Ava Gregorian – Author, Reader

I have 2 MAs and half of a PhD in Comparative and English Literature. I am now on the Island Writer Magazine team as Manuscript Developer. I write fiction and poetry, having studied with Michelle Berry, Mary di Michele, Ross Leckie, Al Moritz, and John Reibetanz. I have had work published in UC Review, Zymergy, and Fiddlehead. In 2013, my prose-poem, “Micropoesia,” won Honourable Mention in the Brick Literary Contest. I published 6 e-books on Amazon Kindle Direct, but have since withdrawn them for revision and re-publication elsewhere. My 4 poetry collections (‘Psalms,’ ‘Monogamie,’ ‘Would We Ever Again,’ and ‘YAH’) display a range of styles, and explore marginalization and its impact on socio-political and environmental processes. My serial novel in progress, called ‘Way,’ examines a scapegoat’s life in relation to global disaster, faith, and love.
As a reader (not editor), my comments will address your creative goals, within your chosen style, genre, and theme. 

Britta Gundersen – Author

Ominous: An African Journey combines roaring lions, charging elephants, angry hippos and a bad-boy ostrich with keen students, AK-47-toting soldiers, human relationships that continue across generations and memories that last a lifetime. Readers will follow the author and her husband through three years of teaching in post-independence Zimbabwe and several later trips to Southern Africa. 

Coming in spring 2025:  Island-Wise. Islands are magical, mythical places, as the people who live on them know. Follow the author as she visits and take up residence on islands across the globe.

 Britta Gundersen’s books are available from the author and on-line booksellers. For more information, visit jamesbaypublishing.com

S.M. Perkins Carr – Author

Perkins Carr’s debut novel spans Western Canada, Greece and England. It follows the story of Violet, a self-doubting twenty-four-year-old struggling with the loss of her best friend. On the island of Crete, Violet begins to heal and an unexpected romance blossoms. But when the pandemic arrives, her world is again dismantled. 

Searching for Persephone is a story of self-discovery and redemption in the midst of loss. Drawing on Greek myths and fairy folklore, the book explores themes of love, healing, cultural identity, and the nature of reality.

The book is available through Melikos Publishing, Russell Books, and various online retailers.

Hope West – Writer

Hope West’s writing conveys her deep involvement in the study of Asian philosophies. Her allegorical adventure, The Once Upon a Time of Now, won the 2024 Eric Hoffer Award for Spiritual Fiction, The First Horizon Award, an IPPY Gold Medal, a Silver Nautilus Book Award, and a Bronze Medal in the Foreword INDIES. Her limited edition art books, Incantations (photography and poetry), and Snow Changes Everything (a children’s book) both sold out. A published poet, her poem, For a Moment of Everything, won First Prize in the 2024 Victoria Writers’ Society Contest.

Connect with Hope on Instagram: @smalltempleprojects.