Board & Organizers

Shima Aisha Robinson is an amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton – Treaty 6) born poet and spoken word artist who embodies, with every poem and pursuit, the ancient meaning of her chosen pen name. Dwennimmen is the name of an ancient African Adinkra symbol, which means strength, humility, learning and wisdom. She brings a wealth of experience in program development and community work to the Edmonton Poetry Festival. For Dwennimmen, poetry has long been a compass, a salve, an anchor and guiding light. She looks forward to reconnecting, fostering community, and celebrating poetry together in ways that are fun, innovative, and accessible.

Raised in a mining town in the mountainous back-country of southeastern British Columbia, Paul moved to Edmonton (longer ago than he cares to remember) where he lives and writes with his wife and two children. Paul is currently the Manager of Creative Industries and Cultural Development for the City of St. Albert. For the nearly two decades prior to that, Paul worked for the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Arts Branch of the Government of Alberta.

Paul is one of the founding editors and current chapbook designer for the Olive Reading Series. His poems have appeared in Descant and Event, and the anthology Writing the Land: Alberta Through Its Poets from House of Blue Skies. His debut poetry collection, Lunatic Engine, is being published by Turnstone and is coming out this fall.

Kim Mannix is a poet, dark fiction writer, and journalist who lived in six Canadian cities before deciding to call Sherwood Park home. As a lover and supporter of local arts, she’s delighted to be part of the Edmonton Poetry Festival board. She works as an entertainment and lifestyle writer for MSN, and has had her creative efforts published in several Canadian and international journals and anthologies. She is a co-editor of Watch Your Head, a climate crisis anthology, and is deeply grateful to the earth that sustains us all.

Grayson Thate (he/him) is a poet born in amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton). He is currently studying heritage management, and hopes to go to law school in the near future. As a past Youth Poet Laureate, he has been passionate about poetry and how it brings people together for many years. With a background in policy and education, Grayson is excited to be on the Edmonton Poetry Festival board and work to connect people with poetry in ways that are innovative and accessible.

Katherine Gibson received her MLIS from McGill University in Montreal before working at the Richmond Public Library in British Columbia, Canada. After a year and half there she took up teaching English in Japan and finally settled down at the Edmonton Public Library in 2010. Katherine leads Capital City Press, EPL’s initiative to support local writers.

Alice Major founded the Edmonton Poetry Festival in 2006 while she was serving as Edmonton’s first poet laureate. (She warns all future laureates to be careful what they start!). Alice has published eleven award-winning collections of poetry, including The Office Tower Tales (which won the Pat Lowther award) and Memory’s Daughter (which received the Stephan G. Stephansson Prize). Her latest book is Welcome to the Anthropocene, which was nominated for three major awards. In 2019, she received an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Alberta. Her website is here.

Beth Dart is an Edmonton-based director, producer, lighting designer, and theatre collaborator. She is the co-Artistic Producer of award-winning indie theatre company Catch the Keys Productions, best known for Dead Centre of Town, an annual site-specific theatre experience inspired by the true crime and ghost stories of Edmonton’s past. She is the Artistic Producer of Common Ground Arts Society and Festival Director of Found Festival, Edmonton’s multidisciplinary found space and site-specific arts festival.

Beth is dedicated to collaborative creation, and has directed over 20 new works. Select directing credits include Tracks by Mac Brock & Ensemble (Vena Amoris Projects), Jezebel at the Still Point by Ainsley Hillyard, OCD, Functional, and the premiere of Gemini by Louise Casemore (Defiance Theatre), 900 Seconds by Christine Lesiak (Small Matters Productions), Fossegrim & Nøkk by Megan Dart, Leif Ingebrigtsen & Sierra Noble (Alberta Opera), and Snout (Catch the Keys/Azimuth) and Ursa Major (Catch the Keys/Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre) and Curio Shoppe (Catch the Keys) by Megan Dart. Currently, Beth is developing a new immersive musical with playwright Megan Dart and singer-songwriter Lindsey Walker titled VAULT, which will premiere in 2022.

Norma Dunning is an Inuk writer, professor, and grandmother. She has released two short story collections and one poetry collection. A book of non-fiction is scheduled for release in Spring of 2022, and her second collection of poetry is to release in 2023. She lives in Edmonton.

Bio coming soon …

Marco Melfi joined the Edmonton Poetry Festival Board in 2019. He has had poems published in The Prairie Journal, FreeFall, Funicular, 40 Below: Alberta’s Winter Anthology, and as part of the Festival’s Poetry Moves on Transit. His chapbook, In between trains, was published in 2014.

Kasia is a website developer and creative consultant. After twelve years as a freelancer running the sole proprietorship CodeWord Media Design, Kasia accepted a full-time role with Paper Leaf studio in the spring of 2022. Prior to launching her business, Kasia obtained a BA in English from the University of Alberta, and worked in marketing communications for companies in the tech and manufacturing sectors. Kasia was a co-founder of the Words with Friends Edmonton Creative Writing Collective. She also sat on the Board of Directors for the Edmonton Poetry Festival from 2013 through 2016, serving stints as both Treasurer and Communications Committee Chair. Kasia released her self-published collection, the mourning after: poems 1996-2011, in October of 2011.