Contributors
Who's Who
Larissa Ardis is a Smithers-based freelance writer and communications consultant. When not slinging words, images and sound, she’s often found chasing inspiration on mountain trails or trying to restore the accordion’s image as a cool instrument to play.
Heather Ramsay is an award-winning community reporter, *photographer and creative writer who lives in Queen Charlotte City. She is deeply intrigued by lives and landscapes—past, present and future—swirling around British Columbia’s Northwest.
Lottie Jangdal is the former editor of Northword Magazine, and the new rookie at a daily in Sweden, where she managed to convince her editor of the validity of testing the beaches along the coastline for three days. When she’s not pulling tricks, she likes to bake huge loaves of bread—and then eat them.
Facundo Gastiazoro is a freelance designer who focuses on logos, posters, layout and illustrations. Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Facundo is currently living in Smithers. His illustrations appear in every issue of Northword Magazine.
Betsy Trumpener is a fiction writer and CBC Radio’s northern news reporter. This year, she’ll also be producing a new CBC Radio series, Beetle Mania: Real People and Pine Beetle. Betsy lives with her family outside Prince George.
Frances Riley is a part-time writer, part-time musician and full-time outdoor addict living in sunny Prince Rupert. Raised on a sailboat and currently apprenticing in the mountains, Frances loves singing—and writing—northern BC’s praises.
Ted Widen, of Telkwa, claims to be a soon-to-be-discovered writer and photographer. He has an obsession for moose and a bizarre talent on Etch-a-Sketch. Between gardening and “the fishing that must be done,” he hopes to make his fortune building inukshuks. He’s also a high-school teacher.
Amanda Follett visited the Canadian Rockies after graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program nine years ago—and never left. She recently left her home in Alberta and editorial job at the Canmore Leader to spend a summer experiencing northern BC from her outpost in Smithers.
Sarah Zimmerman is a freelance writer, journalist, photographer and super-mom based in Terrace, BC. When she’s not writing or seeing life through a lens, she can be found playing in the mountains of the beautiful Skeena Valley.
Doug Donaldson lives and works in Hazelton on the Gitxsan traditional territories. He is a municipal councillor, a former journalist, and is often very busy but unable to describe what he does for a living—hence his name given at his adoption feast by Wilp Dawamukw: “Axs jabits,” meaning “nothing to do.”
Hans Saefkow is an award-whining editorial cartoonist, illustrator and set designer. He lives on a hill in Telkwa with his wife, three children, and assorted bears. If you see this man, do not approach him, feed him, or listen to his idle chatter. It is simply best not to encourage him.
Jane Stevenson, born by the Atlantic and raised by the Pacific, has lived in the Bulkley Valley for seven years. Presently residing near Telkwa, she spends time playing in the aspens and at the lake, trying to stop her sassy toddler from eating all the sand while dreaming of gardens and greenhouses.
Charlynn Toews has been in the publishing industry since 1985, most recently as the North Coast ad rep for Northword. She has published in daily and weekly newspapers, national magazines, and loves a good quarterly, joining us as a regular columnist from her home in Terrace.
Ev Bishop, a columnist with the Terrace Standard, freelances for a variety of publications. If her nose isn’t in a book, and her fingers aren’t on her keyboard, she’s playing with her kids or hanging
out at the lake
Andrew Williams is a school teacher and freelance writer living in Terrace. His passion for fly-fishing and the wild salmon, steelhead and trout led him to move to the Skeena region in 1989. He is chairman of Friends of Wild Salmon, a coalition opposed to moving fish farms to northern BC.
By: Daniel Farrimond
5 November 2006