Richard Pope

This week we welcome Richard Pope. Richard was born in Toronto and lived and birded there until 2006. He is a retired professor of Russian literature and culture. Richard is a long-standing member of the Toronto Ornithological Club, The Ontario Field Ornithologists, and the Willow Beach Field Naturalists. He is the author of a number of books about birds and their relationship to humans. He and his wife, Felicity, live and bird in Cobourg, Ontario. in Cobourg, Ontario.

Brandon Hahn

This Sunday, June 15th we welcome Brandon Hahn to Word on the Hills. Brandon wears many hats. Mostly a poet, the author of a small pile of chapbooks and a self-help book called Trigger Happy, and a bit of a comedian, Brandon W Hahn has been a professional mental health advocate since 2002 and has written and spoken about mental health all over Ontario. Brandon’s most recent written effort, another self-help book, Trigger Happy Too! – Glimmer Edition is due out in late Spring of this year. His current endeavors centre on his website snackablementalhealth.ca Through this podcast and blog Brandon hopes to reach an international level, speaking and writing about mental health conditions from his personal experiences.

Karin Wells

Karin Wells is a journalist, lawyer and much acclaimed author of When Women Woke Up the Law: Inside the Cases that Changed Women’s Rights in Canada released only weeks ago. Her previous books are The Abortion Caravan short listed for the Shaughnessy Cohen award for political writing and winner of the Alison Prentice Award for women’s history and More than a Footnote: Canadian Women You Should Know. She has been recognized as one of this country’s leading radio journalists. Over her career she worked in more than fifty countries for CBC Radio making radio documentaries about subjects as diverse as post conflict resolution in Sierra Leone; dementia treatment in Denmark and opera in the English countryside. Karin Wells is also a 3-time winner of the Canadian Association of Journalists documentary award for investigative journalism. Her work regularly won international awards and has been recognized by the United Nations. In 2011 she was inducted into the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Honor Society.

Mark Whitney

Mark Whitney grew up and attended high school in Kitchener and Milton Ontario.  After earning a diploma from Sheridan College, he attended night school for an additional seven years, finally earning his accountancy credentials in 1994, solidifying his career in the financial services sector.  After 30 odd year of office drudgery, he retired in 2019 and pursued an ambition that he had harboured for decades.  He wanted to write. His wife of twenty-one years, Joanne Brooks, introduced him to Northumberland County twenty-five years ago.  The scenery and the history of the region has been an inspiration for his writing, providing the backdrop for three of his four books.

Celia McBride

This week we welcome Celia McBride.

Celia is a writer and spiritual director from the Yukon now living in Port Hope. After graduating from the Playwriting Program at the National Theatre School of Canada in 1995, she spent the next 20 years writing, directing, producing and performing in theatre and film projects both nationally and internationally. Highlights include making “Last Stop for Miles”, a feature film; co-running Sour Brides Theatre, which toured her play “So Many Doors” (Playwrights Canada Press) across Canada; being commissioned and produced by the Stratford Festival of Canada; writing and directing the Yukon’s Victory Ceremonies show for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics; and publishing a spiritual memoir called “O My God: An Un-Becoming Journey” in 2022. In 2024, Celia was part of the Creator’s Unit at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope, and her new play Lessons from Providence, was workshopped and read by professional actors as part of the Capitol’s season last year. Celia is currently seeking a publisher for her first novel, “The Yum-Yum Verse about Chinese food, dysfunctional relationships and the multiverse. Please visit her website celiamcbride.com for more.

Sharon Ramsay Curtis

This is an encore presentation of interviews and readings we made with Sharon Ramsay Curtis in 2023. She has always described her artistic interests as a “mixed bag” sampling many types of activities and learning a great deal in the process. After many years of struggling with this she has made peace with the concept and is enjoying the journey. She has successfully combined her skills as a visual artist and as writer in the production of two picture books and is now transforming them into a new format.

Bänoo Zan

This week, May 18th, we welcome Bänoo Zan winner of this year’s Freedom to Read Award given by The Writers’ Union of Canada. Bänoo Zan is a poet, translator, essayist, and poetry curator, who has published over 300 poems and three books. Songs of Exile, shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Letters to My Father was published in 2017. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), often described as ‘Canada’s most diverse and brave poetry reading and open mic series. Shab-e She’r bridges the gap between communities of poets from different ethnicities, nationalities, religions (or lack thereof), ages, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, poetic styles, voices, and visions. Bänoo calls herself a war correspondent in verse. The anthology Woman Life Freedom which she edited and curated with Cy Strom was published a few weeks ago.

April Potter

This weekend, we welcome April Potter to Word on the Hills. April is a local poet, freelance writer, and artist in Port Hope. She graduated from York University with a literature degree and also studied philosophy. She has built a freelance copywriting and marketing business, Potter Creative, since moving to Northumberland County in 2014. Her poetry is published under the name Estlin Edwards. She has writ ten for 102.1 The Edge in Toronto, Sunwing Travel, Kawartha Now, and more. Her first book of poetry will be out this year. You can find her art and postcards for sale at Purpose Thrift Shop in downtown Port Hope. She also writes local business features and theatre reviews at Featured in Northumberland, on Instagram and Facebook.