The Committee

Michael Gnarowski

Professor, poet, editor and critic, Michael Gnarowski was born in Shanghai, China in 1934. He studied at McGill University (B.A., 1956), Indiana University (1959), the Université de Montréal (M.A., 1960), and received his Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Ottawa in 1967. While an undergraduate at McGill, Gnarowski began to publish his poetry in the magazine Yes (1956-1970), which he co-edited. He continued to reinforce his creative writing with editing and publishing activities. He was Professor of English at Carleton University from 1972 to 1996 and founding General Editor and Founding Director of the Carleton University Press. He has been a guest lecturer and visiting scholar at a number of universities. His contributions to Canadian letters are too numerous to mention and he has edited and contributed Introductions to untold works of Canadian literature. The prime mover behind the Writers’Chapel Trust, he provides the Committee with unflagging energy, vision and knowledge. He lives in Kemptville with his wife Diana.

Brian Busby

Brian Busby was born, raised and educated in Montreal. A writer, anthologist and literary historian, he has written for television, radio and numerous periodicals. He is the author of several books, including Character Parts (2003), concerning characters in Canadian literature and their real life inspirations. Amongst his anthologies are In Flanders Fields and Other Poems of the Great War (2005) and War Poems (2010). His biography of John Glassco, A Gentleman of Pleasure, was published in 2011 by McGill-Queen's University Press. Brian is a nephew of the late Rev. Canon David Busby. He lives with his wife and daughter in St Marys, Ontario.

Karl Feige

Karl Feige grew up in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, south-east of Montreal. He attended Concordia University (Hon. B. Comm.) and the University of Ottawa (M.A., Economics). He taught at the CEGEP Heritage Campus in Gatineau and the University of Ottawa. Most of his career, however, was spent in the federal civil service where he served as Senior Economist with the Department of Finance and as Chief-of-Staff at Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and at the Department of Justice Canada. He now lives in the village of Merrickville in Eastern Ontario with his wife Linda.

Adrian King-Edwards

Adrian King-Edwards is a Montreal secondhand and antiquarian book dealer specializing in literature and poetry. He has been running The Word Book Store beside McGill campus at 469 Milton Street for 36 years. For his work in serving the literary community, he won the 2009 Community Award, awarded by the Quebec Writers' Federation. When not in the store he can often be found cycling in the Annapolis Valley.

Dan Mozersky

Dan Mozersky owns and operates an on-line rare book business called Spadina Road Books and is also a part-time literary agent with thinkdo inc., a Toronto boutique brand activation agency. He formerly owned a publishing company (Patron’s Pick Publishing Inc.); was a senior vice-president at Indigo Books&Music and was the owner of Prospero Books, a retail book chain with outlets in Ottawa and Montreal. He has also done management consulting in the book industry and was an associate of Ernst & Young for a number of years. He currently resides with his wife in Toronto.

Simon Dardick

Simon Dardick is the co-publisher of Montreal’s Véhicule Press which grew out of the artist-run gallery, Véhicule Art Inc. Since 1973 the press has been publishing prize-winning poetry, fiction, and social history. Simon is the president of the Association of English Language Publishers of Quebec. In 1998 Simon and his wife and co-publisher Nancy Marrelli received the QWF Community Award. In 2001 Simon received the Janice E. Handford Small Press Award given by the Organization of Book Publishers of Ontario, to an individual who has advanced the cause of small and literary Canadian publishing.

Eli MacLaren

Eli MacLaren is a professor of Canadian literature and book history in the department of English at McGill University. He grew up in southwestern Ontario and Alberta and was formed by wilderness canoeing, classical piano music, Shakespeare, Orange Crush, and video games. His book, Dominion and Agency: Copyright and the Structuring of the Canadian Book Trade 1867–1918, was published by the University of Toronto Press in 2011. Eli is the editor of the semi-annual scholarly journal, Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada / Cahiers de la Société bibliographique du Canada. He lives in Montreal with his wife and three children