CanWrite! 2010 Speaker Biographies

Keynote Speaker Bios: Patrick Taylor, Julie & Colin Angus and Richard Wagamese.
Other Bios: Presenters and Panel Members

Keynote Speakers

Patrick Taylor

Keynote Speaker for Opening Breakfast

Patrick Taylor MD CRCSC FRCOG

Born in 1941 and brought up in Bangor, Co. Down, he became a physician in 1964 and an Ob/Gyn in 1969. He spent 37 years in Canada, 31 working in human infertility, teaching and carrying out research.

He has always written and in 1977 a book of short stories Only Wounded: Ulster Stories was published.

Two techno-thrillers, Pray for Us Sinners, and the sequel Now and in the Hour of Our Death were followed by the first four novels in the An Irish Country series, An Irish Country Doctor (2007 Hard Back. Book of the Month Club Novel of the Month March 2007, Trade paper 2008 and New York Times best-seller list in both editions) Country Village (2009) Country Christmas (2008), and Country Girl (2010). Country Girl will be a Book of the Month Club alternative selection.

In early November 2009 Doctor, Village and Christmas made The Globe and Mail Candian fiction best-seller list at 4, 9 and 11. Doctor and Village are still there Jan 24 2010.

His works have been translated as novels or Readers Digest Select editions in 15 languages.

Website: www.patricktaylor.ca

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Julie & Colin Angus

Keynote Speakers for CAA Awards Banquet

Julie Angus is the first and only woman to row across the Atlantic Ocean from mainland to mainland. During the worst hurricane season in history, she spent 5 months rowing unsupported across 10,000 km of unforgiving seas. Throughout this challenge, she and her partner rowed through 4 cyclones, encountered great white sharks, and fished for survival.

Julie is a molecular biologist, adventurer, writer, filmmaker, and motivational speaker. She has two undergraduate degrees with honours from McMaster University (Biology and Psychology) and a graduate degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Victoria. She spent over a decade studying and developing treatments for heart disease, cancer and genetic ailments.

She has been lauded for her work on environmental awareness and has written for publications including The Globe and Mail, National Post and enRoute. Her photography has appeared in Outside Magazine, Explore Magazine, Reader's Digest, National Geographic Adventure and The Guardian, among others. Julie's book Rowboat in a Hurricane, which details her Atlantic row and the changing state of our oceans, is a national bestseller and her newest book Rowed Trip was released in September 2009.

Colin Angus completed the first human-powered circumnavigation of the world when in 2006 he cycled into Vancouver after 43,000 km of travel. During the course of two years he rowed across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, trekked and cycled through 16 countries, endured winter in Siberia and searing heat in the tropics.

Colin has made a career exploring remote parts of the world and sharing his adventures through bestselling books, films and presentations. He has navigated the Amazon and Yenisey Rivers from source to sea, sailed the South Pacific Ocean, and rowed thousands of km in waterways around the world. He has co-produced four documentaries which collectively won ten awards at international festivals including the Dijon and Telluride Festivals of Adventure Films. His work is published in numerous publications including The Globe and Mail, Reader's Digest and Cruising World.

Outside Magazine listed Colin as one of the top 25 "bold visionaries with world changing dreams" for his work in promoting lifestyle changes to help the environment. Colin and Julie continue their efforts in promoting zero-emissions transportation as a healthy way to maintain a healthy world.

Website: www.angusadventures.com

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Richard Wagamese

Keynote Speakers for CAA Literary Awards Short-listed Readings

Richard Wagamese is one of Canada's foremost Native authors and storytellers. Working as a professional writer since 1979 he's been a newspaper columnist and reporter, radio and television broadcaster and producer, documentary producer and the author of seven titles from major Canadian publishers with two new works waiting in the wings. He also works simultaneously in newspaper, radio and television.

He's won journalism and publishing awards and is an acclaimed public speaker and presenter. Richard became the first Native Canadian to win a National Newspaper Award for Column Writing in 1991.

He won the Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction for his third novel Dream Wheels, in 2007. Richard has twice won the Native American Press Association Award and the National Aboriginal Communications Society Award for his newspaper columns.

If you were to ask him how it all came to be, he would just smile and say, "It's all about the story, man." Story for story's sake. It's an Ojibway oral storytelling principle and reading the work of this prolific Canadian author and journalist you'll see his commitment to that principle.

Website: www.richardwagamese.com

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