Jocelyn Shipley

Born in London, Ontario, Jocelyn always knew she would be a writer. She has attended The Humber School for Writers, and writes for both children and adults. Her award-winning stories have appeared in anthologies, newspapers and magazines. Her books for teens include Getting a Life, Cross My Heart and Seraphina's Circle. Getting a Life and Cross My Heart were Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice" selections. Seraphina's Circle was nominated for the 2007/2008 BC Stellar Award, listed in Resource Links Best of 2006, and featured in the Anne of Green Gables Book Club.

Jocelyn now divides her time between Toronto and Vancouver Island. Please visit her online at: www.jocelynshipley.com.

About Cleavage: Jocelyn still has every issue of Seventeen magazine from 1965. They're packed away in a box though, along with her hopes of ever having long straight hair and long skinny legs. She was inspired to co-edit this collection to encourage women of all ages to question media-imposed ideals of female beauty.

Deb Loughead

Toronto writer and poet Deb Loughead became enchanted with wordplay as soon as she learned to read, and admits that she's saved everything she's ever written. She is the author of 16 books for children and young adults, some of which have been translated into Swedish, Norwegian, German and French. Her award-winning adult fiction and poetry has appeared in a variety of Canadian publications. Deb has conducted workshops and held readings at schools, festivals and conferences across the country. Visit her website at www.DebLoughead.ca.

About Cleavage: Deb has always considered herself to be a 'late bloomer,' and struggled with body image issues as a young teen. In Grade 7 her nickname was 'D Flat,' so she finds she can sympathize with many of the characters in these stories.

Ev Bishop writes because it helps her figure out what she thinks. Her non-fiction work appears in a variety of publications, but she loves fiction because it helps explore the emotional, rather than factual, truths about being human. Visit her website at www.evbishop.com

My Mom is a Freak was born when Savvy started talking in Ev's head; Ev just wrote down what she said. The characters are imaginary, but Ev has noticed a few similarities between Savvy's mom and her own, and between Savvy's worries and some of hers and her friends'.

Jennifer Filipowicz is a graduate of the University of Toronto art and art history program with a minor in professional writing. A frequent contributor to Today's Parent Toronto, she lives in Burlington with her husband Adam and her son William. Visit her website at: www.jennifer.filipowicz.ca

My So Not Ballerina Boobs is Jennifer's first published fiction. Her inspiration for her story came from her mother, who is as caring as she is loud. Jennifer currently wears a size 36G bra.

Amanda Hartley was born and raised in the Toronto area. She earned an engineering degree, and worked in her field for five years. After the birth of her first son she did not return to work, and instead began writing. She lives in Caledon with her husband and two sons.

The character of Cassie was inspired by a photo of a celebrity couple holding their infant daughter. The baby looked remarkably like her father, and didn't bear any resemblance to her mother, a stunning fashion model. My Mother's Poison is Amanda's first published fiction.

Valerie Hunter is a high school English teacher in New Jersey whose stories have appeared in magazines including Cicada, What If?, and Storyteller. She's never eaten eleven pounds of food in one sitting, but has been assured that it's possible.

Former Juice Girl Eats World's Largest Taco was inspired by a story in her college newspaper about a slim freshman girl who ate a six pound hamburger with five pounds of topping. Valerie wondered what the aftermath of such a feat would be — and thus Aryn was born.

Lisabeth Jackson graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and has been a CANSCAIP Friend for over eight years. Most recently, she has written articles for The Whispered Watchword, a publication about girls' series books. She is currently writing a YA novel.

About her story: "As a teenager, I refused to shave. I wore jeans all the time to hide my hairy legs. My mother didn't press the issue — I think she might have been secretly proud of my defiance. Presenting Miss Gorilla Legs is about questioning society's definitions of beauty and femininity."

Karen Krossing's books include Pure, The Castle Key and Take the Stairs, which was nominated for the Ontario Library Association White Pine Award. Karen is also a writing instructor at Centennial College, and she regularly conducts workshops for kids and teens. Visit her website at: www.karenkrossing.com

About Profanity: "One fascinating aspect of the female body is the ability to produce a baby. I wanted to explore this process from the point of view of a teen girl who is repulsed by the act her mother performed to produce a bulging stomach. This bulge, which the teen calls the profanity, then begins to link with her confused thoughts about her own sexual impulses."

