Her short fiction has won small press awards in the US and been a finalist for national contests and awards at home in Canada including the ReLit, Descant Novella, Aurora and others. She is a Pushcart nominee and her short fiction has been taught at universities in Canada and India. She is also an editor, writing coach and creative writing instructor. Ursula was born in Tunisia and grew up in Toronto. English is her second language, German her first. She is neurodiverse, and an obsessive gardener at her hundred-and fifty-year-old house on a river in eastern Ontario. More here: https://ursulapflug.ca
Recent Programs
Ted Amsden
This week our guest is Ted Amsden. Ted went to university in Toronto graduating with an Honours BA in English Literature from Glendon College in 1972. During the early 80’s he became a writer for Gloucester Group at Maclaren Advertising producing TV, radio newspaper advertisements. But then he moved to Mexico with his wife Cynthia. For five years in San Miguel de Allende they ran a boutique manufacturing company, Ay Chihuahua, an aerobics studio called El Sweat. and at night in their kitchen Ted taught himself how to develop film and print photos. On returning to Canada with their two-year-old daughter, they settled in Cobourg enjoying small town life. Ted found a position at the Cobourg Star and for over 20 years covered all kind of events as a photo-journalist. In 2011, Ted became Cobourg’s 3rd poet Laureate and in 2012 he sat down to begin a new career as a novelist.
Shannon Linton
Shannon Linton is an indie songwriter with a powerful voice and stories to tell.
After narrowly avoiding a career in opera, she began performing and recording her own songs inspired by artists like Ani Difranco, Sarah Harmer and Carsie Blanton who aren’t afraid to speak the truth.
Shannon’s debut EP, In Spite of Everything, was released in 2022. She has played the Blue Skies Festival, Cultivate Festival, Hibernate Festival, and has opened for artists such as the Lemon Bucket Orkestra and the Angelique Francis Band. Her song At the End of the World has been played on CBC radio.
Shannon writes a weekly newsletter, Joy Just Because, and is passionate about building her local artistic community and championing young artists. You can listen to her music on Bandcamp or wherever you stream music.
Terry Fallis
This week’s episode is an encore presentation of an episode we made with Terry Fallis, in which we interviewed Terry and he reads from his tenth, and most recent novel, The Marionette.
Mia Burrus
This week we welcome Mia Musée Mia Burrus Mia is a writer and artist who lives in a restored one-room schoolhouse in the country north of Cobourg. But her passion is using words, images and found objects to explore the boundaries and spaces between what is spoken and silent, solid and ephemeral, known and unknowable, crafting poems, essays, and multi-dimensional, mixed-media artworks. Mia’s latest book, a memoir entitled As If Through a Window, was published in September 2025. This book, in a mix of genres, tells the intertwined tales of her father, and the cattle ranch that occupied half his life. Several of her assemblage artworks have been included in Juried Shows at the Colborne Art Gallery and Art Gallery of Northumberland. Her works may also be viewed at her own museum, her website!
Christopher Cameron
This week we are delighted to have Christopher Cameron join us for another visit. Christopher Cameron enjoyed a successful career as a professional opera singer, retiring in 2009 after 33 years in the business. A dozen years ago he began a new career as a freelance writer and editor. His first book, a memoir of his singing years, Dr.Bartolo’s Umbrella and Other Tales from my Surprising Operatic Life (Seraphim Editions), was published in 2017. His book of humorous fiction, Thorneside Stories: A Mix of Sun and Cloud (Iguana Books), was published in September 2022. This past fall, his one-act play Nail Polish – originally presented at the 2022 NFOTA – was performed at the Newmarket International Festival of One Act Plays, where its cast won a special award for their performance. He has written for and performed at Westben Centre for Connection and Creativity through Music, most recently a two-part presentation on hearing loss and music, a topic on which he has written extensively.
Liminal Spaces
This week’s episode features a discussion of the collaborative anthology of ekphrastic poetry, LIMINAL SPACES, with its authors, Katie Hoogendam, Kathryn MacDonald, Felicity Sidnell Reid and Gwynn Scheltema. Join us for an introduction to this form of poetry and an explanation of how the collection came together as well as readings from some of the poems in the book.
Final Holiday show for 2025
Welcome on this December 28th to the final show in our holiday schedule for 2025. This is an encore presentation of a Christmas show we made in 2017. Maureen Mullally, reads a poem that she and her late husband Bryan worked on together called Two Old Gents. Felicity Sidnell Reid shares her story, Stage Struck, Ron MacKay gives us his story, My Papa Invites Angels and Gwynn Scheltema reads her story, set in Africa, about her mother’s gardener and his search for mistletoe. We hope you enjoy this episode and wish you a Happy New Year!
Holiday Episode 3 the new show for 2025
This is our new episode for Word on the Hills for the 2025 holidays. Old friends and new join together to entertain you while you prepare for winter feasts and celebrations. There are stories, freshly written, from Ronald McKay and Christopher Cameron, music from Shannon Linton and poems from Phylliss Wright, Katie Hoogendam and Antony Di Nardo among others. Join us as we air our celebration of the holidays and wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Second Holiday Show 2025
This programme if an encore presentation of our show for December 20, 2020. Join our holiday celebration hosted by Chris Cameron and enjoy poetry from Katie Hoogendam, Kim Aubrey and Felicity Sidnell Reid, a story by Donna Wootton and music from Jessica Outram and Marie-Lynn Hammond, who both wrote songs specially for this programme. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Gwynn, Chris and Felicity.
Word on the Hills Radio Program 