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WANL Board of directors 2011-12Executive officers
Gemma Hickey, PresidentGemma was born with a fire in her belly. This St. John's native is a real go-getter. She has a passion for people and a vision for change that is the driving force behind all of her work. While completing her Bachelor of Arts degree from Memorial University, she was heavily involved in campus activism. Upon graduation, she took up a number of causes, but is best known for getting same-sex marriage legalized across the country. When she is not trying to change the world, she writes poetry to change hearts. She teaches Creative Writing at For The Love Of Learning and sits on the boards of the Resource Centre For The Arts and the Literary Arts Foundation of NL. She is currently working on her first book of poetry. 
Chad Pelley, Vice-presidentChad Pelley is a multi-award-winning writer, photographer, and closet musician. His debut novel, Away from Everywhere, was a Coles bestseller, won the NLAC CBC Emerging Artist of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the for 2010 ReLit award, as well as the Canadian Authors Association Emerging Writer of the Year Award. It has been adopted by multiple university English courses, and a film adaptation is in the works. His short fiction has won awards, been anthologized, and published in leading literary journals. Chad also runs Salty Ink.com, and has written for a variety of publications, such as Quill & Quire, The National Post, The Telegram and Atlantic Books Today. His second novel is doing the rounds this fall. 
Camille Fouillard, TreasurerCamille Fouillard writes, researches, and facilitates. She holds degrees in music, education and journalism, and boasts a trove of experience in social justice and community development work. She has edited an Innu newspaper and several books, including It's Like the Legend: Innu Women's Voices (Gynergy, 2000), and has contributed to an anthology and several publications, including The Antigonish Review. She received the Larry Jackson Writers Award in 2002, and has been runner-up in the Writers' Union of Canada and NL Arts and Letters Competition. Between the jigs and the reels, and mothering Esmée and Léo, she is working on a book of short fiction...or is it a novel? 
Adam Clarke, SecretaryAdam Clarke's script, Freydis, was produced by the Rabbittown Theatre in 2010 and is set to be restaged in the new year. His film and television reviews appear weekly online and in print in The Scope. In addition to his writing, Clarke is a working comic and a regular fixture at the Yuk Yuks Comedy Club. He absolutely will not stop until you are dead. Wait, that's Terminator. Adam Clarke's a nice fellow. Directors
Norma Jean House, Western/LabradorNorma Jean House was born in Weston, Ontario where she met and married her husband in 1970. She has two sons and for the last 36 years she has resided in Bellburns. She wrote for the Northern Pen newspaper as a freelance columnist for seven years. She served on a community council as councillor, deputy mayor, and finally mayor for 21 years. Norma sometimes writes for the group Page One, in Deer Lake. She wrote and read a poem for the Literacy Committee. She writes poetry and short stories and has a completed romance manuscript. Norma has served on the WANL Board as Western/Labrador representative for several years. 
Philip Patey, Central/BurinPhilip Patey spends most of his time writing when he is not tending perennial flowers and volunteering with several community and provincial organizations. He has read his poetry at the Eric's Time venue of the March Hare, is a member of Scribblers' Ink, a Gander-based writers' group, and has served on the WANL Board as the Central/Burin representative for several years. 
Mary Pike, St. John's/AvalonMary Pike was born and raised in St. John’s and retired from a 31-year teaching career in 2009. Fifteen Tely 10s and five international teaching jaunts helped keep stress away. While completing a thesis for her Master of Adult Education Degree in 2000 she realized how much she enjoyed the process of writing, and took a creative writing course through MUN’s Division of Lifelong Learning as a result. Since then she has received two awards in the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Competition and a mentorship with WANL’s Emerging Writers Mentorship Program. Two of her stories have been published: “The Spirits of Gonzaga” appears in Telling Truth, A Collection of Essays and “Visit of the USS Anderson” appears in the The Cuffer Anthology Volume II. 
Catherine Hogan Safer, St. John's/AvalonCatherine Hogan Safer was born in the Codroy Valley and grew in Gander but St. John's is the place she loves, and after 17 long years in Halifax, is home for good. Her novel, Bishop's Road, was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada first novel award. What if Your Mom Made Raisin Buns? was shortlisted for the Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award. She has won an Arts and Letters prize for short fiction. Some of her pieces have been recorded by Rattling Books and she is currently working on a novel and collection of short stories. 
Annamarie Beckel, Member-at-LargeAnnamarie Beckel initially pursued a career in ecology, working as a science writer for the University of Wisconsin, 1979-90. In 1990, she began writing and publishing a monthly newsletter for an alcohol abuse prevention program on the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe reservation. She worked there until 2004, when she moved to St John's and became a member of WANL. Beckel made her first trip to Newfoundland in 1976 while conducting doctoral research on river otters, and when she turned to writing fiction in 1993, the story of William Cormack and Shawnawdithit came strongly to mind; she retold that story in All Gone Widdun. She has also published the historical novels Dancing in the Palm of His Hand and Silence of Stone, and is working on Whistle, a contemporary novel set in central Newfoundland. Margaret Smith, Member-at-Large Information forthcoming. 
Sharon Smith, Member-at-LargeSharon Smith was born at the Grace General Hospital near the middle of the twentieth century, and grew up watching the moody North Atlantic hurl itself against the rocks and cliffs and beacons of the Narrows; watching the shrub and bushes of the Southside Hills turn crimson in the fall; watching the Christmas lights on the enormous tree that was, in fact, the communications tower of the CN Building at the corner of Duckworth and Water; and jumping down the steps of Telegram Lane to go and get bananas and cream at the Sweet Shop or a milkshake at McMurdo's. Sharon Smith is an international award-winning screen writer and filmmaker who has given presentations at the Banff Festival, Local Heroes in Edmonton and MIPCOM in Cannes. She recently finished her first novel, following in the footsteps of her seventeen-year-old daughter. 
Jillian Noseworthy, Youth LiaisonJillian Noseworthy was born with a fiery passion for writing, animal rights and gay rights. Hopefully her passion for writing will aid her in the position of Youth Liaison. A few years ago she was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome and many of her poems reflect her complicated feelings about that. She had had poems published in a book or two in the States but two years ago she self published her first book Wailings of a Tortured Soul. She is currently working on her second book, hoping to get published properly. |
WANL staff
Executive Director: Théa Morash Executive Assistant: Danielle Devereaux |
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The Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the City of St. John's. | |
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