Members

Our Members!

Our pool of talents from across the Shuswap includes writers, authors and poets - published and unpublished, famous and infamous, esteemed and not so esteemed.

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EXECUTIVE MEMBERS AND DIRECTORS 2022 - 2024

President - Hugh Marchand

Vice-President - Dorothy Rolin

Secretary - Monique Pharand

Treasurer - Brenda Kilberg

Membership Director(s) - Brenda Kilberg/Ellie McGaughey

Webmaster - Ellie McGaughey

Publicity Director - Dorothy Rolin

Coffee House Director(s) - Leah Blain/Dorothy Rolin/Brenda Kilberg

Director for Writing Out Loud - Ellie McGaughey

SWG Gmail Inquiries - Carol Mikkelson

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MEMBERSHIP -We are in the process of writing up our bio's and having our mugshots done and these are being posted as our procrastinating members ever so slowly get them into our webmaster. If you really want to see what has been posted thus far, scroll down to see our group of inspirational writers.

Members

Judith Benson
Leah Blain
Keith Carson
Lynda Hooper
Gina Johnny
Kay Johnston
Brenda Kilberg
Hugh Marchand
Jo Lavallee
Ellie McGaughey
Mitch McGaughey
Carol Mikkelsen
Debbie Pakka
Monique Pharand
Roselyn Phare
Dorothy Rolin
Susan Shantz
Richard Wallace
June Welter

Carol Mikkelsen

Carol's roots go back several generations in Salmon Arm where she was born. Her family moved from Salmon Arm after her father came back from overseas in WW ll.
Carol lived in a little farming town of Haney BC until the family moved to Williams Lake BC. She moved back to Salmon Arm and has lived here ever since. Special times in her life are her family, her garden, dragon boating, golfing. Many things have inspired her to write fiction, creative non-fiction stories and poetry.
Her families everyday life and her adventures in the great outdoors have developed into many stories. Carol has several stories published in the Shuswap Writers' Kaleidoscope IV and V anthology.
Carol is the maker and keeper of the group's website. So if there are any horrible bloopers like, horror of horror's spelling mistakes it will be she who is now named at fault.

Dorothy Rolin

Dorothy has lived in Salmon Arm for the past 40 years. In that time, she has helped found the Shuswap Writers' Group (1989) and has been a member for its duration. She has emceed many Shuswap Writers' Coffee Houses and been an active and supportive member of the Shuswap Association of Writers. She is a past President of the local Historical Society and Shuswap Writers' Group.
She writes fiction, non-fiction and poetry, but her love of the written word lies in the non-fiction genre. Dorothy has published work in many anthologies, a chap book, and has written articles for the Okanagan Historical Society. Her garden is her sanctuary where she finds inspiration for her art and writing.

Richard Wallace

Richard was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, in 1943. As a child he lived in small
villages, attended one room schools until he was fourteen years old and finished his
schooling in Bridgewater. He moved to British Columbia in 1963.
   He has lived in Kitimat, Hazelton and Kelowna and except for a few short years he
has lived in Armstrong with his wife and family since 1976.
   Richard has been a policeman, a farmer, a fork lift operator at Valley Tool in Enderby and a vinyl siding applicator. Among other jobs along the way he has built fences,
picked apples, pruned trees and skinned out cattle.
   Richard became a member of SWG in the spring of 2012. Since that time he has published three short stories in the form of Chap Books, a book of poetry and short stories (More Truth Than Fiction) and a book of poetry called Think About It.
   Richard has had poems and short stories published in the Orkney News and also poems published in several soft and hard cover editions of ‘Anthology of Creative Writing’ produced by the Poetry Institute of Canada, Victoria, B.C.

Judith Benson

After teaching for 25 years, Judith and her husband Geoff retired to Salmon Arm, British Columbia. She devotes her time to writing for children and youth, supporting the local writing community, literacy and local nature conservation projects; cooking and attending an adult book club. She joins Geoff to sing with the community choir, study Spanish,travel, hike and camp. For fitness: there's dance, gardening and keeping up with eight grandchildren during their precious time together. She has translated The Noise In Grandma's Attic into Spanish to read in classrooms during her trips with Geoff to the west coast of Mexico.

Ellie McGaughey - Ellie was raised in Calgary, Alberta, lived in the area of Ponoka and Red Deer for many years, then eventually moved to Fort Saskatchewan. She and her husband Mitch, have now happily retired and settled in Salmon Arm. Ellie has published two fiction short stories "A Road Too Steep - Estelle's Story" and her second "Asea, a journey Told". A third book is in the works.

June Welter - June has composed many short stories, one which was printed in the BC Women's Magazine. She has also written a stage play production at Lakeview Centre and two radio plays one of which was presented at the Cedar Heights community Hall in Blind Bay BC. Other plays of June's have been heard on Voice of the Shuswap radio 93.7 fm.
June has been a member of the Senior's Theatre Group in Blind Bay and in Salmon Arm for several years.
She retired and moved from Calgary to the Shuswap. She has two sons and four grandchildren.

Monique Pharand - Monique moved to Salmon Arm in the fall of 2019, to be closer to her family. For the previous 20 years she has been an active member of many organizations in the small community of Dease Lake in northern BC. This included the local Reading Centre, the Lions Club and even the Canadian Rangers (to name a few). Her passion for community involvement continues to call her. Monique's career in education became the perfect way to awaken and encourage creativity in students from Kindergarten to Post Secondary. Inquisitive by nature, she dabbles in the field of Visual Arts, enjoys quilting as well as improv games and treasures spending time outdoors. Monique always enjoys writing.

Brenda Kilberg - Brenda has lived in BC for forty years and the last thirty years in Salmon Arm. She set aside her International Travel Consulting career to raise her three boys. She finds writing inspiration from family history, life events and her extensive classroom of global experiences. Brenda has had eight years of piano and a few singing lessons, hoping someday to write her own lyrics and music. She has kept a few journals and enjoys creating Haiku along with free style poetry as well as short non-fiction stories. Brenda feels the Shuswap Writers' Group is giving her a clear direction and motivation to improve her writing skills. She loves her adventures in her VW van, books, music and living a simple life.

Hugh Marchand - Hugh is new to Salmon Arm, arrived in Canada in our Centennial year and settled in Ontario. There he met his wife and a busy life ensued learning about a new country. A busy life that soon became a noisy one with the arrival, in short order, of three bright but boisterous children, which precluded contemplative pursuits - like writing.
However, as children grew, the decibels decreased and permitted him to start writing something other than management reports. Words began to tumble out of his mind onto page. Success in poetry and short story competitions has punctuated his toiling to complete and publish his first novel. Hugh's published book The Bright One of The Skilful Hand can be purchased on www.amazon.ca available as a paper back or download on Kindle. Hugh's inspiration to write came from his mother, an author in her own right.

Roselyn (Rosie)Phare - was born near Prince George in Northern BC. Her family moved to Salmon Arm in 1958 and are long time residents. Her father was Canadian and grew up in Medicine Hat AB. Her mother Denise Eckstadt, came to Canada as a war bride from London, England and was also a member of Shuswap Writers' Group for many years.
Roselyn enjoyed English in school and after completion her mother encouraged her to continue writing short stories and poems. She found work at a law office and pursued a career as a Legal Assistant. Roselyn feels Shuswap Writers' Group has been supportive and encouraging and feels it is a privilege to be part of the group where she's made new friends with similar interests. She has had several articles and poems published in the local papers over the years and is enjoying retirement. Currently she is working on writing stories of several travel adventures and family memories. Roselyn is also planning on writing an Anthology as a legacy for her children and grandchildren.