THE DEFENDER: Bianca Lakoseljac
Bianca is an author, an educator, and a lifelong environmentalist. Living on Georgian Bay for the past decade and admiring the magical sunsets across Nottawasaga Bay has been a dream come true and an inspiration for much of her writing. Her novel, Stone Woman, won the 2017 Book Excellence Award for Fiction. She is also the author of a novel, Summer of the Dancing Bear; a collection of stories, Bridge in the Rain, (Guernica Editions, 2016, 2012, 2010, respectively); and a book of poetry, Memoirs of a Praying Mantis, (Turtle Moons Press, 2009). Her work has been published in various literary journals and anthologies including 50+ Poems for Gordon Lightfoot (Stephen Leacock Museum, 2014). She holds an MA in English from York University, and has taught at Humber College and Ryerson University in Toronto. She received the Matthew Ahern Memorial Award in Literature at York U, and won the Instant Hook Contest 2016/2017.
Bianca was the Open Book Toronto Writer in Residence in 2016. She is past president of the Canadian Authors Association, Toronto. Her involvement with the writers’ communities includes judging the National Capital Writing Contest, the Canadian Aid Literary Award Contest, the Dr. Drummond Poetry Contest, and sitting on awards panels for the Writers Union of Canada and the League of Canadian Poets. Holding readings, creative writing workshops, and book signings at libraries, writers’ festivals, and bookstores Canada-wide is her way of connecting with readers. Find out more about Bianca at www.biancalakoseljac.ca
THE BOOK: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America’s Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a fifteen-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones and take refuge from the “recruiters” who seek them out to bring them to the marrow-stealing “factories.” (Goodreads.com)