Wendy A. Lewis is an award-winning author of books for young people. Her books include Freefall, Graveyard Girl and Fire on the Water: The Red-Hot Career of Superstar Rower Ned Hanlan. Wendy lives in Uxbridge, Ontario with her husband, two daughters and a houseful of pets.

Wendy got the idea for her story when she saw a humungous painted silk vagina in the rafters of her stepsister-in-law's studio. Artist Holly Carr had created the piece for a production of The Vagina Monologues. The Giant Regina is part of a collection of kooky short fiction Wendy is working on that explores the horror and humour of changing bodies, emotions and relationships during adolescence.

Kellee Ngan is an MFA student in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia and a past editor of PRISM international. In 2008, she was awarded a Lunchbox Theatre Petro-Canada Stage One commission for her one-act play, When All Is Said and Done. A Toronto native, Kellee currently resides in Vancouver.

The Puberty Theory was inspired by an animal survival game that Kellee played as part of a grade school field trip. She was a lowly grouse.

Patricia McCowan has had one of her stories, "Hang On," appear in the Young Adult anthology Dark Times. Two of her short pieces have been winners in Maisonneuve Magazine's print and online literary contests, while another short story placed third in the Eden Mills Writers' Festival Literary Contest. Patricia lives in Toronto with her husband and two daughters.

About Change Room: "I think short stories are a lot like change rooms: small, contained spaces where truths are revealed, like them or not. So I took two characters with two different sets of feelings about those two very important parts of our bodies — our breasts — and got them into one small change room. Then I stepped back to see what truth would step out!"

Mar'ce Merrell writes novels for children, young adults and adults. Her life is a juggle of passions: writer, actress, reality television contestant, mother of five, artist teacher and avid baker. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta. Visit her website at: thecakeprincess.blogspot.com

About her story: "The Cake Princess was inspired by my mother, who taught me to bake. When my mother was dying from breast cancer, I baked for her. In those last months, we were able to talk honestly in ways we never had; such is the gift of cake and kindness."

Anne Ptasznik is a Toronto freelance non-fiction writer, specializing in health, career and lifestyle issues, and is also a playwright. Visit her website at: www.creativefusion.ca

Fat Genes is Anne's first young adult story. She thanks all the wise voices who helped midwife her story, and dedicates it to all who courageously struggle with weight and body image.

Robin Stevenson is the author of five novels for teens and pre-teens, including Out of Order and A Thousand Shades of Blue. She was born in England, grew up mostly in Ontario, and lives in Victoria with her partner and four-year-old son. Visit her website at: www.robinstevenson.com

"About My Curves was inspired by a single image: a crudely vandalized painting. I wasn't sure where this would lead, but as I began exploring the possibilities present in the relationship between the woman in the painting and the person looking at it, the characters emerged and the story took shape."

Ann Sutherland grew up in a rural area west of Red Deer, Alberta, where she was kept busy shelling peas and picking saskatoon berries. She now lives in Edmonton with her husband and two teenage sons. Her work has appeared in Alberta Anthology, newspapers, and magazines, and has also been produced for radio.

The inspiration for Faceless on the Farm comes from teen magazines and the mixed messages they send. On the one hand, they stress the importance of being yourself. On the other, it's all about improving yourself by wearing makeup, being thin, and dressing in the latest trends. What's a girl to do?

Claire Tacon is finishing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. She has been short-listed for the CBC Literary Awards and is a past Fiction Editor of PRISM international.

About Bare: "Going through puberty, you are always comparing yourself to your peers. I was a year younger than my classmates and I remember getting changed in gym class and noticing the more developed girls. The idea for this story started with the question of what would have happened if I'd been caught peeking."

Anna Wärje graduated from the Langley Fine Arts High School with a major in Creative Writing, and now studies at the University of British Columbia. Anna's poetry has recently appeared in Room, Event Magazine, and The Dalhousie Review. She was awarded second place in the 2008 Vancouver International Writers Festival Poetry Contest.

Wax World is Anna's first published fiction. It was inspired in part by a real story of mother-daughter waxing, and in part by the women from whom Anna has learned so much about how to live in the world. Anna would like to dedicate this story to her mother and to her sisters, Teresa and Kira.

Cleavage

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Categories
  · Young Adult Fiction
  · Short Fiction Anthology

Points of Interest
 · Wide range of young
    female characters
 · Explores themes of:
    - body image
    - fitting in
    - life choices
    - mainstream media
       portrayals of women

Ages 12+
186 pages
6" x 8"
$12.95 paper
ISBN: 978-1-894549-76-9

Release: September 2008

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