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Geoffrey Ursell is an award-winning writer of drama for stage, radio, and television, as well as of fiction, poetry, and songs.

Ursell was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and grew up in Regina, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. He received his B.A. (Hons) and M.A. from the University of Manitoba, and his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of London (England), where he studied with the acclaimed scholar Sir Frank Kermode. He once taught Canadian Literature and Creative Writing at the Universities of Manitoba and Regina, but he has been a full-time writer, composer, producer, publisher, and editor for over twenty-five years.

Geoffrey has written extensively for radio, including a five episode mystery-comedy series for CBC’s Morningside, as well as other mystery-comedy series for CBC Saskatchewan, and plays for Vanishing Point and Anthology. He has composed songs for stage and radio, and his songs were featured on a CBC television special, as well as being heard on Sunday Morning and As It Happens. He wrote the music and lyrics for the widely-produced Globe Theatre show, Superwheel (script by Rex Deverell), as well as for such plays as Black Powder: Estevan, 1931 (script by Rex Deverell), and Talking Back (script by Don Kerr). Ursell has also written or co-written several plays with songs for young audiences, including What Do You Wanna Bet?, The Willow Bunch Giant, and The Prairie Jungle Show.

Trap Lines, his first poetry collection, received a Commonwealth Poetry Prize Special Commendation. His second collection of poetry is The Look-Out Tower, and he also has a collection of short stories, Way Out West! His songs, poems, and stories have appeared in many Canadian periodicals and anthologies.

Ursell’s novel, Perdue, won the Books in Canada Best First Novel Award, and his stage plays have won three national playwriting awards. His first full-length play, The Running of the Deer, produced by the University of Alberta Drama Department and published by Playwrights Canada, won the Clifford E. Lee National Playwriting Award. Saskatoon Pie!, a musical comedy, published by Coteau Books, won Persephone Theatre’s National Playwriting Competition, and was later remounted twice and toured Saskatchewan with great success. It has since had many other productions.

Ursell has been Editor-in-Chief of Grain Magazine and is a founding member and publisher of Coteau Books.

On March 1, 2013 the name of the Canadian Plains Research Center (CPRC) Press was changed to the University of Regina Press and launched on June 1, 2013 at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences held in Victoria, B.C.. The first Director of the University of Regina Press was Bruce Walsh who planned to “build on the publishing program already in place—including books on [Indigenous] issues, the environment, and regional themes—while strengthening the scholarly apparatus of the press.” At its launch the University of Regina Press had a mandate to publish 30 books a year in both academic and trade formats. Since their launch in 2013, the University of Regina Press has published eight national bestsellers, including: “In My Own Moccasins” by Helen Knott (2020); “After the War: Surviving PTSD and Changing Mental Health Culture” by Stéphane Grenier, with Adam Montgomery (2018); “Speaking in Cod Tongues: A Culinary Journey” by Lenore Newman (2017); “Firewater: How Alcohol Is Killing My People (And Yours)” by Harold Johnson (2016); “Otto & Daria: A Wartime Journey into No Man's Land” by Eric Koch (2016); “The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir” by Joseph Auguste Merasty, with David Carpenter (2015); “Children of the Broken Treaty” by Charlie Angus (2015); and “Clearing the Plains” by James Daschuk (2014).

Brian Stockton was born in North Battleford in 1964 and grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan. He began his media career as a broadcaster with CKCK Radio in Regina and in 1984 was hired by Ron MacLean, then program director at CKRD Radio in Red Deer, Alberta.

After his time in Red Deer, Brian returned to Regina and attended the University of Regina where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in film and Video studying under Professor Jean (Hans) Oser, a key figure in the early sound cinema of Europe. As a student at York University, Brian earned an MFA in film production and was a director resident at Norman Jewison’s Canadian Film Centre. While at the CFC he wrote and directed the “The Weight of the World” in 1994, which was a multi-award winning short film that screened at numerous international festivals and was aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States.

Stockton has created a number of short films: notably the animated short film The Blob Thing, which spawned numerous short sequels that have been shown on television and at festivals around the world. Brian worked with his grandmother on the short film The Final Gift (1990), which was recognized as one of the ten best short films at the Ann Arbor Film Festival by Los Angeles Film Forum.

Stockton has also worked on a series of autobiographical short films The Epic Story of My Life, which have premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. This series includes Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Part 2 (That’s My Wonderful Town), which won the grand jury prize for best documentary at the Temecula Valley Film Festival in California.

Stockton moved back to Regina after living in Toronto for nine years. He has taught filmmaking at workshops across Canada and was an innovative instructor at the University of Regina. Brian was invited to screen a program of his short films at the Idaho International Film Festival, where he created the Instant Animation Workshop. Participants of this workshop wrote, prepared, and shot a stop-motion animated film in one afternoon. He retired from the University of Regina film department as an Associate Professor in 2022. Brian Stockton is currently the co-host of The Clean Energy Show podcast, which began in 2020 and has been releasing weekly episodes since then.

Eugene Stickland was born in Regina on September 24, 1956. He is the son of Leonard and Stella (Hunter) Stickland. He earned his Bachelor of Arts Honours in English at the University of Regina in 1980 and his Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre from York University in 1984. He is the father of artist Johanna Stickland who currently resides in Europe. He currently resides in Calgary.

