Ships in the Night by Ameer Idreis (ON) – Ameer Idreis is a writer, playwright, and urbanist with a passion for storytelling steeped in and interrogating culture and identity. Releasing his debut novel in 2012, Ameer has been writing ever since– penning three novels, several academic and popular articles, and most recently working on both award-winning plays and plays in-development. With a Master of Science in Planning from the University of Toronto, he brings this perspective to his exploration of both urban environments and fiction. Writing and urbanism aside, he enjoys watching coming-of-age movies, exploring forest trails, cooking his favourite Palestinian meals, and curating niche playlists. 

Diggers by Donna-Michelle St. Bernard (ON) – Donna-Michelle St. Bernard aka Belladonna the Blest is an emcee, playwright, and agitator. Her main body of work, the 54ology, includes The First Stone, Give It Up, The Smell of Horses, Diggers, Cake, Sound of the Beast, A Man A Fish, Dark Love, Roominhouse, Salome’s Clothes and Gas Girls. Commissioned works include Reaching for Starlight (Geordie Theatre), Say the Words (Wrecking Ball), The House You Build (GTNT). Opera libretti include Forbidden (Afarin Mansouri/Tapestry Opera), Oubliette and Nucleosynthesis (Ivan Barbotin/Tapestry Opera). DM has collaborated on the creation of The Only Good Indian with Jivesh Parasram and Tom Arthur Davis, Hope Is a Story with Sunny Drake, They Say He Fell with Nir Bareket and 501: Toronto in Transit with Justin Manyfingers and Bob Naismith. She is co-editor with Yvette Nolan of the Playwrights Canada Press anthologies Refractions: Solo and Refractions: Scenes and editor of Indian Act: Residential School Plays.

Soft Magical Tofu Boys by Kevin Wong (ON) – Kevin Wong (Composer & Co-Lyricist) is a composer-lyricist, singer/musician, and dramaturg. His musicals include Recurring John: A Song Cycle, STAR! (ving): A Collection of Songs, Polly Peel (with Julie Tepperman), Out of Stock, Drama 101 (with Steven Gallagher), In Real Life (with Nick Green), Believers (with Ali Joy Richardson) and Soft Magical Tofu Boys. Kevin streams online concerts weekly on the streaming service Twitch (twitch.tv/kevinywong). He is a member of the vocal group Asian Riffing Trio (with Chris Tsujiuchi and Colin Asuncion) and is currently part-time faculty at Sheridan College. As of 2023, he is the Creative Lead on the Musical Stage Company’s UnCovered concert series. Most recently, he can be heard on the live album UnCovered: The Music of ABBA (with The Musical Stage Company) and his own albums Small Ways to Move and Covers (available on streaming services everywhere). 

Recipe for Change by Makambe K. Simamba (ON) – Makambe K Simamba is a Zambian-born, Caribbean-raised award-winning playwright and actor. As a playwright, her solo work includes the Dora Award-Winning Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers, and Little Brothers and A Chitenge Story. Her works in progress have been supported by The Stratford Festival, Banff Playwright’s Lab, Downstage Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, b current performing arts, Citadel theatre, Obsidian Theatre, Green Thumb Theatre, and more. Makambe is also a Dora Award Winning Actor who can be found on both stage and screen. She was the 2020/21 Urjo Kareda Artist in Residence at the Tarragon Theatre, and the co-host of Cahoots Theatre’s Blackstage Pass Podcast. Makambe’s intention as an artist is to be of service through her ability to tell stories. 

Innocents by Rose Napoli (ON) – Rose Napoli is an actor and author of six plays including Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells) nominated for the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play. Her musical adaptation of Mavis Gallant’s The Carrette Sisters with composer Suzy Wilde was nominated for the Dora for Outstanding New Musical (as part of Musical Stage Company’s RETOLD series). She is currently working on new theatre projects with Crows, Tarragon, and MSC. Onstage, she most recently played the title characters in Kat Sandler’s Wildwoman (Soulpepper Theatre) and her own play, Mad Madge (produced by Nightwood at The Theatre Centre). Onscreen, she has developed television shows with CBC, Bell/Crave, Cameron Pictures, Shaftesbury, and Circle Blue Entertainment. She is an alumna of the Canadian Film Centre, where she now teaches. 

Deepwater by Dan Bray (NS) – Dan Bray (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist currently residing in beautiful Punamu’kwati’jk (Dartmouth). As founder and artistic director of The Villains Theatre, he has written, directed, and adapted many shows including Deepwater, Shakespeare’s Time Machine, Hänsel und Gretel in der Garten von Edible Horrors, Observatory Mansions, International Waters, and Zomblet. He is an 8-time Robert Merritt Award nominee, the 2022 Merritt Award winner for “Outstanding Adaptation by a Nova Scotia Playwright” (Hänsel und Gretel), and a 2023 East Coast Music Award nominee for “Children’s Entertainer of the Year” (Dinostories); similarly, many of his original Halifax Fringe plays have won similar festival awards including “Best Playwright” (The Return to Baker Street, 2016 and Criminal Negligee, 2012), “Best Comedy” (The Return to Baker Street), and “Best Family Show” (Wake Up, Rosie! 2012). He has taught Playwriting at Theatre Antigonish, and his work has been performed across the Maritimes, as well as in British Columbia and Ontario. 

Gringas by Mercedes Isaza Clunie (ON) – Mercedes Isaza Clunie is a queer, Chilean Canadian award-winning playwright, actor, and poet from Toronto. She holds a BFA in Acting from York University where she wrote and directed two of her own plays Splinters (2023) and Prude (2022). Mercedes’ work explores topics such as girlhood, culture, sexuality, and language through diverse formats that both disrupt traditional conventions and celebrate the essence of theatre. She is currently a member of Paprika Festival’s Playwriting Unit and has recently won the Wildfire Playwriting runner-up prize for her play Gringas which she plans to mount at Toronto and Hamilton Fringe this year. firstborntheatre.com @mechemonkey 

Leahdawn Helena (she/they/nekm). Born and raised on the west coast of Newfoundland, Leahdawn has been involved with theatre, film and radio since her early teens, though her first and most secret love has always been writing.  An actor and director by training, her most recent stage appearance was in Meghan Greeley’s To The Girls at the 2021 Stephenville Theatre Festiva. She also had the pleasure of directing Petrina Bromley last year in Elizabeth Hick’s Hearty at 80 for PerSIStence Theatre. She began to pursue professional writing after receiving an award from the Newfounland Arts and Letters competition in 2020 for her screenplay Ruthless.  Proudly L’nu, and a member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaw, she also holds a BA in Sociocultural Studies and a BFA in Theatre from Memorial University, Grenfell Campus, which she puts to use as a freelance Indigenous Sociocultural Consultant for the St. John’s Arts community.

J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing was founded in Winnipeg in 1992 and published four drama titles the following year; it now publishes an average of ten titles annually in the genres of drama, poetry, and literary non-fiction. We have established not only national but international sales and distribution networks and built an active backlist of close to 300 titles. Our books have won numerous prizes including Governor General’s Literary Awards, Canadian Authors Association Awards, provincial book awards from several provinces, the LAMBDA Literary Award, and more.