New Board Members 2023-2025
Welcome
President
Rayanne Haines (she/her) is an award-winning hybrid author and pushcart nominated poet as well as a cultural producer of intersectional films, stage shows, and panels. She recently completed a year as the 2022 Writer in Residence for the Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries. Rayanne has penned three poetry collections – The Stories in My Skin (2013), Stained with the Colours of Sunday Morning (Inanna, 2017), and Tell The Birds Your Body Is Not A Gun (Frontenac, 2021) which won the 2022 Stephan G. Stephansson, Alberta Literary Award for Poetry as well as being shortlisted for both the Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry, and the National ReLit Award for Poetry. She hosts the literary podcast Crow Reads in partnership with Read Alberta. Previous Executive Director for the Edmonton Poetry Festival for seven years, Rayanne is currently an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications at MacEwan University and holds a Master of Arts Degree in Arts, Festival and Cultural Management from Queen Margaret University.
Vice President
Hendrik Slegtenhorst has published nine books, and is a professional member of the Writers’ Union of Canada and the Canadian Authors’ Association, a full member of the League of Canadian poets, a member and past president of the Federation of British Columbia Writers, a past co-chair of the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton, a past director of the Alberta Branch of the Canadian Authors’ Association, and former registrar of The Banff Centre. He lives in Vancouver.
Secretary
Frances Boyle is the author of three books of poetry: Light-carved Passages (BuschekBooks 2014), This White Nest (Quattro Books, 2019) and Openwork and Limestone (Frontenac House, 2022). Her other books include a novella, an award-winning short story collection and a forthcoming novel. Frances’s poetry has won local and national prizes and been selected for the Best Canadian Poetry series and Poem in Your Pocket Day. Raised in Regina, she lived in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver before settling in Ottawa, where she spent 10 years as part of Arc Poetry Magazine’s editorial board, and volunteered for a number of arts organizations including VerseOttawa. She has been a proud member of the League since 2015. Frances’s website is www.francesboyle.com.
Chair, Membership Committee
Jaclyn Desforges is the author of Danger Flower (Palimpsest Press/Anstruther Books, 2021), winner of the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry and one of CBC’s selections for the best Canadian poetry of 2021. She’s also the author of a picture book, Why Are You So Quiet? (Annick Press, 2020), which was shortlisted for a Chocolate Lily Award and selected for the 2023 TD Summer Reading Club. Jaclyn is a Pushcart-nominated writer and the winner of a 2022 City of Hamilton Creator Award, a 2020 Hamilton Emerging Artist Award for Writing, two 2019 Short Works Prizes, and the 2018 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award. Jaclyn’s writing has been featured in literary magazines across Canada. She holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing and lives in Hamilton with her partner and daughter.
Thank you
Thank you to our outgoing Board members Geoff Nilson (Secretary), Emilia Nielsen (Chair, Membership Committee), Carolyne Van Der Meer (Chair, Regional Representative Committee), Sarah de Leeuw (Past President).
We also extend our thanks to Past President Tracy Hamon, who has just entered into this new role after many incredible years as President. We’re so lucky to have Tracy’s continued guidance on the Board, under the new leadership of Rayanne Haines!