HOT-SAUCED WORDS

Kenneth Sherman

was born in Toronto. He has a BA from York University, where he studied with Irving Layton and Eli Mandel, and an MA in English Literature from the University of Toronto. While a student at York, Sherman co-founded and edited the literary journal Waves.

From 1974-1975 he travelled extensively through Asia. He is a full-time faculty member at Sheridan College where he teaches Communications; he also teaches a course in creative writing at the University of Toronto.

In 1982, Sherman was writer-in-residence at Trent University. In 1986, he was invited by the Chinese government to lecture on contemporary Canadian literature at universities and government institutions in Beijing. In 1988, he received a Canada Council grant to travel through Poland and Russia. This experience inspired several of the essays in his book Void and Voice (1998), praised by American author Cynthia Ozick for its “luminous apprehension of art, history, and human connections.”

Sherman is the author of several books of poetry including the acclaimed Words for Elephant Man (1983) and The Well: New and Selected Poems (2000). His recently published book-length poem, Black River, (Porcupine’s Quill, 2007) has been called “a triumph” by The Globe and Mail, and “an astounding achievement” by The Danforth Review.

Catherine Graham

is the author of The Watch, Pupa and a forthcoming poetry collection (2008). She teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto where she was nominated for an Excellence in Teaching Award, Elements of Poetry at Sheridan College and through Descant’s SWAT writer-in-residence program. Her work has been anthologized internationally and published in The New Quarterly, Taddlecreek, LRC and The Fiddlehead.

Catherine teaches Creativity Tools for Strategic Thinkers at the University of Toronto and as creativity consultant has led her unique workshops through GlaxoSmithKline, BookExpo, U of T’s Spirituality at Work program and Environics Communications. Her poems are featured in Discovery Landing, Burlington’s new waterfront building and her work as a poetry coach is highlighted in Poet’s Market 2007.

She is Vice President of Project Bookmark Canada, a non-profit organization that seeks to mark the real places that serve as the settings for imagined stories. Visit www.catherinegraham.com