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| First Name | Gail Sidonie |
| Last Name | Sobat |
| Member Since | July 20, 2004 |
| Company | YouthWrite |
| Pen Name | |
| Branch Affiliation | Member at Large (no branch affiliation) |
| Website | www.gailsidoniesobat.com |
| Blog | http://www.gailsidoniesobat.com/blog/ |
| @gailssobat | |
| gailsidoniesobat | |
| https://www.facebook.com/gail.sidonie.sobat | |
| Goodreads | goodreadscomgail_sidonie_sobat |
| Bio | Canadian writer, Gail Sidonie Sobat, has assumed any number of guises in her lifetime, including that of teacher, adjunct professor, writer in residence, woman-in-black, professional actor and singer, grounds keeper, flag girl, pari-mutuel seller and flower seller. She is the creator/ coordinator of YouthWrite, camps for kids who love to write…just about anything!©, its adult version, JustWrite, and the Spoken Word Youth Choir (SWYC), and is an instructor in the communications program at MacEwan University and the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. She has moved thirty-two times in her life from Badlands to Siksika Nation Reserve to hideous suburbs to Istanbul to the Sunshine Coast to her writer’s garret in a century-old temperamental house. Gail completed a Master’s degree in English at the University of Alberta in Children’s Literature, specializing in fantasy. She is also a multi-award-winning teacher. For the Legacy Project, a high school program addressing the gulf between aboriginal and non-aboriginal students, Gail and her co-creators (Wally Diefenthaler and Kaye Steward) were named finalists for the Governor General Excellence in Teaching Award and garnered national recognition and international attention. Experience in professional theatre and singing make Gail at ease in performance and with any age group. Described as vivacious and lively, Gail is frequently sought after as a performer, speaker, workshop presenter and writer-in-residence. She has presented across Canada, including Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Jasper, Banff, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal (with the TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2004), through Northern Saskatchewan with the Pahkisimon Nuye?áh Library System, in Doha, Qatar with the Qatar Reads Association; in Hanoi, Vietnam; at conferences throughout Alberta; in Cincinnati, Ohio; Monteagle, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; at the International Conference on Poetry, Biography and Canon in Bern, Switzerland; and at the Death in Literature Conference at the Helsinki Academy for Advanced Studies. Gail has been writer in residence in several Edmonton schools, at Queens’ University, in Doha, Qatar, at the University of Alberta through the Canadian Authors Association, at the UN International School of Hanoi, and most recently at Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Turkey. Gail’s work has been published in academic and literary journals, anthologies, and has been broadcast on radio and performed on stage. She is the author of Gravity Journal (a White Pine Honour Book, a Moonbeam Gold Award winner, and a 2011 Stellar Award nominee); the YA fantasy series Ingamald, A Winter’s Tale (a White Pine Award nominee) and A Glass Darkly (an R. Ross Annett nominee); a novel for adults, the IPPY award-winning The Book of Mary; and a collection of poetry, Aortic Caprice. Her picture book, In the Graveyard, illustrated by Spyder Yardley-Jones, was released in 2011 to critical acclaim, and her YA novel, Chance to Dance for You, is a Moonbeam Award winner, a 2012 White Pine Honour Book, and was long-listed for the 2012 Alberta Readers’ Choice Award. Not With a Bang (2012) was also long-listed for the 2013 Alberta Readers’ Choice Award and the How the Light is Spent (2013), her second poetry collection, won a Whistler Independent Book Award (2016). Jamie’s Got a Gun (2014),Gail’s latest YA graphic novel and her eleventh book, is a 2015 Moonbeam Award Winner (Silver). |
| Publications | Books: Ingamald - Spotted Cow Press, Edmonton, AB, 2001(ISBN 0-9688977-6-2) A Winter’s Tale - Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2004 (ISBN 1-894283-45-7) A Glass Darkly - Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2006 (ISBN 1-894283-69-4) Aortic Caprice - River Books, Edmonton, AB, 2003/2004 (ISBN 1-895836-97-2) The Book of Mary - Sumach Press, Toronto, ON, 2006 (ISBN 1-894549-54-6) Gravity Journal – Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2008 (ISBN 1894283783) Chance to Dance for You – Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2011 (ISBN 978-1-926531-11-3) Not With a Bang – Palimpsest Press – Kingsville, ON, 2012 (ISBN 978-1-926794-12-9) How the Light is Spent – Wintergreen Studios Press, Kingston, ON, 2013 (ISBN 9780986547393) Jamie’s Got a Gun – Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2014 (ISBN 978-1-926531-88-5) Picture Book: In the Graveyard (illus. Spyder Yardley-Jones) Bryler Publications, Chester, NS, (ISBN 978-1-927003-19-0) Poetry: Taking Off the Tinsel, edited by Betty Gibbs, Chris Levan, & Wynne Edwards. Rowan Books (1996). JCT: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Curriculum Studies (Spring 1996, Vol 12: 1). The Prairie Journal of Canadian Literature (1996). An Invisible Accordion: Canadian Poetry Association 10th Anniversary Anthology, edited by Jennifer