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Charles Henry (Marty) Gervais was born in Windsor in 1946. He received a BA degree from the University of Guelph and later studied writing under Morley Callaghan at the University of Windsor, where he received an MA in Creative Writing. Gervais has undertaken many roles in the arts community. He established Black Moss Press in 1969, one of the earliest and most enduring literary publishers in Canada. Gervais continues to lead Black Moss Press in publishing new titles of poetry, novels, non-fiction, and anthologies.

He was also an award-winning journalist with the Windsor Star, for 35 years, beginning his career in 1974 and retiring in 2008. He was a special correspondent, based in Iraq for three months in 2007. He continues to write "My Town" column on a freelance basis. His books, often concerned with the history of the Windsor area, including Baldoon (1976, a play written with James Reaney), The Rumrunners (1980), The Fighting Parson (1983), The Border Police (1992), and, more recently, Keeping with Tradition: The Working Man's Choir, Forty Years of Song with Il Coro Italiano (2002). His first published novel, Reno, appeared in 2005 from Mosaic Press. Another book, Taking My Blood, charting his time in a hospital, and including photographs he took while he was there, came out in 2005. In addition to being the author of many books of poetry (the most recent The Sky Above [2024]), he was named the first Poet Laureate of the City of Windsor in 2011. He was the resident writing professional at the University of Windsor and managing editor of the Windsor Review. Gervais is also a trained photographer. His exhibition entitled "A Show of Hands: Boxing on the Border" documented the life of young boxers on the Canada-U.S border.

Ellen Seligman was an editor of Canadian fiction who served as McClelland & Stewart’s Editorial Director of Fiction from 1987 on, and eventually, Vice-President (2012). Seligman edited many of McClelland & Stewart’s most noteworthy books during her tenure, including works by Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Leonard Cohen, Rohinton Mistry, Anne Michaels, and others.

Seligman was born and raised in New York City (Manhattan). She attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English. She began her publishing career in New York City, continued it in London, England, and moved to Canada in 1976. By 1977, she was hired as a senior editor at McClelland and Stewart, where she was responsible for a range of books, including non-fiction, memoirs, poetry, and art.

Seligman became Editorial Director of Fiction in 1987. Following this appointment, she took on primary responsibility for acquiring and editing much of McClelland & Stewart’s fiction list. Books Seligman worked on won Canada’s top literary prizes, including the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Prize, and the Giller Prize. Seligman’s books also won or were shortlisted for prestigious international prizes such as the Booker Prize, the Orange Prize, and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Seligman worked with Sandra Birdsell, David Adams Richards, John Steffler, Shyam Selvadurai, Jane Urquhart, M.G. Vassanji, Guy Vanderhaeghe, and many others.

In 2000, McClelland & Stewart donated 75% of their shares to the University of Toronto; the remaining 25% were sold to Random House of Canada Ltd. In the same year, Seligman was promoted to the position of Publisher (Fiction). In 2011, Random House purchased the remaining 75% of the company to become the sole owner. By 2012, Seligman was named Vice-President of McClelland & Stewart, a position she held until her death in 2016.

In addition to her work in publishing, Seligman was an active member of PEN Canada, and from 2009-2011 she served as the organization’s president.

Seligman won many editorial and professional awards throughout her career, including the Order of Ontario (2008) and the Canadian Booksellers Association’s Editor of the Year award.

Seligman was married to James Polk.

Bernadette Ryan is a writer, academic teacher, radio host, and poet who predominantly publishes under the pen name Bernadette Rule. Born in 1951, Ryan grew up in Kentucky. In 1973, she received a B.A. from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky with a double major in English and History and a minor in Education. In 1975, she received an M.A. in English from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. After graduating, she moved to Ontario, Canada, where she began writing, editing, and teaching.

Ryan has published ten collections of poetry, most recently, The Window Washer of Chartres (Paradise North Press, 2023) and Deep Breath (Frog Hollow Press, 2021). In 2021, she released her first non-fiction novel, Dark Fire (Ironing Board Press, 2021), which was shortlisted for a 2022 Hamilton Literary Award and a Whistler Independent Book Award. In 2023, she published her second non-fiction novel, The Arithmetic of Color (Ironing Board Press, 2023). She has received two Short Works Prizes, one for poetry and one for creative nonfiction, and the 2017 City of Hamilton Arts Award for Writing.

In addition to writing, Ryan taught at McMaster University in the Continuing Education Writing Certificate Program from the 1990s to 2006. She also taught English as a second language at Mohawk College from 2006 to 2019, as well as various community workshops and events around the Greater Hamilton Area.

