Capital City Press

Jaima Fixsen is a USA Today Bestselling author, an Edmontonian, and a self-confessed history addict.

Five years ago, her best friend and critique partner, Kansas-based writer Regina Sirois suggested they write a book together—a nineteenth century hospital drama about an aspiring female surgeon. They were both fascinated with the scientific revolution in medicine. As Regina put it, “This is too good not to write about.”

“Sure, but not in first person,” Jaima replied.

So they immersed themselves in two-hundred-year-old medical journals and wrote a book, The Girl in His Shadow, about an orphan raised by an eccentric surgeon, whose accidental discovery could save lives—if she’s willing to stake her own on it.

Three different publishers offered for the book. Sourcebooks Landmark bought it, and a sequel. The Girl in His Shadow was published in May 2021 and soon reached the USA Today Bestseller list. According to Library Journal, “With its strong woman protagonist and authentic period detail, this is the best kind of historical fiction, transporting readers to a place and time peopled with memorable characters.”

The sequel, The Surgeon’s Daughter, releases May 10, 2022.

When she’s not crafting stories in the nineteenth century or working her day job as an occupational therapist, Jaima is reading. A lot.

Her favorite reading challenge is the 52 Book Club. Her top reads from 2021 are listed here. You can also see Jaima and Regina’s CrimeRead’s article: Six Medical Non-Fiction Books that Read Like Thrillers.

Wendy McGrath is a Métis writer who has published four novels and two books of poetry. McGrath works in multiple genres—fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and spoken word. Her most recent book, Broke City, is the final novel in her prairie-gothic Santa Rosa Trilogy. This acclaimed trilogy chronicles the struggles of a working-class family and is told through the eyes of a child narrator. McGrath is also a printmaker and creator of artist books.

Be sure to check out all of Wendy's titles that are available in our collection and some of her favourite short novels that you can borrow from EPL.

Originally from Kingston, Ontario, Karen Spafford-Fitz is a life-long book lover who studied English Language and Literature, then Education at Queen’s University. She went on to teach elementary and junior-high students in Toronto and Edmonton and soon began writing her own stories.

Although no longer in the classroom on a daily basis, Karen still writes with the heart of an educator and is the author of eight middle-grade and young adult novels. Many of her books are set in Edmonton and have been recognized as “The Year’s Best Books” by Resource Links Journal and the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

Karen’s middle-grade title, Volleyball Vibe (Lorimer: fall 2020), is a CCBC “Best Book of the Year” and is among the “TD Summer Reading Club Recommended Reads.” Her latest novel, Pickpocket (Orca: January 2021), is set in Old Nice and is a contender for the American Library in Paris Book Awards for a title that deepens and stimulates an understanding of France and the French.

View a complete list of all of her books that are in EPL’s collection.

Be sure to also check out her list of titles for kids and teens from Edmonton and area authors and her blog on how she became an author.

Zach Polis is a screenwriter, playwright, and former poet laureate. He studied screenwriting at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, as well as Scriptwriting for Film and Television at the National Film and Television School. Zach graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and Creative Writing (with Distinction). Zach’s poems have been featured on Vogue Italia’s PhotoVogue, and Teen Vogue describes his style as brilliant. Zach has performed in New York City, as well as on CBC Radio.

He was St. Albert’s first poet laureate, acting as a literary and cultural ambassador to the Edmonton Metropolitan Region. He is an alumnus of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s spoken word residency. He is a recipient of the Edmonton Artists' Trust Fund Award and RBC Emerging Artist Award.

His work has been supported by Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, CBC/Radio-Canada, TELUS STORYHIVE, National Screen Institute, Edmonton Arts Council, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Canada Council for the Arts, and Writers' Trust of Canada.

Check out this list of some of his favourite adaptations that you can borrow from EPL. Learn more about Zach by visting his website.

Caitlin Crawshaw is a lifelong Edmontonian who earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science (honours) at the University of Alberta in 2005 before beginning a career as a writer and editor. Like many journalists who forgo journalism school, she got her start at her campus newspaper, the Gateway, during her student years. Afterwards, she spent several years working in university communications at her alma mater, all the while moonlighting as a freelance journalist and editor. Caitlin finally left the U of A campus in 2007 to work from home as a full-time freelancer, writing for magazines, newspapers, university departments, government agencies, and marketing companies, as well as editing all manner of publications.

