The Writers' Collective

Staff

The Programming Coordinator organizes and administers all Collective programs: workshops, contests, 100 Minutes with an Author, Writers’ Circles and The Collective Consciousness. The Coordinator also supports the volunteer committee that organizes Speaking Crow. The Coordinator is the first point of contact for members and the public for information and assistance regarding the Collective and its services.

Michael Van Rooy
Programming Coordinator

Michael Van Rooy writes crime fiction and for documentaries, magazines, newspapers and the internet. He is the author of the novels An Ordinary Decent Criminal and Your Friendly Neighbourhood Criminal and the vignette, “Criminal Intent.”  An Ordinary Decent Criminal won the 2006 Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Writer and has been translated into German and optioned for a film. In 2009 Michael won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer. In the past Michael has been a fishing guide, bartender and cheese maker (among other things) but now writes full time. His next book, tentatively titled Criminals are Forever, is due out in the spring of 2010.

Board

The Writers’ Collective is governed by a volunteer Board. The Board oversees and supports the operations of the Collective. The Board makes decisions about programming and finances. The Board includes the Editorial Committee that manages The Collective Consciousness, and two Board members judge the annual Marie Barton Postcard Fiction contest.

Hilary Friesen
President

Hilary joined the Board in 2008 as Secretary and became the President in 2009. An aspiring writer since childhood, Hilary was published in Juice in her halcyon college days and currently churns out business copy for a marketing communications firm in Winnipeg.

Eve Dutton
Vice-President

After a year as volunteer layout artist for the Collective Consciousness, Eve Dutton joined the Writers’ Collective Board in 2008 and became Vice-President in 2009. Her third-grade report card reads as follows: “Eve loves to write. Unfortunately, we cannot get her to stop.” In her life outside the Collective, Eve supervises the heritage interpretation program at The Forks National Historic Site.

Tara Norberg
Secretary

Tara Norberg joined the Writers’ Collective Board in 2009. In addition to working on her own creative projects, Tara writes grants and promotional materials for artists and arts and community development organizations. She was recently awarded the Lieutenant-Governor’s Gold Medal for her academic work at the University of Winnipeg.

Gloria Moodrey
Member-at-Large

Ahniko
Member-at-Large

Proud of the Collective’s staunch dedication to new writers, Ahniko has been on the Writers’ Collective Board since 2007. A graduate of the University of Winnipeg, Ahniko was co-editor of the university’s creative writing journal, juice, and co-founder and co-editor of their academic journal, jack. A past columnist for the Collective Consciousness, Ahniko has also been published in juice, Precipice and The Prairie Journal.

Mela Fox-Allen
Member-at-Large

A member of the Writers’ Collective since 2007, Mela joined the Board as a member-at-large in 2009.  Born writing, Mela was published in the Collective Consciousness and is currently working on her first novel.

Don Ayre
Member-at-Large

Don Ayre is new to the Writers’ Collective and to the Board.  As a retired educational consultant, Don has written academic papers, magazine articles and several newspaper columns.  Don recently self-published a series of four books as he firmly believes that writing is one of the most powerful self-development tools that we have.

Katherena Vermette
Member-at-Large

Newby Board Member Katherena Vermette joined the Writers’ Collective Board this past September. A teacher by day and a fun fabulous writer of poetry and fiction by night, or really whenever she can find the time, Kate’s work has appeared in several literary magazines and compilations. She has also been an enthusiastic member of the ABORIGINAL Writers Collective since 2004. Turn ons include rainbows, buttery popcorn and proper semicolon usage; turn offs include mean people, windy days and poor spelling.