Ryan has been involved in many local Hamilton arts organizations and activities, including hosting the Art Waves podcast series from 2008 to 2021 on the Mohawk College radio station (101.5FM). For the Art Waves program, Ryan interviewed artists, photographers, musicians, authors, and event organizers from the Greater Hamilton Area. Ryan was also an executive at the Hamilton Poetry Centre, and from 2018-2025, she served as president of the Hamilton Association for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art (HAALSA).

Sources:

Art Waves: “A History & Some Highlights”. Article by Bernadette Rule. Issue 14.1, 2021. https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/300/hamilton_arts_and_letters/2021_14-1/samizdatpress.typepad.com/hal_magazine_issue_14-1/art-waves-by-bernadette-rule-7.html

HA&L Biographical Sketch: “Bernadette Rule”. Issue 14.1, 2021. https://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/300/hamilton_arts_and_letters/2021_14-1/samizdatpress.typepad.com/hal_magazine_issue_14-1/hal-biographical-sketch-bernadette-rule.html

Bernadette Rule “Radio”. https://www.bernadetterule.ca/radio

Library of Congress Authorities. https://authorities.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?AuthRecID=2117922&v1=1&HC=1&SEQ=20241108113011&PID=GUVdRyZBwRzG7UAVJeBAJFag-1RBf

The Arty Crowd. “Bernadette Rule”. https://theartycrowd.ca/artist_profile/bernadette-rule/

Bernadette Ryan (Rule) Fonds, Box 1, Files 3, 8-17; Boxes 2-3.

Sylvia Nickerson is an award-winning comic artist and writer, as well as a historian of mathematics and science.

Nickerson trained in visual arts at Mount Allison University and Etobicoke School of the Arts. In her early career, she worked as a freelance illustrator for clients such as The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Washington Post, and others. From 2004 to 2010, she also contributed monthly illustrations to The Dominion, a co-operatively run media organization publishing grassroots Canadian journalism online.

Nickerson’s first book, All We Have Left, Is This (Ca$ino Press) was released in 2018. The book is a collection of fourteen short comic stories about daughterhood, marriage, motherhood, desire, religion, assault, loneliness, and aging. Following the publication of this volume, Nickerson was nominated for the Doug Wright Spotlight Award (“the Nipper”) for best emerging comic talent in 2019.

In 2019, Nickerson published Creation (Drawn & Quarterly), an exploration of gentrification in Hamilton, Ontario from the perspective of an artist and mother. Subsequently, Nickerson received the Nipper Doug Wright Award in 2020. Nickerson has since served as the artist in residence at the Art Gallery of Hamilton (2020-2021).

Nickerson is also a historian of mathematics and science; in 2014, she completed a Ph.D. at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto. She was a postdoctoral researcher at York University from 2014-2017, where she worked on the editorial project “The Correspondence of John Tyndall and Science and Religion: Exploring the Spectrum.” Nickerson teaches courses at the University of Toronto and McMaster University.

Bernadette Ryan is a writer, academic teacher, radio host, and poet who predominantly publishes under the pen name Bernadette Rule. Born in 1951, Ryan grew up in Kentucky. In 1973, she received a B.A. from Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky with a double major in English and History and a minor in Education. In 1975, she received an M.A. in English from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. After graduating, she moved to Ontario, Canada, where she began writing, editing, and teaching.

Ryan has published ten collections of poetry, most recently, The Window Washer of Chartres (Paradise North Press, 2023) and Deep Breath (Frog Hollow Press, 2021). In 2021, she released her first non-fiction novel, Dark Fire (Ironing Board Press, 2021), which was shortlisted for a 2022 Hamilton Literary Award and a Whistler Independent Book Award. In 2023, she published her second non-fiction novel, The Arithmetic of Color (Ironing Board Press, 2023). She has received two Short Works Prizes, one for poetry and one for creative nonfiction, and the 2017 City of Hamilton Arts Award for Writing.

In addition to writing, Ryan taught at McMaster University in the Continuing Education Writing Certificate Program from the 1990s to 2006. She also taught English as a second language at Mohawk College from 2006 to 2019, as well as various community workshops and events around the Greater Hamilton Area.

Ryan has been involved in many local Hamilton arts organizations and activities, including hosting the Art Waves podcast series from 2008 to 2021 on the Mohawk College radio station (101.5FM). For the Art Waves program, Ryan interviewed artists, photographers, musicians, authors, and event organizers from the Greater Hamilton Area. Ryan was also an executive at the Hamilton Poetry Centre, and from 2018-2025, she served as president of the Hamilton Association for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art (HAALSA).

