VMI Community Newsletter | August 2025

GRADUATE STORY: Diary Marif, ‘25 Yosef Wosk VMI Fellow 

Diary Marif recently began writing for CBC Arts and published his debut article on “The Source,” a BC newspaper focused on newcomers. Read Marif’s article on Kurdish resistance and his profile of Kurdish Canadian artist, Khadija Baker. In June, Marif gave two talks for World Refugee Day at Burnaby Public Library and Vancouver Central Library. He was also interviewed by the Pacific Canada Heritage Centre–Museum of Migration Society about his journey as a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan to Canada. He spoke about what brought him to Canada, how life unfolded, and the ways his identity has shaped his work. He shared feeling excluded from the field of journalism in both Kurdistan and Canada right from the beginning of his career. Despite those challenges, he never gave up, continuing to write and push forward, until he began to create the space he’d long been denied.

GRADUATE STORY: Maryellen MacDonald, ‘23

Maryellen MacDonald is the author of More Than Words: How Talking Sharpens the Mind and Shapes Our World, published by Penguin Random House(2025.) MacDonald is already thinking about a next book about children’s reading, and other projects. She’s teaching at a summer linguistics institute as well as giving talks and attending workshops to help get her thinking about reading education. Learn more about Maryellen and her book here. 

GRADUATE STORY: Shantell Powell, ‘23 Yosef Wosk VMI Fellow

Shantell Powell’s story, “All That Came From Our Lips Were Lilies,” is one of the featured stories in Silk and Foxglove: a BIPOC Erotic Eco-Horror Anthology being released September 9, 2025 by Hedone Books. Powell’s poem, “Angakkuq,” published by On Spec Magazine in December 2024, is also a finalist for the Aurora Award. Learn more about Powell here.

GRADUATE STORY: Becky Livingston, ‘15

Becky Livingston is now a travel and life coach who helps women 55+ revitalize their lives through long, slow, gentle travel. After publishing her bestselling BC book, The Suitcase & the Jar: Travel with a Daughter’s Ashes, she gave up her home in the Kootenays and set off travelling once again. Today, she delivers speeches about the liberating power of travel to help us navigate life’s many challenges: grief, divorce, retirement, and loss of self-identity—inviting us to rewrite the script of our next chapter.

GRADUATE STORY: kjmunro, ‘21

kjmunro attended Keno City Music Art & Literature+ Workshop in Keno City, Yukon Territory. Along with a dozen other artists, they created new work while also offering a writing workshop and mentoring sessions. Learn more about this amazing residency here.

GRADUATE STORY: Doris Corcese, ‘17

In November 2024, Doris Corcese’s unpublished novel, Waaban, The Sun Rises, which she co-wrote with her partner Ervin J. Houle, was longlisted for The Masters Review 2024 Novel Excerpt Contest, judged by author Tania James. The excerpt was within the top 2.5% of submissions received. Sadly, Ervin passed away in June 2025. Corcese also edited and contributed a personal story to the book, Living With Sibling Grief: Imagining a Way Forward, written by Earla Dawn Legault and Monica Murphy, published in July 2024. Learn more here. 

GRADUATE STORY: Angela J. Gray, ‘23

Throughout the spring, Angela J. Gray has been sharing work from her manuscript, A Clean House, including an excerpt published in Off the Map: Vancouver Writers with Lived Experience of Mental Health Issues, which launched at the Vancouver Public Library. Gray has shared her work on writersradio.ca, as well as the radio programs, Wax Poetics and Threading Madness. In May and June, Gray was a featured reader for the Downtown Eastside’s Writers Festival and Vancouver’s Poetry in the Park. She is currently looking for a publisher for her manuscript while beginning work on her second. Learn about Gray’s work here.

GRADUATE STORY: melanie brannagan frederiksen, ‘23

melanie brannagan frederiksen’s debut collection of poetry, the night, the knife, the river, is forthcoming with At Bay Press in fall of 2026. Among other things, the collection approaches mental illness and trauma through visual and lyric poem responses to Phyllis Webb’s “To Friends Who Have Also Considered Suicide.” Read more here. 

CURRENT STUDENT STORY: Kate Bird

Kate Bird’s essay, “Pilgrim,” was published in 50 Over 50: Honouring Women Writers in Canada – Part Two, the Spring 2025 issue of Prairie Fire Magazine. Alongside Betsy Warland and Seema Shah, Bird also co-edited the anthology, Off the Map: Vancouver Writers with Lived Experience of Mental Health Issues, published by Bell Press. The anthology includes Bird’s own essay, “Shelter.” Learn more about Bird’s publications here.

Aren X. Tulchinsky will be the keynote speaker at the Surrey International Writers Conference, which runs October 22-26, 2025. He will also be leading several writing workshops throughout the conference, plus teaching a master class called “An Ear for Dialogue.” This is the 33rd year of the Surrey International Writer’s Conference and is a great resource for writers of all levels. Learn more about Aren here.