As her career evolved, Caitlin began to speak at writing conferences and events (like Words in 3D) and dabbled in teaching (most notably for the U of A’s Faculty of Extension). She also began publishing essays in consumer and literary magazines, and was long-listed for the prestigious CBC Nonfiction Prize in 2012 for an essay about miscarrying in South Africa. In 2014, she won Briarpatch Magazine’s Writing in the Margins contest for a piece about body image after pregnancy and, in 2016, won first-place in EVENT Magazine’s Nonfiction Contest for an essay about surviving melanoma. Caitlin’s creative nonfiction has also appeared in two groundbreaking anthologies: The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care, edited by Zena Sharman (Arsenal Pulp, 2016) and Swelling with Pride: Queer Conception and Adoption Stories edited by Sara Graefe (Dagger Editions, 2018).

In 2016, Caitlin earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia.  Her convocation marked the end of an academic journey thrice delayed by major life events: a new baby, cancer and divorce. But it’s all been grist for the mill, to revive an old cliche, and some of Cait’s proudest accomplishments have come from processing her life with writing.

Be sure to check out her recommended reading list of some of her favourite tear-jerking memoirs.

Joan Marie Galat is an award-winning author in Parkland County, writing for both adults and children. She shares places to explore in Day Trips From Edmonton; her love of the night sky in the Dot to Dot in the Sky series; and tips for tackling problems in her National Geographic Kids title—Solve This! Wild and Wacky Challenges for the Genius Engineer in You. A freelance writer, editor, and speaker, Joan also takes on projects in broadcast, print, and multimedia. www.joangalat.com

Checkout Joan's list of Books for Stargazers and Space Enthusiasts for those intrigued by the greater universe.

Be sure to read Joan's three blog series, Satisy Your Curiosity with Children's Non-Fiction,  Pathways to Science Writing for Kids and Sharing Science Books in Schools where Joan and four other Canadian writers share advice on writing about science for young readers. Joan also shares tips on How to Host a Successful School Visit.

We also have a complete list of all of Joan's books available here at EPL.

Alison Hughes has published 16 books some of which have been translated into Dutch, Korean, Turkish and French. She won the Writers’ Union Writing for Children Award and has been a finalist for Canada’s Governor-General’s Literary Awards, the Alberta Literary Awards, and many provincial children’s choice awards, including Ontario’s Silver Birch. Her short fiction has been short- and long-listed for the Writers’ Union Short Fiction Competition and the CBC Literary Awards. She has been a Writing Mentor and Manuscript Evaluator with the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, opens a new window, and is currently a casual Writing Advisor/Editor for the University of Alberta’s Academic Success Centre, opens a new window.

View a complete list of all of Alison's books that are in EPL's collection.

Be sure to read Alison's recommended reads list of Classic YA-is Novels You Won't Find in the YA Section and her blog posts "Impossible Conditions" and "Stories in the the Silence".

Davis G. See is a gay Edmontonian and graduate of MacEwan University’s Bachelor of Communication Studies program. While a student, he co-founded the Bolo Tie Collective, a creative writing club at MacEwan that continues to publish an annual anthology. His prose has appeared in Vitality Magazine, opens a new window, Crab Fat Magazine, WestWord Magazine, opens a new window, and the Edmonton International Airport’s short story dispenser, while his poetry has found a home in Lovejets: Queer Male Poets on 200 Years of Walt Whitman, opens a new window. He also writes video games and interactive fiction, including for the upcoming puzzle game OtherWordly. His other interactive work can be found at https://davisgsee.itch.io.

Be sure to read Davis' blog called Don't Write Alone and recommended reading Queer Across Age. His latest is a list of Video Games for Book Lovers.

Peter Midgley writes children’s books, plays, fiction and nonfiction, and poetry in English and Afrikaans. In addition to writing, he is also an award-winning freelance editor and storyteller. He is available for workshops and public talks.

Peter’s writing, as well as his public appearances, address issues of social justice, racsim, belonging in the diaspora, and living and working across languages and cultures. You can find out more about him on his website, opens a new window.  

View a complete list of Peter's books that are in EPL's collection.

Carissa Halton

Carissa Halton’s writing about urban culture, politics and design has appeared in many publications including: Today’s Parent, Alberta Venture, Postmedia Newspapers and Azure. Her creative non-fiction essays have been

published in anthologies and have garnered her an Alberta and National Magazine Award. Her first book, Little Yellow House: Finding Community in a Changing Neighbourhood, is a series of essays about life in Alberta Avenue and was published in September 2018.

More information can be found on Carissa's website.  Her book, Little Yellow House: Finding Community in a Changing Neighbourhood can be found in our collection.