McMaster University was founded in 1887 in Toronto, Ont. and named after Senator William McMaster who had bequeathed sufficient funding to endow an Christian institution of higher learning. It opened in Toronto in 1890. Inadequate facilities and the gift of land in Hamilton prompted the institution to relocate in 1930. Until 1957 the Governors of the University were elected by the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec. In that year, the University became a non-denominational institution.

The head of McMaster University was given the title of Chancellor until 1950 when George P. Gilmour was given the title of President and Vice-Chancellor and a new Chancellor, E. Carey Fox was chosen. Gilmour had been Chancellor of McMaster University since 1941. Since 1950, the following individuals have served as presidents of McMaster University: George P. Gilmour, 1950-1961; Henry G. Thode, 1961-1972; Arthur N. Bourns, 1972-1980; Alvin A. Lee, 1980-1990; Geraldine A. Kenney-Wallace, 1990-1995; Peter J. George, 1995-2010; Patrick Deane, 2010-2019; David H. Farrar, 2019-2025; Susan Tighe, 2025-present.

The head of McMaster University was given the title of Chancellor until 1950 when George P. Gilmour was given the title of President and Vice-Chancellor and a new Chancellor, E. Carey Fox was chosen. Gilmour had been Chancellor of McMaster University since 1941.

Since 1950, the following individuals have served as presidents of McMaster University: George P. Gilmour, 1950-1961; Henry G. Thode, 1961-1972; Arthur N. Bourns, 1972-1980; Alvin A. Lee, 1980-1990; Geraldine A. Kenney-Wallace, 1990-1995; Peter J. George, 1995-2010; Patrick Deane, 2010-2019; David H. Farrar, 2019-2025; Susan Tighe, 2025-present.

Dianne Woodman began her work in the publishing industry in 1964 when she was hired as the Edmonton representative for McClelland & Stewart. From 1972-1974 she worked as their publicity director in Toronto, before becoming the Western rep for Stanton, MacDougall and Hunt. In 1976 she opened Village Bookshop and Volume Two in Edmonton.

Beginning in 1984, she began to record interviews with authors and others in the industry in an effort to preserve their memories and experiences.

George Bernard Shaw, playwright, was born on 26 July 1856 in Dublin, Ireland and educated at the Wesley Connexional School. He began his writing career as a novelist. His first play, Arms and the Man, was produced in 1894. He went on to become a prolific playwright and the chief dramatist of the twentieth century in the English language. He died at his home, Ayot St. Lawrence, Hertfordshire, on 2 November 1950.

William Douw Lighthall, lawyer, historian, novelist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, and editor was born on 27 December 1857 in Hamilton, Ontario. He was educated at McGill University. He practised law in Montreal from 1881-1944, became a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1902, Mayor of Westmount, Quebec from 1900 to 1903, and president of the Canadian Authors Association in 1930.

His first novel, The Young Seigneur; or, Nation-making, using the pen name of Wilfrid Châteauclair, was published in 1888. The next year his poetry anthology, Songs of the Great Dominion: Voices from the Forests and Waters, the Settlements and Cities of Canada was published. His Canada: A Modern Nation was published in 1904. In 1933 The Person of Evolution: The Outer Consciousness, The Outer Knowledge, The Directive Power, Studies of Instinct as Contribution to a Philosophy of Evolution was published. Lighthall died on 3 August 1954.

H.C. Hass was a Flight Officer with the RCAF (14293) in the Special Ops division. This information provided by the Air Crew Remembered Project.

The International Union of Students (IUS) was a worldwide nonpartisan association of university student organizations. The IUS was the umbrella organization for 155 students' organizations across 112 countries and territories representing approximately 25 million students. It was recognized by the United Nations granting the IUS a consultative status in UNESCO. The primary aim of the IUS was to defend the rights and interests of students to promote improvement in their welfare and standard of education and to prepare them for their tasks as democratic citizens. It collapsed in the 2000s due to an unreliable membership system and a lack of grassroots engagement.

Tools for Peace was formed to provide humanitarian aid to Nicaragua. It grew out a visit of a group of fishermen from British Columbia to Nicaragua in 1981. On their return to Canada they began to gather supplies to help a Nicaraguan fishing village. By 1983 Tools for Peace had been formally organized with a head office in Vancouver and branches across Canada. In the spring of 1984 members of the El Salvadorean Committee in Hamilton, Ont. decided to became active in collecting goods for Nicaragua and joined Tools for Peace. The Hamilton group concentrated on collecting school supplies as well as donating cash. They also sponsored speakers from Nicaragua. Although the Hamilton group was still active as late as 1995, the Vancouver head office had been closed sometime before that. A longer history of the organization, written by Jessie Kaye, is available in hard copy.

