Maria Saba (National Capital Region chapter), an Ottawa-based writer, Storyteller, and arts educator born and raised in Iran, has published three books of nonfiction (in Farsi) and over a hundred articles, essays, interviews, and stories.  “My First Friend”, her short story published in Scoundrel Time, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and won the Editor’s Choice Award. Maria founded Tirgan short story contest open to the Farsi speaking world in 2011. She was awarded the 2021 Wallace Stegner Grant for the arts by the Eastend Arts Council in Saskatchewan and was the writer in residence at the Wallace Stegner House. (National Capital Region chapter), an Ottawa-based writer, Storyteller, and arts educator born and raised in Iran, has published three books of nonfiction (in Farsi) and over a hundred articles, essays, interviews, and stories.  “My First Friend”, her short story published in Scoundrel Time, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and won the Editor’s Choice Award. Maria founded Tirgan short story contest open to the Farsi speaking world in 2011. She was awarded the 2021 Wallace Stegner Grant for the arts by the Eastend Arts Council in Saskatchewan and was the writer in residence at the Wallace Stegner House.