Meet the Creative Team

Writers

Emma Beltrán
Emma Beltrán is a poet and writer from Tilzapotla, a village located in south Mexico. She has been involved in the struggle of indigenous peoples throughout Mexico. She has worked as a human rights observer and has facilitated poetry workshops, popular theatre and alternative journalism for women and children. She was one of the founders of the first independent community radio in Mexico's history, during the student strike at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) that lasted from April 1999 until February 2000. Beltrán's activism made her the subject of harassment, political charges, kidnapping and torture by the Mexican National Army in March 2001.

Sheng Xue
Sheng Xue is a poet and journalist from Beijing. She moved to Canada soon after the June 4th Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. Since March 2002, Sheng Xue has been a regular commentator for NTDTV, a global Chinese TV network. In 2005, she joined Deutsche Welle (Voice of Germany) has been its North American correspondent. As a freelance writer, she has published numerous news reports and commentaries in various Chinese-language media. Sheng Xue has been writing poetry and prose for many years, over a hundred of which have been published. Sheng Xue is a member of the Editorial Board of June 4 Poetry, a collection of poems commemorating the June 4th Movement.

Goran Simic
Goran Simic was born in Bosnia and has published many volumes of poetry, drama and short fiction. His work has been translated into nine languages and been published and performed in several European countries. One of the most prominent writers of the former Yugoslavia, Simic and his family were trapped in the siege of Sarajevo. In 1995 they were able to settle in Canada as a result of a PEN Freedom to Write Award. In 2003, Brick Books published Simic's first full collection of poems in Canada, Immigrant Blues, translated by Amela Simic. He continues to write and give readings.

Martha Kumsa
Martha Kumsa is an Oromo, born and raised in Ethiopia. She worked as a journalist there until being imprisoned early in 1980. She spent 10 years in jail and was released upon the intervention of PEN and Amnesty International. PEN Canada adopted her as an Honorary Member while she was in prison and helped bring her to Canada after her release. Martha completed her PhD at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. She is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfred Laurier University.

ARC members

Director Weyni Mengesha
Weyni Mengesha is an Ethiopian-Canadian Director/Dramaturge and Composer. Mengesha was Associate Artistic Director of Theatre Passe Muraille from 2004 to 2006. Mengesha has received Dora nominations for both blood.claat and da kink in my hair, and is a recipient of a Harold award, an Aroni Image Award and a Harry Jerome Award for excellence in the Arts. She was recently appointed a two-year residency with the Soulpepper Theatre Academy.

Dramaturge Erica Kopyto
Erica Kopyto is a Toronto based dramaturg, director, producer and educator dedicated to the creation of works for social change. In 2003 she received a Masters of Arts from the University of Toronto's School for Study of Drama. Her significant career in theater includes acting as the Associate Artist at Cahoot's Theatre Projects from August 2004 until August 2005 and at Nightwood Theatre as a dramaturg and facilitator of political outreach. She recently spent 2006 living in Fiji, working with local and international NGOs and she is currently a professor in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Seneca College on the York University Campus. She is also involved in numerous social justice initiatives and is an active member of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the The Americas.

Artistic Director Josh Bloch
Josh Bloch is a producer, educator, and community organizer interested in using art as a tool for education and social change. He is the current artistic director of the Art for Real Change Collective an organization that uses creative means to affect social change. ARC produced ARCfest is 2004 - a 5 day social justice arts festival which enjoyed its second incarnation in October 2006. Josh is currently overseeing the expansion of ARC to include ongoing creative social change initiatives such as the current collaboration with PEN Canada on the TAXI Project.