Donald Francis Galloway was born on 9 August 1915 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, the son of Captain John S. Galloway and his wife, Frances. His siblings were John (Jack), Albert (Red), Bruce, Gordon and Leona. Don and Bruce, the second and third sons, joined up together in 1940 with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Within a few weeks Don had left the Army. He re-enlisted for a second time in July 1941 in Toronto. He did his basic training in Brantford, Ontario, and his advanced training with the Canadian Armoured Corps at Camp Borden. He went to the United Kingdom in March 1942 and in July was assigned to the 10th Armoured Regiment (Fort Garry Horse). He took part in D-Day as the co-driver of a tank in Squadron B. Four days later the tank was hit by a German shell; the driver, Michael Marchinsky, was killed; Don was badly wounded. He began his recuperation at Basingstoke Neurological and Plastic Surgery hospital in Hampshire, England. He returned to Canada in September 1944 on the hospital ship Lady Nelson. He got engaged to Catharine (Mickie) Carroll in October. On 25 June 1945 they married. The couple had two daughters, Sheila Turcon and Susan Turner. Don died on 16 May 1976. Mickie died on 8 June 2023.

Don’s four brothers also served in the military. Albert (“Red”), the first to enlist, joined the Royal Canadian Engineers. He served in England, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. Bruce later served the Highland Light Infantry of Canada. He died in a road accident in Soest, the Netherlands, on 23 June. He was buried in Hilversum, a civilian cemetery, on 26 June 1945 with his brothers, Red and Gordon, in attendance. Gordon, the youngest brother, had enlisted in February 1943. He served with the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment in England and Italy. He was later with the No. 16 Special Employment Company in Belgium. The last brother to join the forces in 1945 was Jack, the oldest, who was married with two children. He served with the Royal Canadian Engineers in Canada. Don’s cousin, Olney (Jack) Barker served with the American military in the Pacific.

Antonio D'Alfonso was born in Montreal in 1953. He attended English and French schools and studied at Loyola College where he earned a B.A. in Communication Arts in 1975. He completed an M.Sc. in Communications Studies from Université de Montréal. D’Alfonso completed a Ph.D. in 2012. He received an Honorary Doctorate from Athabasca University in 2016.

In1978 he founded Guernica Editions, where he edited 450 books by authors from around the world. The company is dedicated to the bridging of cultures in Canada and publishes both original works and translations in three languages: English, French, and Italian. In 1982 in collaboration with three writers he founded the trilingual magazine Vice Versa and in 1986 they founded the Association of Italian-Canadian writers. As an author himself, he has published over 20 books in French and English. He has won the Trillium Award for his novel, Un vendredi du mois d'août in 2005. He is also an independent filmmaker and scriptwriter. In 2010 his film Bruco won the Best Foreign Film and Best International Director of a Feature Film at the New York International Film and Video Festival (Los Angeles). He has lived in Mexico City, Rome and Toronto. He has taught at University of Toronto and University of California, San Diego and presently teaches film in the French Department at McGill University.

James A. “Jim” Lord was born in Dublin in 1914, the fifth of seven children. His father, also James, was an accountant and his mother was a dressmaker. The family immigrated to Canada in 1921, first to Flamborough, then to Hamilton (Herkimer St.). In Hamilton, James Sr. died in 1924 when Jim was ten. At the age of sixteen, Jim left school to help the family, working at Wright’s Hardware on James North, then at Stelco.

With rumblings of war growing louder, Jim took night classes on the theory of electrical equipment. He met Elsie Grace Manewell at All Saints Anglican church, and they were married on 10 April 1942, just before Jim enlisted with the RCAF. His night class preparations made him a prime candidate for the role of radar technician. He completed training in the US and Canada before being sent overseas. He spent the majority of the war in Wick, Scotland at one of the radar stations there. These sites monitored for incoming bombing runs.

After returning home in November 1945, he returned to his job at Stelco. He and Elsie had three children: Jack, Bill, and Bob. Despite leaving school early, his passion for learning continued throughout his life. He finished his high school degree through correspondence, which he’d begun while overseas, and became an accountant in 1950. He worked for General Smelting, later moving into purchasing and personnel, until his retirement in 1979. He earned a scholar of theology diploma by correspondence from England, and in 1960, he was ordained as an Anglican deacon. He volunteered with St. Mark’s in downtown Hamilton and St. Margaret’s. After he retired, he attended McMaster University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 and an M.A. at the age of 70 (see his M.A. thesis here). In addition to academic writing, he wrote and published an epic poem in honour of Terry Fox, “The Song of Alopeix.”