He was Writer-in-Residence at St. Mary’s University in Calgary from 2010 – 2016, where he continues to teach creative writing courses. From 2004 – 2009 Eugene wrote a feature weekly column for the Calgary Herald. He was Playwright-in-Residence at Alberta Theatre Projects from 1994 – 2004. He taught at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College at the University of Regina in 1990-91. Stickland was Playwright-in-Residence at Act IV Theatre Co. in Toronto from 1984 to 1987 and Communications Coordinator at Frontier College in Toronto from 1984 to 1989. He was a freelance writer for radio and television from 1989 to 1992. He was also a Resident Playwright at the National Theatre School in Montreal and as a Canadian delegate to the World Interplay Theatre Festival for Young Playwrights he traveled to Townsville, Australia.

His productions include: Appetite (2000), Closer and Closer Apart (1999), Noel de Force (Some Assembly Required French translation by Rene Gingras and produced by Campaign Jean Duceppe) (1999), The Hen House (1986), Quartet (1998), A Guide to Mourning, (1998 and 2000), Sitting on Paradise, (1996 and 1999), Excavations (1995 and 2000) and Some Assembly Required (1994 and 1999). Two plays: Sitting on Paradise and A Guide to Mourning were published at Red Deer College Press in 1999 and Some Assembly Required with Coteau Books in 1995. All Clear was written in 2004 and translated into Arabic in 2009 and another play, Queen Lear was produced in Istanbul in Turkish translation, presented by Kenter Theatre in 2009. It ran for over two years in Istanbul and throughout Turkey.

Other publications include Midlife (2002), Writer’s Block (2008) and Queen Lear (2010). His first novel, The Piano Teacher (2015) was awarded the W. O. Mitchell Award by the City of Calgary in 2016.

Awards include: the Betty Mitchell Award for the 1997-98 Season in the categories of Best New Play, Best Performance by a Supporting Actress (Val Pearson), Best Director (Bob White) and Outstanding Production of a Play for A Guide to Mourning; Governor-General’s Award Drama finalist for Some Assembly Required in 1995; and Alberta Playwriting Award for Excavations in 1995; W.O Mitchell Award for The Piano Teacher, 2016.

He is a former Board member of Frontier College in Toronto, past president of the Alberta Playwrights’ Network, a member of the Playwrights Union of Canada, as well as a Founding Member of the Auburn Theatre Practitioners Circle.

Gabriel (Gabe) Prendergast was born in Ngaruawahia, New Zealand, to parents Maurice and Colleen on January 23, 1934.

He spent 4 years studying law at the University of Auckland before being bitten by the ‘theatre bug’. After a three month trip across Asia in 1960 Gabe discovered that he’d been accepted as a senior directing student at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England.

After graduation, with no real prospects for employment and a new baby, Gabe and wife Audrey decided to stay in Bristol at the Theatre School as an assistant stage manager and learn about every aspect of the theatre. During 11 months he played 20 different roles and in 1964 he helped run the company’s tour of Europe and Israel and also became company manager of the Little Theatre (a subsidiary operation of the Old Vic). In 1968 he moved to the Nottingham Playhouse as manager and stage director of the repertory company and helped produce 11 shows in 9 months.

In 1969 a teaching position opened up in the Drama Department at the University of Regina, Regina Campus. Though he knew nothing of Regina except ‘that it was a place of sub-zero temperature’ Prendergast accepted the job and he and his family moved to Regina.

Prendergast retired in 1998 from the Department of Theatre at the University of Regina. He taught stage management and technical theatre training courses, was involved in over 200 productions and was, for a time, the department head. Many of his former students have gone on to enjoy professional careers all across North America.

Gabriel shared the last years of his life with his partner Sharon Blue, enjoying his four daughters and his grandchildren, he retired in 1998.

Gabriel Prendergast, Professor Emeritus, was awarded the Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology (CITT) Educational Achievement Award in 2000, this annual award recognizes longstanding career achievement in a technical or related discipline within the Canadian cultural industries.

In 2002 he was inducted into the Margaret Woodward Memorial Saskatchewan Theatre Hall of Fame.

Thelma Poirier grew up on a ranch in southern Saskatchewan and has since spent her adult life on ranches near Fir Mountain, Saskatchewan. She moved to Glentworth 2004 and writes about the land, the animals and vegetation of Southwestern Saskatchewan and ranching. She has published poetry collections titled Grasslands, The Private Hearings (1990), Double Visions (1984), Rock Creek Blues (1998), two books for young readers: Children of the Wood Mountain Uplands, The Bead Pot and a creative non-fiction memoir, Rock Creek. In 2012 Poirier won the Sask Poetry Award for Rock Creek Blues.

Poirier has contributed to portions of the Parks Canada publication, .Field Guide to the Grasslands National Park and has edited several books about ranching, among them: Beyond the Range, Cowgirls: 100 Years of Writing the Range (2002), Grass Roots, Wood Mountain Uplands and A Voice of Her Own (2005).

Other publications include Rodeo Kids (1998), and most recently The Grasslanders: Ranch Stories from Grasslands National Park to be published in 2017.

In 2012 she was the winner of the Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry and shortlisted for the Acorn-Plantos Award.