Lori Cayer's poetry collection Mrs Romanov reveals the unexpectedly quotidian concerns of Alexandra Feodorovna, the last tsarina of Imperial Russia.

Lori Cayer is the author of three previous poetry collections, including Dopamine Blunder (Tightrope Books, 2016), Attenuations of Force (Frontenac House, 2010) and Stealing Mercury (The Muses' Company, 2004). Her poetry is endlessly informed by her editorial work in scientific research publishing. She lives in Winnipeg.

In Overtime, Karl Kessler and Sunshine Chen document the lives of men and women who practise vanishing trades, professions and cultural traditions in the cities and townships of Waterloo Region, Ontario.

Karl Kessler is a film-and-darkroom photographer originally from New York City. He moved to Ontario in 1996 and currently works as a researcher and writer in the heritage field. With his wife Jane, he coordinates the annual architectural and heritage event Doors Open Waterloo Region. He lives in Waterloo, Ontario.

Sunshine Chen originally trained in architecture at the University of Waterloo. He now runs Storybuilders Inc., using photo, video and audio to tell the stories and share the experiences of people, places and organizations across Canada. He lives in Canmore, Alberta.

The Essential Charles Bruce explores the clear, direct verse and vernacular imagination of Maritime poet Charles Bruce, whose practical, no-nonsense lyrics audaciously eschewed the trappings of modernist poetry.

Charles Bruce was born in May of 1906 in Port Shoreham, Nova Scotia. He spent many years as a journalist, including a stint as a war correspondent during World War II. In addition to his prose work, he published six poetry collections characterized by their straightforward use of language and imagery, and by their focus on the sights and sounds of Nova Scotia's Channel Shore. In 1951, he earned a Governor General's Award for his collection of poetry, The Mulgrave Road. Charles Bruce died in 1971 in Toronto, Ontario.

Carmine Starnino has published five volumes of poetry, including This Way Out (2013), which was nominated for the Governor General's Award. His most recent collection is Leviathan (2016). Among his awards are the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize, the Canadian Author's Association Prize for Poetry, and the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry. Starnino is the editor of The New Canon: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry (2005), and his critical writings have been collected in two books: A Lover's Quarrel: Essays and Reviews (2004) and Lazy Bastardism: Reviews and Essays on Canadian Poetry (2012). He lives in Toronto, where he is deputy editor for The Walrus magazine.

Beyond Walls is an insider's look at the early development of Theatre Passe Muraille, from its origin as radical and provocative theatre company out of Rochdale College to its evolution into a Toronto cultural institution that has helped to shape Canadians' perception of homegrown theatre.

Peter Jobin is an actor and writer who has participated in Canadian theatre and film for over fifty years. Born in Montreal, he appeared in plays in Canada, the USA and the UK before beginning a career as a screenwriter. He is known for films such as Happy Birthday to Me (1981) and Diamond Cut Diamond (2001). He lives in Toronto.

Lionel Douglas was a major force during the glory days of Rochdale. A master raconteur and polymath he could work a room like nobody's business, and had an amazing vision of that not yet done. He loved photography and Ducati motorcycles. The former you will enjoy in these pages, the latter killed him.

Bob Nasmith was, briefly, president of Rochdale and a photographer. Most of his photographic work (both his work as a combat photographer in Vietnam and his later work) did not survive the whips and scorns of time but his association with Theatre Passe Muraille as artist and board member has lasted 48 years. He is quite a good actor.

David Ferry is a dramaturge and sometime designer and an award winning actor and director living in Toronto. A published writer himself, he has edited Reaney Days in the West Room (Playwrights Canada Press, 2009) and He Speaks: Monologues for Men (Playwrights Canada Press, 2008). He co-edited Making a Scene (Playwrights Canada Press 1985). His audio collection of Canadian dialects Canajun, eh? is a useful resource for actors and is still available on CD.

Populated by media personalities, literary characters, three-legged deer-like creatures and an array of idiosyncratic Toronto neighbours, The House on Major Street is an internal and external picaresque tale that begins with a dramatic bicycle accident and explores, along the way, the blurred boundaries between the stories we read, the stories we tell and the stories we live.

Leon Rooke is an energetic and prolific storyteller whose writing is characterized by inventive language, experimental form and an extreme range of characters with distinctive voices. He has written a number of plays for radio and stage and produced numerous collections of short stories. It is his novels, however, that have received the most critical acclaim. Fat Woman (1980) was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and won the Paperback Novel of the Year Award. Shakespeare's Dog won the Governor General's Award in 1983 and toured as a play as far afield as Barcelona and Edinburgh. A Good Baby was made into a feature film. Rooke founded the Eden Mills Writers' Festival in 1989. In 2007, Rooke was made a member of the Order of Canada. Other awards include the Canada/Australia prize, the W. O. Mitchell Award, the North Carolina Award for Literature and two ReLits (for short fiction and poetry). In 2012, he was the winner of the Gloria Vanderbilt Carter V. Cooper Fiction Award. He lives in Toronto.