Jennifer Quist

Jennifer Quist writes professionally in three genres: fiction, creative nonfiction, and academic prose. She is an award-winning novelist as well as a journalist, speaker, critic, and PhD student in the Modern Languages and Cultural Studies department at the University of Alberta. All three of her novels are published by Linda Leith Publishing of Montreal: Love Letters of the Angels of Death (2013), Sistering (2015), and The Apocalypse of Morgan Turner (2018). Her debut was long-listed for the Dublin International IMPAC Literary Award in 2015.

Learn more about Jennifer on her website.  All three of her books can be found in our collection.

Katherine Koller

Katherine Koller writes for stage, screen and page. Her trilogy of Alberta Landworks plays includes Last Chance Leduc, The Seed Savers and Coal Valley and her collection of plays is Voices of the Land: The Seed Savers and Other Plays. Her six-part web documentary, Sustainable Me, features Edmonton youth changing their world (sustainablemeyeg.ca).

 Art Lessons, her first novel, was a finalist for both the Edmonton Book Prize and the Alberta Readers’ Choice Award. Her new book of short stories is Winning Chance. A recital reading of her opera libretto, The Handless Maiden, plays in Vancouver in June and her radio play, Hope Soup is part of the Edmonton Fringe Festival this summer.

Checkout her some of her recommended reading lists including stories on second chances and her favourite books of the last 16 years.

Premee Mohamed 

Premee Mohamed is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and spec fic author based out of Edmonton. Her short fiction has appeared in Analog, Pseudopod, Mythic Delirium, Automata Review, and other venues. Visit her official website.

Her debut novel The Apple-Tree Throne is available to borrow at EPL. Don't forget to check out her list of recommended reads of "Sci-Fi that Puts the Sci in Fi, opens a new window"

Listen to our interview with Premee on our podcast, Overdue Finds, opens a new window.

Jennifer Snow

Jennifer Snow grew up in St. John’s, Newfoundland and moved out West to complete her degree in Linguistics and Psychology in 2002. Halfway through a Bridge to PhD program, she realized she wasn’t pursuing her real passion. A trip down memory lane with her high school yearbook reminded her that her 18 year old self had promised to be a writer. So, she started writing again with a goal of getting her stories published.

While on maternity leave with her son, Jennifer wrote and submitted her first holiday romance themed novella to a small boutique publisher in New York. They contracted the novella and her second one and her dream of becoming a published author had been realized. From there, she queried agents and started writing longer works of fiction.

Since her first publication in 2011, she has published 21 books with various publishers, such as Berkley, Hachette Book Group, and Harper Collins/Harlequin. Her small town, sweet romance series, A Brookhollow Story, won many awards and her Colorado Ice novel, Maybe This Time was given a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

In 2017, she decided to try writing a domestic thriller, with no idea whether or not she could pull it off. Luckily, her agent, Jill Marsal at the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency is a champion for her career and after many revisions, her first thriller, All The Lovely Pieces was sold to Amazon Publishing’s Thomas & Mercer in a two book deal, for publication in 2019 under the pen name, J. M. Winchester. Now, Jennifer/ J.M. has to somehow write another one.

She recently signed a new contract for more single title romance books with Harlequin’s HQN line, with the first book, Mistletoe Rescue set for publication in November 2019. As well, her debut Women’s Fiction novel is currently out on submission, hoping to find a home in the new year.

Jennifer has also recently started writing screenplays and scripts for television. She was offered representation for her film work in August 2018 and is now managed by JD DeWitt from 5 x 5 Productions and her first screenplay, a holiday rom-com, was picked up by them for production.

She was a volunteer writer in residence at Audrey’s Books in 2017 and she has presented at many conferences world-wide. She loves inspiring and encouraging new writers to follow their dream to publication.

More information can be found on her websites at www.jennifersnowauthor.com and www.authorjmwinchester.com

Checkout the complete list of Jennifer Snow's books available at EPL.

Rayanne Haines

Rayanne Haines grew up on a small horse farm just outside of Edmonton. She spent most of her youth re-enacting scenes from Anne of Green Gables to attentive audiences that included pygmy goats and Arabian stallions. The horses were thrilled. Her father could never figure out why it took her three hours to clean the barn. Stories have always been in her blood. Her ancestors were Gypsies and Pirates­. It makes sense she’s always felt more at home in a storybook than in the real world.

For a while she entertained the idea of becoming an actress, then she worked in the music industry for five years. Finally, she realized it was the words behind the music, the story behind the movie star, that ultimately filled her with passion.

