THE LONG DARK

Anne Baldo lives in Windsor, Ontario. Previous fiction has appeared in Qwerty, carte blanche, the short story collection Morse Code For Romantics and a forthcoming novel, One Day, Hard and Clear (Dundurn Press, 2026).

Chris Fash is a queer, disabled fiction writer living on unceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory also known as Ottawa, Ontario. Previously published in American magazine Smoke and Mold, Chris also has a story forthcoming in Queen's Quarterly. Chris likes to write short fiction about big ideas.

J.L. Genest is a writer from the Ottawa area with a BA in English Language & Literature from Wilfrid Laurier University.  After a 25 year hiatus, she has finally decided to get serious about writing and take the great, scary leap of sharing her ideas with the world. Her earliest literary influences include L.M Montgomery, Alice Munro, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and the Brontë sisters, who she believes are among the greatest storytellers who ever lived. When she’s not writing, she enjoys exploring Canada’s waterways by kayak, spending time with family and friends, and volunteering in her community.

Lisa (she/her) is a social worker, educator, and short story writer. Her fiction has been longlisted for the Hummingbird flash fiction prize, shortlisted for the Raven short story contest, and has been published in untethered, Blank Spaces, kerning, and emerge 22 anthology.  She is a graduate of Simon Fraser’s Writer’s Studio.  Lisa lives in Uxbridge, Ontario with her partner, daughter, and dog with too many nicknames. 

Debra Kennedy (she/her) is a retired teacher, mother, grandmother, and sister rooted in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. She has been writing for decades, but more intensely in the past ten years. She is a member of the British Columbia Federation of Writers and has worked with many wonderful writing teachers and mentors. Her writing has been published in Focus on Women, Quagmire, Persimmon Tree, Dreamers, and Midstory magazines. Besides writing, she cycles, cross country skis, gardens, and plays Scrabble. More of her writing can be found at www.debrakennedy.ca.

Jamie Malina is a Toronto-based assembler of sentences - the stranger the better. When he's not imagining odd, faraway places and the people in them, he loves doing ordinary things: breathing, walking, and existing, preferably somewhere with a cottage and a lake. He is working on his debut novel.

Desiree Nippard is an English teacher by day and a writer by night. She holds a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Secondary Education, a Diploma in Technology Education, and a Masters Degree in Educational Technology from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her work has been published in Blank Spaces magazine, and her debut novel is set to hit the shelves in early 2026. She lives with her family on a self-proclaimed funny farm in Central Newfoundland.

Lisa Zeltzer is a Toronto-based Occupational Therapist. Her short works and essays have appeared in Today’s Parent, Off Topic Publishing, Scribeworth, Flash Fiction Magazine, and elsewhere. When she isn’t writing, you can find her at home with her husband, two busy kids, and probably a bunch of other people’s kids, too.