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Barbara Hunt - President
Barbara Hunt writes poetry, fiction, non-fiction and screenplays from her home in Port Perry, Ontario. She has been published most prominently with CBC Radio One, The Globe and Mail, and Homemakers Magazine. She released her first poetry book in March 2011. She was fortunate to be selected for a 2008 Diaspora Dialogues mentorship in the City of Toronto. She also wrote for a local monthly magazine, Focus on Scugog, for three years.
As a past-president of The Writer’s Community of Durham Region (served 4 ½ years), she explored promotion, programming and organizational governance. She was a founding member of the inaugural Ontario Writers’ Conference 2008.
In the not-for-profit sector, she draws on many years of support-staff experience (banks, legal and accounting offices in Toronto, 1978-86); founded and ran her own children’s wear company (1986-91); participated as a working partner in the start-up of a golf course project in Seagrave, Ontario, (2001-2) and became involved in many volunteer efforts in her area.
She has worked as a marketing co-ordinator for Phanta Media, Markham, Ontario since early 2009. |
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Janet Boccone – Vice-President
A freelance writer and editor, Janet Boccone runs Second Glance Writing Services from her office in Pickering, Ontario.
Janet served on the board of directors of The Writers’ Community of Durham Region (WCDR) from 2006 to 2008, and enjoyed a three-year stint as editor of their member newsletter, The Word Weaver. She has been volunteering her time and talents with the Ontario Writers’ Conference since its inception in 2008, and continues to use her editing and design skills to produce the printed materials for each conference.
A member of the Professional Writers’ Association of Canada (PWAC), Janet specializes in writing and editing non-fiction for small-to-medium-sized businesses. Her feature articles and essays have appeared in The Globe and Mail and a variety of blogs, newsletters and magazines. In addition, she is the editor and designer of three cookbooks in the The Fridge Whisperer Cookbook Series: 50 Fast & Fabulous Family Faves, Condiment Confidential and Lusciously Local. |
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Sherry Hinman – Treasurer
Sherry Hinman is Treasurer and Co-chair of the Ontario Writers’ Conference, and was the inaugural chair in 2008. She is a freelance editor/writer/teacher, and owner of The Write Angle.
Sherry is no stranger to volunteer work. In addition to her work with the OWC, she was a five-year board member, including two years as president, of The Writers' Community of Durham Region; participated on an advisory committee at Durham College; and was an elected council member of the College of Audiologists and Speech-Language Pathologists of Ontario (CASLPO).
Sherry has her BA honours degree in linguistics from McGill University, and BSc and MSc degrees in speech-language pathology from l'Université de Montréal. Prior to launching her editing/writing career, she practiced as a speech pathologist and later as a professional practice consultant.
Sherry has her editing certificate from George Brown College, and is a certified professional editor through the Editors’ Association of Canada. She specializes in health-related writing and editing and her clients have included the College of Dietitians of Ontario, CASLPO, Canadian Red Cross, American Red Cross, Elsevier Health Sciences, the Alzheimer Society of Canada, and Rogers Publishing. She's had over 100 articles published in local, national and international magazines and newspapers.
Sherry is a part-time professor at Durham College, and teaches creative writing courses at the Oshawa Senior Citizens' Centres in Oshawa.
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Deb Rankine - Director
Deborah A. Rankine is an award-winning writer and internationally published author; her passion, food and travel writing. As her alter ego, “Chef Deb,” she captains culinarycaravan.com, a thriving small events catering company serving Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area.
Deb’s vast experience in the food service industry has led to many volunteer opportunities to support causes and events within the communities she serves. From 2003 to 2006, she was on the organizing committee for Durham Region’s author reading series, Words in Whitby, her proudest accomplishments, organizing two “Eat Their Words” sold out fundraising events.
From October 2007 through November 2008, Deb in-serviced at-risk youth and mentally challenged adults through her life skills cooking classes held at the PC Cooking School at Loblaws' Bowmanville Market.
Deborah has served on the Writers' Community of Durham Region board and was its Word Weaver newletter editor from August 2005 through December 2007.
Deb is elated to return for her fourth term of service as a board of director of The Ontario Writers' Conference.
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Kevin Craig - Director
Kevin Craig is a three-time winner of the Muskoka Novel Marathon Best Novel Award (2007 for Sebastian’s Poet, 2008 for The Reasons and 2010 for Half Dead & Fully Broken). He has had three plays produced for Driftwood Theatre’s Trafalgar24 Play Creation event. He is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary, LLC. Kevin’s debut novel, Summer on Fire, was published in July, 2011, by MuseItUp Publishing. Kevin has served on the Ontario Writers’ Conference planning committee since their inaugural conference in 2008. His website is www.kevintcraig.com
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Sandra Clarke – Director
Sandra Clarke began her writing career in non-fiction, publishing over fifty articles as a columnist and regular contributor for a variety of lifestyle and human interest websites. Her work also appears in “Touretties”, an anthology on Tourette's Syndrome. For the moment, Sandra has switched her focus to fiction, and her debut novel, “Mind Over Matter”,is scheduled for release in January 2012 under the pen-name of S. J. Clarke. Sandra is currently working on edits with her publisher, as well as writing the sequel and a stand-alone novel.
No stranger to volunteer work, Sandra is a registered scouter with Scouts Canada, and has spent many years in the hallways of Durham schools working one-on-one with reluctant readers. She is a grateful member of the Writers' Community of Durham Region, and Romance Writers of America.
After two years on the planning committee for the Ontario Writers' Conference, first as a general assistant, followed by the dual role of Marketplace and Sponsorship Coordinator, Sandra is proud to become a full-fledged member of the board. For the 2012 conference, Sandra is excited to take on the position of Logistics Coordinator.
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The Members of our Team:
- Barbara Hunt - Co-chair & Programming
- Sherry Hinman - Co-chair & Treasurer
- Kevin Craig - Registration & Festival of Authors Coordinator
- Deborah Rankine - Venue Coordinator
- Janet Boccone - Printed Materials & Blog
- Sandra Clarke - Logistics Coordinator
- Cynthia Englert - Sponsorship & Volunteer Coordinator
- Cathy Minz - Website Liaison & PR
- Anne MacLachlan - Secretary
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