In 2011 Rayanne devoted herself to the written word. She excepted a position as the executive director with the Edmonton Poetry Festival and focused on language. Finally, her teenage-angst-poet-heart found a safe place to land. Since that time, she’s been published in anthologies, magazines and online as well as publishing two collections of poetry. A chapbook (The Stories in my Skin, 2013) and a full-length Novel-in-Verse, (Stained with the Colours of Sunday Morning, 2018). Rayanne has also produced two video poems that are available on her YouTube Channel.

In 2017 Rayanne signed a four-book deal with a New York publisher for a series that blurs the lines between Adult Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. With two books already published (Fire Born and Magic Born) she’s having great fun writing the last two in the series. Rayanne writes kick-ass heroines and gritty alpha males.

Her books have been on a couple of best-seller lists and her poetry has been translated into a UK talking newspaper for the blind and used as the text for the National Youth Choir of Canada. Her work has been published in Canada, the USA and the UK. Wherever her writing journey takes her she wants to continue supporting other writers and artists in any way she can.

Rayanne is married to the hero of her dreams and is a mother to two fine men (and a bulldog that tends to show up in her books). You can find out more about her (and her bulldog) at www.rayannehaines.com and follow her on Twitter, Facebook  and Instagram.

Checkout the list of Rayanne's titles available at EPL.

Natasha Deen

When Natasha Deen’s family moved from Guyana to Canada, she was given strict instructions from her parents. “Get an education,” they said, “it’s the key to unlocking all this world has to offer.”

Natasha set out to do to exactly what her parents told her to do…except she ran into some trouble. Stories. They were on TV, in the theatre, and the libraries, and they were tonics when the world got ugly, when the kids bullied her, and when she felt invisible because she couldn’t see a reflection of herself in this new land.

Stories were a way into other worlds and she loved all the twisting, exciting roads they led her down. Being a story-teller, a writer, would have been the best job in the world. Unfortunately, no one around her knew how to do that, so she kept her head down and got good marks, and decided to be the kind of grown up she was supposed to be.

She went to university to get a Master’s in Psychology, but she ran into even more trouble. Stories. They were everywhere. So, after she got her B.A. in Psychology, she abandoned any pretence of being a “mature adult,” and went after her dream of being a writer.

In 2007, she had her first short story published. Since then, she’s written for kids, teens, and adults. Her books have been nominated for awards and won a few. In 2013, she was the inaugural Regional Writer in Residence for the Metro Edmonton Library Federation.

Natasha’s most recent works include Lark and the Diamond Caper and Game’s End. Thanks to her writing and stories, she’s been able to meet people, hear their stories, and discover how amazing the world is. Best of all, she’s discovered that being a grown-up who pursues their dreams is the best kind of grown-up to be.

If she’s not writing or hosting workshops for schools, libraries, or other organizations, she’s at home, trying to convince her dogs and cats that’s she’s the boss of the house. Visit her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and on her website. You can also view a list of Natasha's books available at EPL.

Jim Sellers

Even though Jim Sellers has been a professional writer for 20 years, he’s just getting started.

He came from the field of television and film production, working behind the scenes in editing, camera and sound in drama, music videos, commercials and news. He started writing screenplays for TV drama and documentaries in 1994. His work includes Mentors, a series shot in Edmonton, and several projects with the National Film Board of Canada.

The switch to writing fiction came when he was a single dad and started reading the books his kids were into. The YA book industry was changing with the success of Harry Potter and other books that broke from the tradition of “classic children’s stories.” He remembered losing interest in reading fiction as a boy because most of the books available seemed too old and irrelevant to him. He began to make up his own stories to tell to his children. They challenged him to come up with more ideas, to create longer stories and answer the question “then what happened?” This became a nightly ritual and the ones that they asked to hear again, he wrote down.

The first of these stories, Jacky the Brave, was published in 2013. It took 10 years of pitching, editing and rewriting until the book was finally picked up by a small Ontario press. Another of the stories was originally written as a screenplay for a children’s TV pilot, which won a screenwriting prize but has yet to be published as a book.

Jim has published several short stories on websites in the UK and one in a short story compilation published by the University of Alberta in 2016. His most recent YA novel, A Death of Cold, was launched in September 2017.

Jim has been working in Communications for not-profit organizations, government and universities. He wrote a number of articles for the University of Alberta’s Computer and Electrical Engineering magazine and website, including one article that won a Silver Award for writing; and for the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, Alumni magazine. He also has an upcoming article in Write Magazine, put out by the Writers Union of Canada.

He has participated and moderated in panels at When Words Collide writers conference in Calgary and participated in the Surrey International Writing Conference.

When not writing, working, renovating the house or walking the dog, Jim is a musician with three original songs on iTunes and music streaming services.

