CURRENT MEMBERS
Nancy King Schofield
began her artistic career in music. She graduated from St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1961 and received a BFA from Mount Allison University in 1991. Schofield helped found Galerie 12 at the Aberdeen Cultural Center where she rented an artist studio for nine years. She began a writers’ group in 1999, the Breach House Gang, that currently numbers eleven members. She celebrated Northrop Frye’s 100th Birthday (Ellipse, no. 87-88, 2012) with poetry and helped launch The Breach House Anthology (2010). Her text is often used to add surface interest in her art. She has presented over one hundred exhibitions since 1991 and is part of many collections. In 2010 she received first prize in poetry from the WFNB. See some of Nancy's art work here.
Lee D Thompson
was born and raised in Moncton, New Brunswick. His fiction has been published in four anthologies, including Random House’s Victory Meat, New Fiction from Atlantic Canada and Vagrant Press’s The Vagrant Revue of New Fiction, and in more than a dozen literary journals across Canada and the US. Lee’s first novel, S. a novel in [xxx] dreams, was published in 2008 by Broken Jaw Press. An e-book, Diary of a Fluky Kid, appeared with Fierce Ink Press in February 2014. In addition to writing fiction, Lee is a guitarist and songwriter who records under the name Pipher. He is editor of the literary journal Galleon (www.galleonliteraryjournal.com) .Learn more about Lee by visiting his web site at
Dave Skyrie.
is a writer and visual artist residing in Grand Barachois, New Brunswick. He has a degree in Arts from Concordia University in Montreal. He started painting in 2000, after a one-year stay in Brazil, and works in a variety of media. Dave’s current work is an exploration of abstract forms and textures on larger canvas. A member of the AAAPNB (Association of Acadian Artists of New Brunswick) and the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick, Dave has also published two books of poetry. His work appears presently in both private and public collections in Canada. His studio/gallery is located in Grand Barachois, N.B.
Learn more about dave by visiting his web site at www.skyrie.ca
Romeo Savoie
was born in Moncton and holds a Master’s in Fine Arts from l’Université du Québec à Montréal, a Bachelor’s degree in architecture from l’École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, and a B.A from l’Université de Moncton. From 1959 to 1970 he worked as an architect, before turning to painting in the late 60s. Essentially an action painter, Savoie transmits his great energy to his artwork, using themes he has also elaborated in his literary work. He has had numerous solo and group shows, and he has won many awards and prizes, including the Miller Brittain Excellence Award and the Strathbutler award. He also won the Eloize prize for visual artist of the year, 1998. His literary work includes six collections of poetry. He is a member of the Order of Canada.of the Order of Canada. See some of Romeo's art work here.
Elaine Amyot
is a founding member of Galerie Sans Nom and of Galerie 12, in Moncton. She is a member of CARFAC and AAAPNB. She has had many solo and group shows in the Maritimes, and has also exhibited in France. Her life as an artist was shown on the program Trajectoire (SRC.RDI) in November, 1996. In the year 2000 she coordinated an exhibition-installation of women artists at the Galerie d’Art de l’Université de Moncton. A grant from the Art Board of NB enabled her to publish a catalogue about this exhibition, Présence 27. In 2010 she published her first book, The Seven Gates: A Memoir of a Descent. Her nonfiction story, “Les Pierres de Paris,” won third prize in the 2011 competition sponsored by the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick.
Edward Lemond
grew up in California and Indiana and came to Canada in 1969. He was a bookseller for 21 years and a principal organizer for the Frye Festival for twelve. His stories and poems have been published in journals across Canada. His novel, Equal Affection, was first runner-up in the 2013 Richards competition, sponsored by the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick. He has recently completed a series of poems called Circadiana, which he is now culling and organizing for publication
Zev Bagel
is the pen-name for Warren Redman. He is the author of seventeen non-fiction books including one award-winner. Some of his short stories and poetry have been published in journals and he has now turned to novel-writing, with five full-length manuscripts the first of which will be published in 2016. He is currently president of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick. More about Zev here.
Elizabeth Blanchard
Elizabeth's short stories have appeared in a number of literary journals including Lichen Arts & Letters Preview, Windsor Review, Room of One’s Own and Dalhousie Review, and anthologized in Hard Ol’ Spot: an Anthology of Atlantic Canadian Fiction and in Mothering Canada:Interdisciplinary Voices by Demeter Press. She won the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Literary Competition, and is a recipient of a Creation Grant by the New Brunswick Arts Board. She lives in Dieppe, New Brunswick.
Noeline Bridge
emigrated from New Zealand to Canada in 1969. She writes nonfiction and attempts to write novels. Her nonfiction has thrice won first prize in the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick literary competitions. For more instant gratification and income, she indexes books. Her articles on indexing have been published in professional journals and as book chapters, and her book, Indexing Names, was published in 2012. She also co-authored Royals of England, published in 2005, for which she wrote the travel sections.
Rita Auffrey
is a Moncton poet who has won several awards in the poetry competition sponsored by the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick, including first prize in 2008 for “Nine Roads for Joan of Arc.” The poems published here are from her manuscript entitled For Those Born with More Than Five Fingers, a reference to poet Alden Nowlan. Mary di Michele has said of her work that “her poems use language, indeed languages, with a lyric intensity that is at moments startling in its beauty.” Rita was invited to read at the 2014 Northrop Frye Literary Festival.
Judy Bowman
has been awarded two emerging artist creation grants from ArtsNB. Her work includes short stories and poetry published internationally and nationally in literary journals.
As a former columnist and freelance feature writer for a local newspaper, several of her human interest features ran nationally. She likes research as exciting as flying on a scout mission for forest fires on a WW2 Avenger and on a flight with air tankers on forest fire practice. In 2008, her story about a Residential School survivor was nominated for the Atlantic Freelance Newspaper Award.
In 2005, she created an art/narrative project for Year of the Veteran shown in cites throughout New Brunswick. This project continues at a Veterans’ Unit in Miramichi. Several veterans' stories appear on a page on her blog: My Handcrafted Life: Searching for the source of the deep and wild song.
Along with Michelle Cadogan, she co-created Words on Water, a reading, workshop, and music series that remains vital and current.
Herménégilde Chiasson
Born in 1946 in St-Simon, in the Acadian Peninsula of New-Brunswick, Herménégilde Chiasson has received bachelor degrees from Université de Moncton and Mount Allison University, a Masters degree in Fine Arts from the State University of New-York and a doctorate from the Université de Paris I (Sorbonne).
He has published more than 25 books, written 30 plays, directed more than 15 films and exhibited his work in close to 150 solo and group shows.
President and founder of many important cultural organizations in New-Brunswick, he has received many awards and distinctions for his work the latest being the Molson Prize of the Canada Council.