debut novel Hollow Bamboo was published by HarperCollins in 2023 and was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and longlisted for the 2024 Dublin Literary Award. He has previously been published in ‘Us, Now,’ Hard Ticket and Riddle Fence. William is also known for his contributions to CBC News, where he can most often be heard reading the news. William is a Fellow of MUN’s School of Graduate Studies and has been the recipient of MUN’s Thesis Excellence Award, the Cox and Palmer Creative Writing Award, and the Landfall Trust Award.

MICHELLE PORTER is the descendent of Métis musicians from the prairies. Her first novel, A Grandmother Begins the Story (2023), was shortlisted for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. She’s the author of two nonfiction books, Approaching Fire and Scratching River, and one book of poetry, Inquiries. Currently, she lives in Newfoundland and Labrador where she teaches creative writing. 

ELIZABETH RENZETTI is the author of the essay collection Shrewed: A Wry and Closely Observed Look at the Lives of Women and Girls and the novel Based on a True Story. In 2020, she won the Landsberg Award for her reporting on gender equality.

CLAYTON B. SMITH is a writer from outport Newfoundland, currently residing in St. John’s. He has a joint honours degree in English and philosophy and a diploma in creative writing from Memorial University. His writing has appeared in various literary magazines, including Riddle Fence and Paragon. A Seal of Salvage is Clayton’s first novel, and he is currently in the process of writing his second book which is set to be published by Breakwater in 2026. Clayton’s life revolves around people, pints, and prose, in no particular order.

Aritha van Herk (CM, AOE, FRSC) is the author of five novels, Judith, The Tent Peg, No
Fixed Address, Places Far From Ellesmere, and Restlessness. Her irreverent but relevant
history, Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta framed a major exhibition at the Glenbow
Museum in Calgary; most recently, Stampede and the Westness of West examines the mythology
of the west. She has published hundreds of stories, articles, reviews, and essays, and serves as the
Series Editor for Brave and Brilliant, the Creative Imprint of the University of Calgary Press.
She is a Member of the Order of Canada, a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence, a Fellow
of the Glenbow Museum, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

ANUJA VARGHESE is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in Hobart, the Malahat Review, the Fiddlehead, Plenitude Magazine, and others. Her stories have been recognized in the PRISM International Short Fiction Contest and the Alice Munro Festival Short Story Competition and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario. Chrysalis is her first book.

ZOE WHITTALL’s most recent novel, The Fake, was an instant bestseller. Her fourth novel, The Spectacular, was described by the New York Times as “a highly readable testament to the strength of the maternal bond” and by the Toronto Star as “a singularly impressive piece of fiction.” Her third novel, The Best Kind of People, was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. It was also Indigo’s #1 Book of 2016 and was named a best book of the year by the Walrus, Toronto Life, the Globe & Mail and the National Post. Her second novel, Holding Still for as Long as Possible, won a Lambda Literary Award and was a Stonewall Honor Book. Her debut novel, Bottle Rocket Hearts, won the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers. She was a writer for the Emmy Award-winning comedy show Schitt’s Creek, as well as Degrassi and the Baroness Von Sketch Show, for which she won a Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing, Variety or Sketch Comedy in 2018. Zoe Whittall lives in Prince Edward County.