Our presenters are curated for their quality, depth, integrity, and alignment with our educational purpose. Since 1982, a distinguished faculty of authors, educators, activists, artists, performers, and practitioners have shared their work at our Cortes Island campus and in Vancouver.
Matthew J. Trafford
Matthew J. Trafford is the author of The Divinity Gene, a collection of genre-bending short stories that garnered critical acclaim in Canada and the US. His work has been recognized with the Far Horizons Award from the Malahat Review, twice been shortlisted for the CBC Literary Prize, and won an Honourable Mention at the National Magazine Awards, as well as an Honour of Distinction Dayne Ogilvie Prize. Holding an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, Trafford has lead fiction workshops at the Banff Centre for the Arts as well as through prestigious online programs. He continues to publish short stories and other works, most recently in Queer Little Nightmares (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022). In 2020 he began his fibre arts practice, and created his alternate persona of Fairy Godfather. He has written about his knitting journey, yarn, and creating without fear. He has recently made his first forays into knitwear design and publishing his own patterns. His YouTube channel, Fairy Godfather Knits, has connected fibre artists and knitting practitioners all around the world, and he has gone on to appear as a guest on several knitting podcasts.