Executive Officers

Collin Glavac, President

Collin Glavac is a #1 Bestselling Amazon author from Southern Ontario. He moved to Newfoundland almost five years ago, purely to write by the ocean.

Collin completed his B.A. and M.A. at Brock University. He has written, directed, and acted in two original stage plays and has written four self-published books. Collin performs comedy, edits manuscripts, does background film acting, and sells his books at local markets.

Collin previously served as the St. John’s 1-year representative on the board and was chair of the WORD Magazine committee. He just completed his first one-year term as president. Collin is looking forward to continuing to be a part of a proud and talented community that punches above its weight.

Stacey Oakley, Vice-President

Stacey has independently published two novels, Hunter’s Soul and The Necromancer, and several short stories. She has lived on both coasts of Canada and now calls St. John’s home along with her cat, Sophia. She has a Bachelor of Arts, with a Major in Art History & Visual Studies and a Minor in Social Justice Studies, along with a Post-Grad Diploma in Cultural Resource Management from the University of Victoria and a Diploma in Executive Office Administration from North Island College. Stacey’s literary interests encompass both fiction and non-fiction, though her own work is primarily fantasy. She enjoys taking on new challenges, whether it’s in writing or in life.

Stacey has served on the board as St. John’s Avalon Representative, Secretary (1 year mid-term appointment), and Vice President (1 year mid-term appointment). She has served as a member of the awards committee for several years, and served as chair for this past year.

Teresita Dziadura, Treasurer

Teresita E. Dziadura is a bestselling speculative fiction writer from Newfoundland, Canada, w here she lives with her husband, writer cat Loki and her beagle, Frisket. Her debut novel, Corporate Invasion, was launched in May 2021. By day she is employed as an insurance broker, where she helped run the company’s newsletter from 2016 to 2022.

Teresita served as secretary for the WritersNL board since November 2022. In November 2023 she volunteered to sit as chair of the Events Committee. In 2025 she assumed the role of Treasurer.

Teresita has a history of volunteerism. From 1998-2008 she was leader with a local Sparks unit, and was lead guider from 2000-2008. She has also volunteered with the local Habitat for Humanity, where she’s worked on building homes and other events/locations with that fine organization. As the environment is a passion of hers, she spent two years volunteering with the Junior Forest Wardens in the early 2000’s.

Aaron Tucker, Secretary

Aaron Tucker is the author of seven books, including two novels, Soldiers Hunters not Cowboys and Y: Oppenheimer, Horseman of Los Alamos (both with Coach House Books) and three collections of poetry, Catalogue d’oiseaux (Book*Hug Press), Irresponsible Mediums (Book*Hug Press), and punchlines (Mansfield Press). He is a collective member of Meet the Presses, a volunteer group dedicated to small press publishing across Canada and the facilitator of the annual bpNichol Chapbook Award. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the English Department of Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, where he teaches Media Studies and Creative Writing, and is the Program Coordinator of the Creative Writing Diploma.

Directors

Bridget Canning, St. John’s/Avalon Representative

Bridget Canning is a writer and educator. Her first novel, The Greatest Hits of Wanda Jaynes, was selected as a finalist for the 2017 BMO Winterset Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award, the NL Fiction Award, and was longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Award. Her second novel, Some People’s Children, was a finalist for the 2020 BMO Winterset Award, the Thomas Raddall Award, and the NL Fiction Awards. Her short story collection No One Knows about Us was named a finalist for the 2023 Alistair MacLeod Award for Short Fiction and won the 2024 Newfoundland and Labrador Book Award for Fiction. In 2019, she won the CBC Emerging Artist Award with ArtsNL. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing from Memorial University and a Masters of Literacy Education from Mount Saint Vincent University.

As an educator, Bridget has twenty-two years of teaching experience, the last fifteen as an Academic Communications Instructor with the College of the North Atlantic (CNA). At CNA, Bridget teaches across multiple programs, adapting communication courses for the needs of a diverse range of students.

Bridget has volunteered as a fiction editor with Riddle Fence Magazine and has been a jury member for several literary awards, most recently the Governor General’s Award for fiction. Below are some detailed lists of Bridget’s publications and writing projects.

