Who are we?

Susan Fish, principal of Storywell, has been writing and editing for nearly two decades. A former national director of communications for Habitat for Humanity Canada, Susan has twin passions for people and stories. Susan is particularly gifted at getting inside writer's head or a story, intuitively, and asking great questions. She has a BA in English (University of Toronto) and an MA in Religion and Culture (Wilfrid Laurier University), one published novel, more than 100 published articles and has written and edited for a wide variety of clients and publications. She is a seasoned book reviewer. She also knows the pain of rejection and the realities of the market and brings a warm creative sympathy to her work with clients.

Deborah Black is a freelance editor, writer and librarian with a special interest in supporting emerging writers and helping people and organizations tell their stories and connect to the resources they need. Formerly in social work, she has worked for 25 years as an editor in industry, non-profit and arts organizations, and as an academic researcher. Whether writing an artist’s profile, crafting an organization’s vision statement or polishing a manuscript, Deborah loves to help people communicate well. She enjoys blogging and introducing others to the world of social media as well as supporting literacy and reading programs in the local community.

Erin Bow is a poet and a children's novelist. Her books include Plain Kate, a YA fantasy novel which won the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award for best book of the year for kids, Ghost Maps: Poems for Carl Hruska, which won the CBC Literary Award for poetry, and The Mongoose Diaries, which is a memoir that no one read. Erin knows her way around publishing, blogging and social media, corporate communications, and editing and teaching.Personally, Erin is thoughtful, generous, funny, and very geeky -- her degree is actually in particle physics.

Patricia Bow spent 15 years in the central communications office of the University of Waterloo,where she worked on most aspects of publications, including copyediting and proofreading. Earlier she was a librarian at the University of Toronto and a reporter on a small-town Ontario newspaper. She holds degrees in history and library science as well as a diploma in journalism.Patricia has published four novels and two non-fiction books for young people.

Hugh Cook has taught Creative Writing on the university level for more than thirty years. He holds an M.F.A. in fiction writing from the Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa and his stories have appeared in a number of Canada's leading literary journals. He has published four books: Cracked Wheat and Other Stories, The Homecoming Man, Home in Alfalfa (which won the City of Hamilton Book Award for fiction and has been adapted for stage), and most recently, a novel titled Heron River.

Carrie Snyder has published one book of fiction, and her second is forthcoming in March, 2012. She has worked as a copy editor for the National Post newspaper, and has written freelance for a variety of publications on subjects related to parenthood, fitness, food, and the arts. Her interests are wide-ranging and her life goal is to remain forever curious. Carrie sees herself as someone who bridges the gap between creative exuberance and organizational efficiency — she builds grammatically sound structures in which to play and imagine. Carrie holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Toronto.