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).

Brett Balon, who has also written under the name John Peterson, was born in Regina in 1953. He studied at the University of Regina from 1971 until 1976, when he received his Bachelors of Arts (Honours). He also studied French at the University of Victoria in 1971, the CEGEP de Jonquiere in Quebec in 1973, and at the Universite de Laval, also in Quebec. He received a Master of Library Science from the University of Western Ontario in 1978 and his Ph.D. from Greenwich University, Hilo, Hawaii, in 1993.

Balon was branch supervisor at the Southeast Regional Library in Weyburn from 1978 until 1982, when he joined the City of Regina as records management supervisor.

He contributed to various anthologies such as Cracked Wheat (1984), More Saskatchewan Gold (1985), Heading Out: the New Saskatchewan Poets (1987), 200% Cracked Wheat (1992), and Black Water II (1990). He edited Survival of the Imagination: The Mary Donaldson Memorial Lectures (1993) with Peter Resch, and wrote many articles on records management, librarianship and archives for a number of different publications. Balon received an Honourable Mention in the Children's Literature category of the Saskatchewan Literary Awards for 1981.

Among his various activities, Balon co-founded and was president of the Weyburn Writers Group, chair of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, president of the Saskatchewan Library Association and a board member of Coteau Books.

Gail Dianne Bowen was born in Toronto. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto in 1964 and her Masters of Arts from the University of Waterloo in 1975, she undertook graduate research at the University of Saskatchewan.

Bowen was a lecturer in English at the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College in Saskatoon. In 1979 she and her family moved to Regina where she once more served as a lecturer, this time at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC) and the University of Regina. In 1986 she was appointed assistant professor of English at SIFC (now the First Nations University of Canada), and was Chair of the English Department for six years.

The first six books in the Joanne Kilbourn series Deadly Appearances (1990); Murder at the Mendel (1991); The Wandering Soul Murders (1992); A Colder Kind of Death (1994), winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award; A Killing Spring (1996) and Verdict in Blood (1998) have appeared as made-for-television movies with world-wide distribution. Burying Ariel (2000); The Glass Coffin (2002); The Last Good Day (2004); The Endless Knot (2006) and The Brutal Heart (2008) have met with critical and commercial success. In June 2008, Reader’s Digest named Bowen ‘Canada’s Best Mystery Novelist’.

Between 2010 and 2017 several more book in the series were published and in 2018, Sleuth: Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries was published by the University of Regina Press.

Bowen’s short story “The King of Charles Street West”, which appeared in Toronto Noir (2008) published by Akashic Books, New York, was singled out for special praise by Publishers’ Weekly.

Bowen has had four plays produced at Regina’s Globe Theatre – Dancing in Poppies (1993) which was presented in a special performance for Prince Edward, Beauty and the Beast (1993); The Tree (1994) and an adaptation of Peter Pan (1997). Manitoba Theatre for Young People chose Peter Pan as its 2000 Christmas production. The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario presented Dancing in Poppies in 2002 and Peter Pan in 2003.

Bowen’s adaptation of Doctor Doolittle was broadcast on CBC’s Showcase in April 2006, and the University of Regina produced a theatrical version of the play simultaneously. Saving Lonesome George, Bowen’s original play about the last of the Galapagos tortoises, was produced by Persephone Theatre in 2008 and will be produced by Carousel Players in 2009.

Bowen’s radio play The Word According to Charlie D was broadcast on CBC’s Showcase in October 2006. Her Long Time Listener/First Time Caller is CBC’s World Play for 2008 and was rebroadcast on CBC on May 18, 2009. She is now adapting the play for Orca’s new series, Raven Books.

Bowen was Writer in Residence for the Toronto Reference Library in May and June of 2009.

Bowen has written the introduction to “Essays on Canadian Detective Fiction” that will be published by Wilfred Laurier Press in 2009.

