Valérie Forgues is a writer and the literary director of Le Lézard Amoureux. She holds a master's degree in literary studies from Laval University, is a poetry reviewer, and also works in the library at the Maison de la littérature. Her writing approach has enabled her to take part in several festivals and residencies in Quebec, Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. She is the author of Jeanne Forever (with Stéphanie Filion), Une robe pour la chasse (2018 and 2015), Janvier tous les jours (2017) and Ce qui se pose (mention Prix Alphonse-Piché, 2009.) She lives in Quebec City and her most recent book of poems, Radiale, was published in Fall 2021 by Lézard amoureux.
Richard Harrison’s On Not Losing My Father’s Ashes in the Flood (Wolsak & Wynn) won the 2017 Governor General’s and Stephan G. Stephansson (Alberta) Prizes for poetry. The following year it was published in translation in Italy. Richard’s work follows the storytelling traditions of Canadian poets Alden Nowlan and Patrick Lane, and his influences include Sharon Olds, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and, because his father loved to recite it, the poetry of Dylan Thomas. Richard writes chiefly on family history and the stories that join the generations. His poems are also often described as an inquiry into the power and limitations of poetry itself. In 2023, he was made Professor Emeritus at Calgary's Mount Royal University where he taught English, Comic & Graphic Novel Studies, and Essay- and Creative Writing. His most recent book is 25: Hockey Poems New & Revised published on the 25th Anniversary of Hero of the Play, the first book of poems launched at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Mathew Henderson grew up in Tracadie, Prince Edward Island. After he graduated high school, Henderson worked summers in the oil fields of Saskatchewan and Alberta. His experiences there provided inspiration for his first book of poetry, The Lease. In 2013, it was shortlisted for both the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and the Gerald Lampert Award. Henderson earned an MFA from the University of Guelph. His most recent book of poetry is Roguelike.
Sally Ito is a Japanese Canadian poet and literary translator who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She has three published books of poetry, Frogs in the Rain Barrel, Season of Mercy, and Alert to Glory and has published the poems of Japanese children's poet Misuzu Kaneko with co-translator Michiko Tsuboi in the illustrated children's picture book, Are You an Echo: The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko. Ito has studied poetry and creative writing at the University of British Columbia and at Waseda University in Tokyo. She currently teaches creative writing at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg. Ito's poetic interests are in poetry translation in Japanese and in German where she works collaboratively with co-translators who are either poets themselves or are intimately familiar with the language in translation. The German translation collaboration with poets Sarah Klassen and Joanne Epp has resulted in a book published in 2023 entitled Wonder-Work: Selected Sonnets of Catharina Regina Von Greiffenberg. Much of Ito's poetry focuses on Christian spirituality and faith from which she draws inspiration and hope as well as from Japanese poets like Misuzu Kaneko and Kenji Miyazawa.
Because Ito grew up bilingual, she is fascinated with how language conveys a culture's sensibility, temperament and disposition. In her translation work, she aims to discover how and why words mean or represent what they do in their respective language. Ito is also fond of social platforms for poetry and has used FB to write daily haiku and Instagram to share the poetry of others.
Meghan Kemp-Gee is the author of The Animal in the Room (Coach House Books, 2023) and Nebulas (forthcoming 2025), as well as the poetry chapbooks What I Meant to Ask, Things to Buy in New Brunswick, More, and The Bones and Eggs and Beets. She also co-created Contested Strip, the world’s best comic about ultimate frisbee, recently adapted into a graphic novel, One More Year. Find her on Twitter @MadMollGreen.
Charles LeBlanc is a comedian, poet, and translator born in Montreal in 1950. In 1978, he moved to Saint-Boniface (Manitoba), where he is an industrial worker, teacher and translator. He now hosts a program on a community radio station, Envol 91.1 FM. However, his greatest passions are theater and literature. Over the years, he co-founded six theater troupes, participates in the Manitoba Improv League, performs with the group Popular Theatre Alliance, and plays at the Cercle Molière, among others. He is also the co-author of a book of epistolary narratives, and the author of nine collections of poetry published by Éditions du Blé. He seeks poetry of the street and of the heart, that is extravagant, spectacular, and cutting-edge. He is also the secretary-treasurer of the new French Association of Manitoba authors. His latest poetry collections are: Soubresauts (2013) and Les lieux de l’amour/l’amour des lieux (2015).
Brendan McLeod is a Toronto-based poet, spoken word artist, theatre artist, and musician. He’s the author of one poetry collection, Friends Without Bodies, a novel, The Convictions of Leonard McKinley, and six theatre shows. He is the founder of the JUNO nominated folk group The Fugitives, which have been nominated for multiple Canadian Folk Music and Western Canadian Music Awards, including Best Songwriter, Best Roots Group, and Best Vocal Group. He is a former Canadian SLAM poetry champion and World SLAM runner-up. He was the 2012 Poet of Honour at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word and the 2015 Poet of Honour at the Victoria Spoken Word Festival. He has been influenced by a large contingent of spoken word artists including Zaccheus Jackson, Andrea Gibson, Buddy Wakefield, Sheri-D Wilson, and Jillian Christmas.
Catherine Poulin was born and raised in Quebec. She studied literature in Trois-Rivières, and has lived in Montreal for many years. She is the author of three books of poetry, Entomographie (éditions Le lézard amoureux), Nos attentats domiciles (éditions de l’Hexagone) and Tailler les mammifères (éditions d’Art le Sabord). She is a member of the musical and poetic exploration group, Fracas Les Sangs! and also works as a literary and editorial accompanist in poetry for several publishing houses. Her poetry delves into language, questions it head-on, turning each word over like a precious stone. Her places of reflection include grocery store aisles, the trails of a forest, to the dust of a renovation site. Her writing aims to show the breath that lies between equilibrium, and its loss.