Hey all,

Last year I took part in a reading event in Edmonton called Read and Write with Pride, a queer book reading for local authors (I’m not really a local, I know, but I was close-ish). And this year, I’m pleased to announce, I’m taking part in this event for a second year!

Last year, if I remember correctly, I read from Sky Knights, a scene in which the main characters crash land their plane. It was my first reading, so I didn’t really remember to introduce my novel before reading because I was nervous. This time around, hopefully I will remember!

I was thinking that this year I would read from All the King’s Men, which isn’t technically released until July 27th. It will be like a sneak peek before the release. I’m really excited about this novel and want to promote it as much as possible. The real challenge is picking what scene to read from.

My fellow readers will be Laurie MacFayden, Rob Browatzke, Marina Reid Hale, Sheldon L’Henaff, and of course, Heidi Belleau, who is the author who invited me last year. Here’s some short bios about my fellow queer writers:

Bio: LAURIE MACFAYDEN has lived in Edmonton since 1984. Her second poetry collection, Kissing Keeps Us Afloat , was released in September 2014 (Frontenac House). Her debut collection, White Shirt , won a Golden Crown Literary Society award and was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary awards. A painter, poet and photographer, MacFayden spent more than 30 years as a sports journalist and continues to work as a copy/web editor at the Edmonton Journal. Her poetry has appeared in The New Quarterly literary journal, FireFall, Queering The Way and DailyHaiku I: A Daily Shot of Zen; and has been performed in Edmonton’s Loud & Queer Cabaret and at Calgary’s Q The Arts cultural festival. 

Bio: Rob Browatzke (born 1977) is a proud Edmontonian, proud homosexual, and proud writer. His reading and writing tastes vary though, so some books might take you on a comic journey through classic Bible stories, some might be filled with graphic sex and drug use, some might mash-up cherished childhood tales. You never know what you’re gonna get.

Rob has been writing since he was able to pick up a pen, and is excited to finally be sharing some of those words with all of y’all.

He has been working the club scene in Edmonton since the late 90s, and that has definitely enabled him to create some authentic nightlife in his works. Four years sober as of March 2015, he thinks the stories he’s lived himself add some true color to the stories he’s now sharing with the world at large.

Bio: Marina Reid Hale is an Edmonton spoken word poet and writer. She can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a writer (with the notable exception of a week in grade two when she wanted toMagazine, the Rat Creek Press, and the #yegwords Coffee Sleeves project, and she has co-written plays for NextFest, KidsFringe, and OverActing Imaginations. She performs and competes at open mic nights and poetry events all over the city, and was a 2015 Edmonton Poetry Slam semi-finalist.

Bio: Sheldon L’Henaff an author blogs through the age of sex, drugs, and techno

Bio: Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town New Brunswick, graduated with a degree in history from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, and now lives outside of Edmonton, Alberta, with her tradesman husband and two kids. A proud bisexual woman, her writing reflects everything she loves: diverse casts of queer characters, a sense of history and place, equal parts witty and filthy dialogue, the occasional mythological twist, and most of all, love—in all its weird and wonderful forms. She is the author of the REAR ENTRANCE VIDEO series, and the co-author of THE BURNT TOAST B&B. Her latest novel DEAD RINGER, co-authored with Sam Schooler, is out now from Riptide Publishing. Her work has been reviewed in PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY, LIBRARY JOURNAL, and BOOKLIST.

That’s our line-up of queer writers who will be reading some of their work for the event! I’m really looking forward to the event. And of course, the event will be taking place at Audrey’s Books, an independent bookstore in Edmonton. So if any of you are in Edmonton on June 9th at 7 pm, you should definitely come and see the reading!