Lorna Crozier was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan in 1948. She graduated from W.A. Beatty Collegiate in Swift Current in 1966, studied at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus (now the University of Regina), and obtained her Bachelor of Arts in 1969. She received a Master of Arts from the University of Alberta in 1980. In addition to her university education, she attended creative writing courses at the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts at Fort San (1974-1977), and took courses in Advanced Writing and Speech Writing from the Public Service Commission.

Crozier taught high school English in rural Saskatchewan from 1970 to 1973, and taught English at the University of Regina (1976), the University of Alberta (1978-1979), and the University of Saskatchewan (1986-1991). She has been Associate Professor in the Department of Writing at the University of Victoria since 1991 and became a Distinguished Professor at the University of Victoria in 2002.

Lorna has been writer-in-residence at the University of Toronto (1988, 1989-1990), Douglas College, British Columbia (1989), the University of Lethbridge (1987), and the Regina Public Library (1984-1985), among others.

She has published 15 books of poetry and her poems have been included in dozens of journals and magazines. Crozier's work has also been featured in numerous anthologies, and her poetry and writing have resulted in her winning many prizes, such as First Prize in the CBC Radio National Poetry Competition (1987), the Western Magazine Award for Nonfiction (1989), the Governor General's Award for Poetry (1992) for Inventing the Hawk, the National Magazine Gold Medal for Poetry (1995). She has received two Pat Lowther Awards for the best book of poetry by a Canadian woman, a Canadian Author’s Association Award and a Dorothy Livesay Award. She has also published a memoir, Small Beneath the Sky.

Crozier has conducted many readings and has lectured widely in Canada and the United States, as well as England, the former Yugoslavia, France, Chile, Africa and Australia. She has been heavily involved in the writers profession, and has served on various juries and judging panels.

Crozier has Honorary Doctorates for her contributions to Canadian Literature from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina. In 2009 she was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada.

Crozier currently resides outside of Victoria with her husband, poet Patrick Lane.

Patrick Lane was born at Nelson, British Columbia on March 26, 1939 and attended high school in Vernon, British Columbia. He has written more than 20 books and is considered to be one of the foremost Canadian writers of his generation. He has held Writer-in-Residence positions across Canada and has published around the world.

Lane is associated with numerous professional writing associations and committees. He has received grants from the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council, Saskatchewan Arts Board and the British Columbia Arts Council. His poetry, fiction, and non-fiction have been translated widely and he has received many awards and prizes for them. Lane has been a critic and commentator appearing regularly on CBC and other numerous media.

Biographical Sketch: Professor, Wes D. Pearce was born in Regina, Saskatchewan (Treaty 4 territory) in 1965 and graduated from Scott Collegiate in 1983. He then earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Regina in 1988, a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction in 1992 and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Calgary in 1996. After working as a freelance designer and teaching as a sessional at the University of Calgary he returned to the University of Regina in 1997 as an Assistant Professor in the Theatre Department. The return to his alma mater coincided with the opening of the new Riddell Centre on the University of Regina Main Campus.

In 2003 he served six months as Department Head (Acting) of the Theatre Department, served as the Department Head of Theatre (2006 – 2009), Associate Dean (Undergraduate) for the Faculty of Fine Arts [later the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance] (2010 – 2018), and Associate Dean (Interdisciplinary Programs and Special Projects) for the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance (2018 – 2020). He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004 and to Full Professor in 2014.

Since 1997 he has developed and taught dozens of courses in the areas of costume and/or set design, scenography, Canadian Theatre, and popular culture. Along with Professor David Garneau, and Drs. Stephen McClatchie and Christine Ramsay he developed and offered the first interdisciplinary course in the Faculty of Fine Arts. He later collaborated on courses with Dr. Pauline Minevich and many years later he still teaches a version of the class they developed on musical theatre.

With varied research interests he has presented at dozens of conferences and has published on an equally wide variety of topics including the playwright Sharon Pollocks scenographic imagination, Sharon Pollock’s use of domestic space, elements of prairie gothic in Daniel Macdonald’s MacGregor’s Hard Ice Cream and Gas, Same-sex celebrity gossip and homophobia in theatre. In 2013 he and Jean Hillabold co-edited Out Spoken: Perspectives on Queer Identities (University of Regina Press).

