Annaporter.ca

Anna Porter is the author of 13 books, the two most recent are Gull Island, a psychological thriller, and In Other Words: How I Fell in Love with Canada One Book at a Time, a memoir of her wonderful and challenging life as a book publisher.  Ghosts of Europe: Journeys Through Central Europe’s Troubled Past and Uncertain Future, won the Shaughnessey Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Kasztner’s Train, the True Story of Rezso Kasztner, Unknown Hero of the Holocaust was the winner of the 2007 Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Award and of the Jewish Book Award for Non-Fiction. She has written six mystery novels, one of which, Bookfair Murders, was made into a television movie, and a strange childhood memoir, The Storyteller.

She has written numerous newspaper and magazine articles on a broad range of topics, including Solidarity in Poland, Hungarians, Slovaks and Czechs, Farley Mowat, Doris Anderson, the Roma, the book business, Dracula and the rise of fascism in Europe.

She is co-founder of Key Porter Books, a company with a wide-ranging list that included Farley Mowat, Allan Fotheringham, Howard Engel, Joan Barfoot, Fred Bruemmer, Norman Jewison, George Jonas, Margaret Atwood, The Right Honourable Jean Chretien, Sylvia Fraser, Modris Eksteins, John Keegan, Martin Gilbert, Irving Abella, Josef Skvorecky, Italo Calvino, William Trevor, Conrad Black and Janet Lunn.

She has served on numerous corporate and charitable boards, including Alliance Communications, the Empire Company, The Shaw Festival, and the Canada Council for the Arts.

She is an Officer of The Order of Canada and has been awarded the Order of Ontario.

Website: Annaporter.ca

thebcreview.ca

Ginny Ratsoy, Professor Emerita at Thompson Rivers University, developed an interest in crime fiction in her role as reviewer for the British Columbia Review (https://thebcreview.ca/). In fact, one of those reviews was spotted by CWC, who then invited her to adjudicate their awards.

In addition to reviewing crime fiction, she teaches it periodically– to a savvy group of later-life learners who are members of the Kamloops Adult Learners Society (www.kals.ca). KALS is a vibrant independent educational organization dedicated to delivering an array of low-cost, non-credit courses that is celebrating its 20^th anniversary in 2025.

This photo shows Ratsoy accepting the 2024 Margaret Cleaveley Award for instruction in Canadian Literature from KALS.

Particularly drawn to cozy mysteries penned by female authors with a strong sense of place, Ratsoy hopes to continue adjudicating for CWC in the future.

jotreggiari.com

Jo Treggiari was born in London, England, and raised in Canada. She spent many years in Oakland, California and New York, where she trained as a boxer, wrote for a punk magazine, and owned a gangster rap/indie rock record label. Her novel Ashes, Ashes, a YA post-apocalyptic adventure published by Scholastic Press and also Germany’s Ars Edition, was a multiple award nominee and bestseller. Her novella Love You Like Suicide, was released as a limited, collector’s edition of the long-running punk zine Cometbus. Her acclaimed psych-thriller Blood Will Out, was published by Penguin Teen in 2018. Her 2019 novel The Grey Sisters was short-listed for the Governor General’s Literary Award, as well as being a Crime Writers of Canada shortlist nominee, and a finalist for the Ann Connor Brimer Award. Her newest book, a YA thriller Heartbreak Homes, a finalist for the 2023 Dartmouth Books Awards, the 2023 Ann Connor Brimer Children’s Literature Award, and the winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Juvenile/YA Fiction Award, was published by Nimbus Publishing in October of 2022. Jo lives with her two children in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (the unceded, traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq) where she co-owns a curated, spirited, independent bookstore Block Shop Books.

www.jotreggiari.com

MurderInCommon.com

June Lorraine Roberts is a Flash Fiction writer of crime fiction, whose stories have been featured by Mysterious Ink Press (UK), Punk Noir Magazine, and Akashic Books.

As the founder of MurderInCommon.com, a website about crime fiction books and authors, she features debut and mid-list writers worldwide. Murder in Common is #29 on the FeedSpot Top 100 Crime Fiction websites.

June Lorraine is a graduate of the London School of Journalism, a member of Sisters in Crime, and the Short Fiction Mystery Society. She has served as a Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence Judge, Derringer Judge, Bouchercon Panelist, and has read at Noir at the Bar. As time permits, she beta reads for crime fiction authors.

manuscriptalchemy.com

Nicole Bross is the author of Past Presence, a supernatural mystery which was a finalist for the Crime Writers of Canada's Best First Crime Novel award in 2020. She's also an Author Accelerator-certified book coach and editor, working with fiction writers. Nicole understands the challenges authors face and can help you tell a different story about who you are as a writer. Specializing in adult and YA genre fiction, Nicole works 1:1 with authors of all experience levels to develop a writing practise that works for them, using a collaborative approach that's tailored to each writer's individual needs. She loves working with first-time writers, people who want to write a book but don't know how, and people who can always start writing a book but never seem to finish them. Whether you're creating an outline, writing your first draft, revising, or getting ready to pitch to agents and publishers, she's here to make the journey easier. Learn more and book a free call to talk about your project at www.manuscriptalchemy.com

Scott writes stories set in Southern Alberta. Before turning to fiction, he was a landscaper, speechwriter, foreign correspondent, lawyer, and brand ambassador.

His debut novel, The Sunbeam Room, was published in 2024 to critical and commercial success.

“A thought-provoking story about the ties that bind within a divided world.”

Scott’s second novel, Birds of a Feather, is set for release in the fall of 2025.

A serial killer is stalking aspiring writers in Lethbridge. Can the unlikely duo of Samuel Rigondeaux, a reference librarian, and Flagstaff, a former RCMP officer now homeless, stop the Crow Killer before Samuel is add to the body count?

When not writing, you will find Scott hiking in the Rockies, walking a pilgrimage trail in Europe, or travelling across Canada with his wife, Coleen, in their vintage Westfalia van named Finn.

​​Scott is a founding member of the Alexandra Writers Centre chapter in Lethbridge and was a juror in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in 2023.

suejaskula.wordpress.com

Sue Jaskula’s career spanned many years in a mix of law firm and hospital administrative work before she jumped at the opportunity to take early retirement and pursue a career in writing, a pursuit she entered with energy and enthusiasm.

Ecstatic to become a published author at age sixty, she pinches herself every day that someone buys one of her books or drops an awesome review. She loves connecting with readers and fellow writers and one of her favourite things is seeing posts of her books being read in faraway places.

After a lifetime in southern Ontario, Sue and her husband were thrilled to retire to Kincardine, Ontario near their adult children and grandchildren. On these shores of Lake Huron, with some of the best walking trails in the country, her imagination soars and her best stories come to life.