Sheri Singleton, Central/Burin/Bonavista Representative

A graduate of Memorial University, Sheri teaches High School English. She lives with her two cats on the beautiful island of Twillingate, NL, a picturesque community of roughly 2500 people off the province’s northeast coast. Her poem The Drive appears in the English 3202 text Vistas used by grade 12 students province-wide. Her poem Sunday Morning, 9 a.m. was nominated for the 2020 Pushcart Prize.

She is currently working on her first novel.

Chelsea Humphries, Western Representative 

Chelsea Humphries is the Public Services Librarian at the Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, and, when she isn’t in the library or pursuing scholarly research and editorial work, she writes poetry. She has a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Toronto, an MA in English Literature from Queen’s University, and a postgraduate certificate in Creative Book Publishing from Humber College. Her creative work has been published in *82 Review, the Hart House Review, and Horseshoe Literary Magazine. Her first chapbook, Flower Language, is forthcoming with Anstruther Press in the summer of 2026. Originally from Toronto, she has made Corner Brook, NL and its creative community (shout out to the Corner Brook Public Library and its writing group!) her home.

Nina Rumbolt-Pye, Labrador Rep

Nina has resided in Mary’s Harbour, Labrador her entire life with the exception of time in St John’s completing a Political Science/English Degree with Memorial University.

Nina has been an active Nunatukavut (NCC) member for nearly 30 years spending half that time on the Governing Council. She currently serves as an Employment, Skills and Development (ESD) Policy Committee member for student funding as well as recently appointed one of the three Board members of the newly formed Nunatukavut Citizenship Committee.

Since retiring from Canada Post, she has been working as a Licensed Substitute Teacher at Bayside Academy, St Lewis Academy and St Mary’s All Grade.

Among her notable volunteer work is Town Mayor, Harbourview Manor Co-Chair, Labrador Regional Appeals Board Member (For Municipal Disputes), and Youth Justice Forum. She is also a trained peer facilitator with Empowering Indigenous Women (EIW) and a PHASE instructor with the Canadian Junior Rangers. Her current passion is in helping Indigenous people make connections to communities through genealogy.

Nina’s first book of three, documenting local humanistic perspectives of the Residential Schools in Labrador, Labrador Patella won the Provincial Percy Janes Award First Novel Award for 2025. It was released by Engen Books in June and became their top-selling title in 2025.

Leon Chung, Member at Large

Paul Moorehead, Member at Large

Paul Moorehead is a writer and physician who lives with his family in Conception Harbour. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association and Nevaeh Angel Foundation. His first book of poetry, Green, was published by Breakwater Books in 2025, and his academic and creative works have appeared in magazines and journals, including: NewPoetry.ca, Pinhole Poetry, Riddle Fence, medical fancypants journal, etc.

Clayton Smith, Member at Large

Clayton B. Smith is a writer from outport Newfoundland currently residing in St. John’s. He has a joint Honours degree in English and Philosophy, and a diploma in Creative Writing from Memorial University. His first novel A Seal of Salvage was published by Breakwater Books in 2024. Clay is currently contributing to its film adaptation for Darius Films while completing his second novel Keeping Time to be published by Breakwater—once he’s happy with it. He has participated in writing festivals across the province including Horseshoe, Ochrefest, and Winterset in Summer. Clay’s writing has appeared in various literary magazines including Riddlefence and Paragon. He has been a vocal proponent for NL Literature speaking about not only his own work but the voices of emerging authors in the Atlantic literary scene on both CBC Radio and Rogers TV. Clayton’s life revolves around people, pints, and prose—in no particular order.

Ainsley Hawthorn, Past President

Ainsley Hawthorn, PhD, is a cultural historian, nonfiction author, and speaker originally from Steady Brook and now based in St. John’s. She blogs for Psychology Today, writes for a variety of publications, and edited the non-fiction anthology Land of Many Shores: Perspectives from a Diverse Newfoundland and Labrador. She also co-created Apocalypse Then, a CBC radio series that looked at past pandemics to shed light on the COVID experience. As past Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, Ainsley has a background in grant-making and endowment funds. She served as WritersNL Vice-President and Chair of the Literary Awards Committee for two years before becoming President in 2021.