As a professional scenographer he has over twenty design credits for Regina’s Globe Theatre, several productions for both Persephone Theatre (Saskatoon) and Stage West (Calgary) as well as Western Canada Theatre (Kamloops), Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary) and Prairie Theatre Exchange (Winnipeg). Selected world premieres include Us: A Coming In Musical Globe Theatre (Set and Costume Design) [2018], Key Change Globe Theatre (Set and Costume Design) [2017], The King Stag University of Regina (Costume Design) [2012], Radiant Boy University of Regina (Costume Design) [2010], MacGregor’s Hard Ice Cream and Gas Persephone Theatre (Set and Costume Design) [2005] and Woyzeck University of Regina (Set Design) [2002]. Other productions of note include Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Persephone Theatre (Costume Design) [2007] which was the first production in the brand new Rawlco Radio Hall, the first regional theatre production of Elizabeth Rex Globe Theatre (Costume Design) [2002], the 25th Anniversary production of Cruel Tears Globe Theatre (Costume Design) [1999] and The Admirable Crichton University of Regina (Costume Design0 [1997] which was the first production in the new University Theatre. His peers have honoured him with four nominations for the Saskatoon and Area Theatre Award and two nominations for Calgary’s Betty Mitchell Award all for outstanding costume design.

He has sat on the board of directors for Regina’s Globe Theatre, Saskatchewan Association of Professional Theatre Artists, Saskatchewan Drama Association, Mid America Theatre Conference, Canadian Association for Theatre Research, Associated Designers of Canada, AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan and the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Studies Association.

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.

Ven (Venkatesh) Sopher Begamudré was born in 1956 at Bangalore, India. Immigrating to Canada at the age of six, he has lived in Ottawa, Kingston and Vancouver, and currently resides in Regina.

Begamudré served with the Governor-General’s Foot Guards of the Canadian Armed Forces, Land Reserve from October 1973 until September 1974 in Ottawa and with the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada in 1973 in Vancouver. At Schiller College in Paris in 1975, he studied international administration and French. In 1977 he graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Public Administration. A Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing was obtained from Warren Wilson College in 1999.

Begamudré is a short story writer, novelist and editor. He has published numerous short stories, articles, poems, prose, essays and reviews in various journals and anthologies. Several of his short stories have been broadcast on radio and television. He has provided readings at conferences and workshops.

He has been a writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta, with the Canada-Scotland Exchange Writer-in-Residence Program in Edinburgh, and with the Markin-Flanagan Distinguished Writers Programme at the University of Calgary. He has taught creative writing at the Sage Hill Writing Experience, the University of Regina Extension Department, and the Saskatchewan School of the Arts

Anne Campbell was born in Paddockwood, Saskatchewan and attended school in Saskatoon and Hanley. She studied at the Saskatchewan School of the Arts, the University of Regina and, Drama, at the Regina Conservatory. She has worked in the area of public relations and administration for cultural and arts organizations, including the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, and the Regina Public Library where she was also administrator of community services: Literacy, adult public programming; Writer in Residence; Homebound and Visual Impairment, and a First Nations community library. Anne was named a Research Fellow of the University of Regina, Canadian Plains Research Centre for research on the Regina Five visual artist, Arthur McKay, and where she co-edited two award-winning non-fiction books. Campbell has published six collections of poetry. Her poetry and prose have been featured in numerous journals, magazines, and anthologies, and broadcast on CBC Radio. She has garnered awards for her writing including Canada Council and Saskatchewan Arts Board Awards, Saskatchewan Writers Guild Major Awards, the City of Regina Writing Award and City of Regina Heritage and Mayor’s Arts Awards. She has presented readings, talks and workshops across Canada and her musical compositions with Tom Schudel have been performed internationally.