Lord had a great love of the outdoors and would often go on long walks and hiking trips with his dog. He died of heart disease at the age of 86.

Martyn Burke (1942-) is a novelist, journalist, film director, documentarian, and screenwriter. He graduated from McMaster with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences (Economics) in 1964. After graduation, he travelled to Vietnam as an independent freelance journalist covering the war. His dispatches were printed in the Toronto Telegram “Martyn Burke’s Vietnam War Diary,” and later became the basis of his first work of fiction. He is the author of several fiction books: The Laughing War (1980), Ivory Joe (1991), Tiara (1995), The Commissar’s Report (1984), The Shelling of Beverly Hills (2000), The Truth about the Night (2006), and Music for Love or War (2015). Following the Vietnam War, Burke returned to Canada to work as a producer at CBC television.

Burke is best known as a documentarian and his work has been broadcast by the CBC, BBC in the United Kingdom, TF-1 in France and CBS's 60 Minutes. In 1977, he co-produced Connections: An Investigation into Organized Crime in Canada, a two-part documentary series on the Mafia with CBC/Norfolk Communications Ltd. In 1988, Burke directed Witnesses, a documentary film which provided a behind-the-scenes view of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. His documentary film, Under Fire: Journalists in Combat, featured interviews with journalists and photographers who had experienced war first-hand and won a Peabody Award in 2011.

His film and cable television credits include: co-writer of the cult comedy Top Secret; writer, HBO’s satirical The Second Civil War (1997); and writer/director of the Emmy-nominated television film, Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999).

Burke divides his time between Toronto and Santa Monica, California.

Archibald Foulds was born in Quebec City in 1883 to Archibald and Mary (nee Cream) Foulds. The family moved to Toronto in 1900, and Foulds graduated from the University of Toronto in 1904. He joined the law firm of Macdonald, Shepley, Middleton & Donald. During this time, he joined the Queen’s Own Rifles. He married Kate Huldah Steele in 1912, and they would go on to have three children (Kenneth, Philip, and Derek).

Foulds entered the First World War as a Captain with the 123rd Infantry Battalion and was mentioned in General Haig’s dispatches for his and the rest of his unit’s role at Ypres during the Battle of Passchendaele. In May 1918, he joined the 8th Battalion Engineers, who were part of the Battle of Mons at the close of the War.

After the war, Foulds returned to practice. The Mason, Foulds law firm would become the largest counsel practice in Toronto. He lived in Toronto until his death in 1983.

Philip Steele Foulds was born 12 December 1918 in Toronto to Archibald and Kate, the second of three sons. He attended Upper Canada College and Trinity College at the University of Toronto. While at University, he met Lousie Matthews and they were engaged before he was deployed in 1940.

Foulds served with distinction as a pilot in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, the majority with the 856 Squadron, with over 760 hours in Swordfish, Albacores, Avengers and other planes. Numerous missions involved flying on and off air craft carriers and in other highly dangerous situations. Over the course of his service, he circumnavigated the globe.

Foulds retired from active service at the end of the war. He and Louise had been married during his 1941 leave, and they settled at the Matthew family farm in Kingsville, Ont. They had a daughter, Barbara, and Foulds worked for Hiram-Walker from 1948-1983. They moved to Toronto in the 90s; Foulds passed away after a brief illness on 18 April 2017.

Kim Echlin is a writer, translator, and journalist.

Echlin was born in Burlington, Ontario in 1955. She received a B.A. (Hons.) in English at McGill University (1977) and an M.A. in English (York, 1978). Subsequently, she completed a French language course at the Sorbonne (1979) and a Ph.D. in English (York, 1982). Echlin’s Ph.D. research focused on translations of Ojibway narratives about Nanabush; her work brought her into contact with Dr. Basil Johnston, a prominent Ojibway author, ethnologist, and teacher of Anishinaabemowin.

Echlin is the author of several novels, non-fiction pieces, and translations. Significant works include Elephant Winter (1997), Dagmar’s Daughter (2001), Inanna: From the Myths of Ancient Sumer (2003), Elizabeth Smart: A Fugue Essay on Women and Creativity (2004), The Disappeared (2009), and Under the Visible Life (2015). In 2009, The Disappeared was shortlisted for the Giller prize.

In addition, Echlin has taught English and creative writing; worked in television production, significantly as arts producer for the CBC program The Journal (1986-1992); and contributed journalism to a number of publications, including the Hamilton Spectator. Noteworthy teaching engagements include stints at the Dalian Institute of Technology in northeast China (1984-1985) and the Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies. Echlin has also served as Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer-in-Residence at McMaster University (2015-2016).