Besides her two previous books of poetry (No Other Lodgings, Fiddlehead, 1978 and Rentee Bay, Quarry, 1983), Frances Itani has published a children’s book and co-authored a book of short stories. More recently, Frances Itani, a Member of the Order of Canada, had a spectacular international debut with her first novel, Deafening, which received a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book (Canada and Caribbean Region) and was shortlisted for the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; it was a #1 bestseller in Canada. Her second novel, Remembering the Bones, was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Itani’s short story collection, Poached Egg on Toast, won the 2005 Ottawa Book Award and the 2005 CAA Jubilee Award for Short Stories. Itani lives in Ottawa.

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W.O. Mitchell (1914-1998) was a writer, performer, and teacher who is best remembered for Who Has Seen the Wind and the Jake and the Kid stories, which grew out of and defined the Canadian prairies.

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William Kurelek, the oldest of seven children in a Ukrainian immigrant family, was born in 1927 and raised on family farms in northern Alberta and Manitoba. At the time of his death in 1977, he was one of the best-known artists in Canada, and his reputation has continued to grow, with his work featured in galleries across the country and highly sought after for private collections. His distinctive works explore his Depression-era prairie roots and his engagement with spiritual and religious imagery. Kurelek also wrote and illustrated many award-winning books, including A Prairie Boy’s Winter and A Prairie Boy’s Summer. He was made a member of the Order of Canada in 1976.

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