Books

Kingsville Writer Selected for 2023 Berton House Writers’ Residency

Fall Resident Gord Grisenthwaite

Writers’ Trust of Canada today announced three writers set to attend its 2023 Berton House Writers’ Residency program. Each writer will travel to Dawson City, Yukon to live and work for two months in the childhood home of author and Writers’ Trust co-founder Pierre Berton (1920 – 2004). Residents will receive a stipend for expenses and travel will be arranged and paid for by Writers’ Trust.

Applications for 2023 were adjudicated by authors Carleigh Baker and Greg Bechtel, and Dawsonite filmmaker Lulu Keating. Together they selected the following writers:

Gord Grisenthwaite (Kingsville, ON)(Fall Resident)Gord Grisenthwaite is an Indigenous writer from Lytton First Nation. He worked as a graphic designer before completing his MA in English literature and creative writing from the University of Windsor. His short fiction and poetry have appeared in publications like The Antigonish Review and PRISM international. His short story, “The Fine Art of Frying Eggs,” won the John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award in 2013. In 2021, Grisenthwaite’s “Splatter Patterns” was shortlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize and his debut novel, Home Waltz, was shortlisted for a Governor General’s Literary Award. Grisenthwaite lives in Kingsville, Ontario.

Maria Saba (Ottawa, ON)(Winter Resident)Maria Saba is a writer, storyteller, and arts educator. Writing in both Persian and English, she has published three books of nonfiction. Her short story manuscript, “My First Friend,” was a semi finalist for the Iowa Short Fiction Prize. The title story of the same collection was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2017 and won Scoundrel Time’s Editors’ Choice Award in 2018. Saba’s novella, “The Secret of Names,” was long listed for the Disquiet Literary Prize in 2020. She also won the PEN Canada Scholarship for Writers in Exile and the Wallace Stegner Grant for the arts. Born in Iran, Saba now lives in Ottawa.

Charlie Petch (Toronto, ON)(Summer Resident)Charlie Petch is a spoken word performer, musician, and playwright. They were Poet of Honour for the speakNORTH festival in 2017. In 2020, they won the Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for lifetime achievement in spoken word from The League of Canadian Poets. Petch’s debut poetry collection, Why I Was Late, was named one of the best books of 2021 by The Walrus and won the ReLit Award the following year. Their film, Medusa’s Children, premiered with OperaQ in 2022. Petch lives in Tkaronto (Toronto).

Together with its partners the Dawson City Community Library and Klondike Visitors Association, Writers’ Trust has committed to administering a residency that will serve equally the local community, Yukon, and Canadian writers for generations to come. To this end, the program was relaunched with a commitment to bring Indigenous authors to the community in October and November each year to honour the traditional time for storytelling for the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, traditional territory upon which Berton House is located.

Reflecting on his time in Yukon, 2022 Berton House Writer-in-Residence Paul Seesequasis said, “I have found both the house, and its location in Dawson, inspiring. It is truly a rare and unique place for writers to create and dream, surrounded by an inspired vista. I hope this residency continues to inspire many writers in the coming years.”

Writers’ Trust is working to secure sponsors for the residency to continue the tradition of Canadian authors finding inspiration in the unique environment of the North.

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