Footman (1995). Whetstone (1994). The Muse Journal (1994). Amethyst Review (1993). FreeFall (1993). Underpass #6 (1993). The Anthology: Stroll of Poets (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2001). The Prairie Journal of Canadian Literature (1991, 1992). Women Moving Forward in Time - CWA Womanstrength (1992). FreeLance: Saskatchewan Writers Guild (1991). Other Voices (1991). Creative Non-Fiction: “Hindsight is Twenty-Twenty,” The Edmonton Journal (1994). Short Fiction: The Writer's Block (1994). Winners Circle - Canadian Authors' Association (1993). FreeFall (1993). Women Moving Forward in Time - CWA Womanstrength (1992). Secrets From the Orange Couch (1989, 1990). Edges (1986, 1987). Criticism: “Mary of Nazareth ‐ More than Mother of God” in Writing Women's Lives: Auto/Biography, Life Narratives, Myths and Historiography International Symposium Paper Book, edited by Birsen Talay KeŞoĞlu Leyla ŞimŞek‐Rathke (Kadın Eserleri Kütüphanesi ve Bilgi Merkezi Vakfı Yayınları/ Women’s Library and Information Center Foundation 2016). “Not With a Bang, Neither With a Whimper: A fictional narrative about death and assisted suicide” in Death in Literature, edited by Outi Hakola (Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2014). “Why the prince has to bite it” in Mind Rain: Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Series, edited by Scott Westerfeld (Benbella Books 2009). The thing about elves is…” in Secrets of the Dragon Riders: Your Favorite Authors on Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Series, edited by James A. Owen (Benbella Books 2008). "The Night in Her Own Country: The Heroine's Quest for Self in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan." Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams and the Genres of Myth and Fantasy Studies 21:3 (Summer, 1996): 24-32. "If the Ghost Be There, Then Am I Crazy?": An Examination of Ghosts in Virginia Hamilton's Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush and Toni Morrison's Beloved." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 20:4 (Winter, 1995-1996): 168-174. |
| Other Memberships | • Canadian Creative Writers and Writing Programs • Canadian Authors Association • CANSCAIP • Children’s Literature Roundtable • Writers Guild of Alberta • Writers Union of Canada • Young Alberta Book Society • Canadian League of Poets • Stroll of Poets Society • Raving Poets and Edmonton Poetry Society • Canadian Children’s Book Centre • Alberta English and Language Arts Council |
| Awards | City of Edmonton Citation Award 2017 Global TV Woman of Vision 2016-2017 Whistler Independent Book Awards Winner (poetry) for How the Light is Spent, 2016 CAA Fred Kerner Award Finalist for Jamie’s Got a Gun, 2016 Moonbeam Award (Silver) for Jamie’s Got a Gun, 2014 Top Ten Best Graphic Novels of 2014, Foreword Reviews, for Jamie’s Got a Gun, 2014 CAA Exporting Alberta Award finalist, How the Light is Spent, 2014 R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature, nomination for Not With a Bang, 2014 Orillia Public Library’s Battle of the Books nomination for Gravity Journal, 2014 EPL’s Alberta Readers’ Choice longlist nomination, Not With a Bang, 2013 Ontario Library Association’s White Pine Honour Book, Chance to Dance for You, 2012 Canadian Authors Association’s Exporting Alberta Award, Chance to Dance for You, 2012 Canadian Authors Association’s (CAA) Exporting Alberta Award finalist, In the Graveyard, 2012 EPL’s Alberta Readers’ Choice longlist nomination, Chance to Dance for You, 2012 Moonbeam Award (Bronze) for Chance to Dance for You, 2011 Stellar Award nomination for Gravity Journal, 2011 Moonbeam Award (Gold) for Gravity Journal, 2009 Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Book for Gravity Journal, 2009 Ontario Library Association’s White Pine Honour Book, Gravity Journal, 2009 Canadian Authors Association Exporting Alberta Award nomination, 2009, 2012 R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature nomination for A Glass Darkly, 2008 Canadian Children's Book Centre Choice Award for A Glass Darkly, 2007 Gold IPPY (Independent Publisher Book Award) for The Book of Mary, 2007 Ontario Library Association’s White Pine Award, nomination for A Winter’s Tale, 2005 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice Award for A Winter’s Tale, 2005 Canadian Children’s Book Centre Choice Award for Ingamald, 2004 Jon Whyte Essay Competition, Honourable Mention, Writers Guild of Alberta, 2003 Arts Award for Career Development, Alberta Heritage Scholarship, 2002 English Language Arts Council Award, 2000 Roy C. Hill Great Merit Award, 1997 District Recognition Award (St. Albert PSSD #6),1997 Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (Finalist, Co-recipient), 1996 The Writer’s Block Short Story Competition, First Prize, 1994 Kalamalka New Writers Competition, poetry manuscript finalist, 1994 |
| Contests | |
| Genres | Academic, Autobiography, Comics & Graphic Novels, Educational, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction, Freelance, History, Horror, Nonfiction, Poetry, Short Stories, Speculative, Young Adult |
| Available For | Readings, Presentations, Workshops, Book Club Meetings, Speaking Engagements |
| Services Offered | Book Reviews, Copywriting, Corporate Writing, Editing, Freelance Writing, Manuscript Reading & Consultation, Promotional Copy, Web Content |