Tololwa Mollel

Tololwa M Mollel is a seeker, facilitator and animator, maker, and sharer of stories. He has published stories in English and Swahili in books, anthologies, and magazines, for children and for adults. Some of his stories have been translated into Korean, Serbian, and other languages. He is currently writing his life story, Why We Have Two Ears and Only One Mouth: A Tanzanian Memoir. Tololwa is also known for performing stories he writes, solo and/or with other performers, for his story workshops, and for his plays in which he sometimes acts. He has been an actor in his native Tanzania and in Canada.

To learn more about Tololwa M. Mollel visit his website. You can also view a list of Tololwa's books available at EPL.

Leif Gregersen

Leif Gregersen was born in the early 70’s in St. Albert and developed a love of libraries and reading from an early age. Even in his elementary school years, Leif would walk to the St. Albert library after school almost each and every day to get a fresh book. Leif also began writing in elementary, trying to entertain his classmates with comic book stories he wrote and illustrated. Leif lived in St. Albert in the same house with his parents until he was 18 when he  left for Vancouver to seek out new options and to try and escape his situation of being in poor mental health. After going to flying school for a while and hitch-hiking to California, Leif returned home to complete school and was accepted to a journalism program that was later cancelled. Leif spent a great deal of his time over the next years reading all the quality literature he could get his hands on and working on and off on his first book, Through the Withering Storm. Around this period in his life, he found a job he loved working with the most amazing people he had known as a stage hand and security guard for IATSE, the union that handles entertainment. Through the help of a friend’s sister, Leif was able to get his book edited after working on it for nearly 20 years and it has now turned into what could easily be considered a self-publishing success. After finding out how to complete the self-publishing process, Leif went on to write four poetry collections, two short story collections, two young adult novels and a sequel to his first memoir which has now been revised and re-published in a second edition. Leif now lives in McCauley and has said he wouldn’t move away for the world, he loves the people and the culture every bit as much as he loved St. Albert.

To learn more about Leif Gregersen visit his website.

Don't forget to check out the list of Leif's books available at EPL.

SG Wong

SG Wong holds a B.A. (Honours) in English Literature from the University of Alberta. She speaks four languages—at varying degrees of proficiency—and usually only curses in one of them. She is a member of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, Crime Writers of Canada, and Sisters in Crime (National). She is currently the President of the Sisters in Crime—Canada West chapter.

From 2012-2016, SG Wong was Vice President of the Get Publishing Communications Society. From 2014-2015, she served as Conference Co-Chair and Programming Chair for the Words in 3D 2015: Intersections literary conference, held in May 2015.

She has been Head Writer for the environmental social enterprise, Verdigo, since 2012.

SG Wong has moderated panels, been a panelist, and has presented at such diverse events as the Calgary Comics and Entertainment Expo, the Edmonton Comics and Entertainment Expo, the PureSpec Science Fiction Festival, the When Words Collide readers festival, the Bloody Words XIII mystery convention, the Words in 3D 2015 literary conference, and Word on the Square (as part of LitFest, Canada’s only non-fiction literary festival). She has been on various Edmonton Public Library panels, hosted by different writers-in-residence, since 2014. As a member of the Young Alberta Book Society, SG has led a 2-day writing/editing workshop for grade 7 students. Most recently, she co-designed and co-presented a self-publishing workshop as part of LitFest 2016, and presented as part of the inaugural Indie Author Day 2016.

SG Wong’s debut novel, DIE ON YOUR FEET, was originally published in 2013 as an ebook, by Carina Press. It was a finalist for a 2014 Arthur Ellis Award for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing for Best Crime First Novel.

SG Wong has since parted ways amicably with Carina Press and now publishes the Lola Starke series as an indie author. The second Lola Starke novel, IN FOR A POUND, was nominated for a 2016 Whistler Independent Book Award. Her short story, “The Fix,” is published in Sleuth Magazine, while “Movable Type” is included in the anthology, AB NEGATIVE (Coffin Hop Press, 2015). “Movable Type” was a finalist for a 2016 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Short Story. The third Lola Starke novel, DEVIL TAKE THE HINDMOST is her latest release.

SG Wong has also published in Avenue Edmonton magazine and has been a “Blue Pencil” mentor for the Canadian Literature Centre at the University of Alberta. She recently completed a term as a mentor with the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Borderlines Writers Circle, working with Nepali-born writer, Anamol Mani.

She lives in Edmonton with her family. There are also LEGO. And light sabres. And cookies.

Don't forget to check out the list of her books available at EPL.