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Executive Directors
 Executive
Director/Founding Member -
Bonnie L. Nish is founder of Twisted Poets Open Mic.
She is also the co-founder of Under the Elephant an open
mic night, and Pandora's Collective and The Kitsilano
Writing Group both writing collectives in Vancouver BC.
A captivating storyteller, Bonnie allows us to see the
world in a slightly unique way, presenting a refreshing
view of life through her poetry. Published widely
throughout North America you may view some of her work
(both poetry, prose and book reviews) in the
anthologies, "Undercurrents," and "Quills," and on-line
at luluzine.com, hackwriters.com and greenboathouse.com.
In September 2001, Bonnie's poem "Don Quixote's Love
Song," a grand prize winner in the Artist's Embassy
International Dancing Poetry Contest, was performed at
the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San
Francisco. Bonnie has her BA in English Literature from
the University of Toronto.
www.angelfire.com/art/bonnienish/
View
Bonnie's
Poets Diectory Page,
Poetry
 Executive
Director/Founding Member -
Sita Carboni has been featured throughout the
Lower-mainland at various events including The World
Poetry Readings Series, The Word on the Street and The
North Shore Writers Festival. Her poetry can be found in
literary journals and e-zines including, Quills Canadian
Poetry Magazine, The Blueprint Review and
goodgoshalmighty.com. Her love for life has made her a
mainstay in the local poetry community as a writer,
reader and promoter of the arts. She is a member of the
Federation of BC Writers and co-founder of the Kitsilano
Writers Group, Word Whips Writing Series and Pandora's
Collective. She enjoys the creativity of authors such as
Salmon Rushdie, Jose Saramago and Joy Kogawa and hopes
to one day learn how to sculpt, combining words with
three dimensional form.
View Sita's
Poets Directory Page,
Poetry
Board Of Directors
 President:
Mike Peacock is a piano player and
singer/songwriter. He is a founding member of
Vancouver-based Band Melic Thrum and co-founder of
Peppercorn Productions. He holds a diploma in Jazz
performance from G.M.C.C. in Edmonton with distinction.
He is the principal of a small development company which
specializes in custom home craftsmanship and commercial
installations including architectural stretch ceilings.
Mike's love for jazz music has fuelled his musical
growth for the past 15 years and his love of the obscure
has helped maintain a commercially enviable existence in
the entertainment industry. Mike brings his love for the
arts and his business experience to Pandora's Board
hoping to help them on their mission to promote good art
in an unconstrained environment for all to experience
and enjoy!
Melic Thrum -
Tendu -
Peppercorn
Studios
 Vice
President:
Mary Duffy was born in Dublin, Ireland, her
mother's home but grew up on Red Island, Newfoundland
which had been her father's family home for generations.
She has two daughters, works as a librarian in
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside/Chinatown and volunteers
as a Doula. Her poetry has been published in "Luluzine",
"Quills", "Benches" and "The Return of the Downtown
Eastside Poets". She reads with the "Twisted Poets" and
the "The Downtown Eastside Poets" and works as a board
member for "Pandora's Collective". In April, 2006 she
worked as one of a number of community writers on a
shadow puppet play on addiction in the downtown eastside
under the direction of Savannah Walling (Vancouver
Moving Theatre) and Rosemary Georgeson and Marie
Clements (Fathom Labs). She is currently working on "Red
Island Rocks"; a book of linked story-poems about
Newfoundland's outport resettlement.
View Mary's Poetry
 Vice
President USA:
David McGuire is a musician and teacher in the
Great Lakes region of upstate New York. He has advanced
degrees in composition and theory and a chronic interest
in literature, poetry and speculative essay. His
compositions have been played regionally and abroad
(most recently in Romania); he is especially drawn to
hybrid genres: music and poetry (sung or recited), music
and dance, music for theatre, etc. He believes the arts
are an indispensable liberating and deepening force for
human beings and stresses the need for ongoing arts
advocacy (through venues such as Pandora's Collective).
He sometimes plays his compositions for his cats; their
responses are cryptic.
 Treasurer:
Diana Huang was born in Beijing, China and has
been in Vancouver since her move to Canada in 1997. She
presently works as an audit manager in a public
accounting firm. Diana obtained her Certificate Public
Accountant designation in 2002 and her Certified General
Accountant designation in 2004. In addition Diana has a
Bachelors Degree in Engineering, and a Diploma of
Financial Management. She specializes in Not-for-Profit
audits and Public Company audits. Her interests includes
reading, watching movies, hiking and swimming.
 Secretary:
Ruth Kozak is a historical-fiction novelist,
travel writer and playwright with poetic aspirations.
When she's not wandering the world (mostly around
Greece) she instructs a memoirs writing group, and
prompts the muse in three writing classes for the
Vancouver School Board. For many years Ruth was chair
for the West End Writers Club. She is now finishing up
an epic historical novel with the help of the
Scribbler's critique group. Ruth is a member of the
Federation of BC Writers and the BC Association of
Travel writers. She has recently taken part (third year
running) in the Feds "Off the Page" program introducing
writing to school children. See her "Living the Writer's
Life" blog at
www.wynnbexton.blogspot.com
or website at:
www.dreamwater.org/ruthaki/
 Director:
Carson Tipper was born in 1957 in Edmonton
Alberta, raised in the Yukon and is 12th generation
Canadian. He moved to Vancouver, BC at the age of 11
and is now living in Richmond. Husband and father of
three children ages 16 to 21, Carson has been a self
employed contractor for the last twenty years. He has
read his poetry in Vancouver over the past 3 to 4 years
and has been writing for over thirty years. In 1976 he
attended The University of British Columbia favouring
subjects such as creative writing, linguistics and
Greek. Carson attended Langara College Arts Program in
1978 to study design, Greek mythology and various arts.
In 1980 he attended The Emily Carr College of Art and
graduated with honours in sculpture and ceramics in
1984. He has since taught sculpture at UBC continuing
education programs and has continued drawing and
sculpting privately with most all of his work focused on
the human figure.
View Carson's Poets Directory Page.
 Director:
Rhonda Milne can be found at the Vancouver Story
Slam as the score-keeper/time-keeper, at comedy clubs, poetry and music
events and at local galleries. She is the Volunteer Coordinator for the Summer
Dream Literary Arts Festival and an active member of the Board of Directors. Her
enthusiasm for the arts and her supportive nature have made Rhonda an incredible
asset to Pandora's Collective. Rhonda is a licensed insurance agent who works
full time in the insurance industry. She enjoys spending time with her daughter,
painting, reading and baking.
 Director:
Gwen Murray moved to
Vancouver in 2003 from Calgary, Alberta where she ran her own small
communications company. This one stop shop provided services from corporate and
individual fundraising to corporate identifications and event coordination. Some
of her clients included the Headwaters Health Authority, One Yellow Rabbit
Performance Theatre, Alberta Views and Farm Fresh Organics. Fearing that family,
friends and contentment would limit her lifetime experience she left her home to
move to Vancouver where she embarked on a new adventure. It was only a few
months after arriving here that she had her hands back in the non-profit world
of the Arts. Gwen currently holds the position of Marketing and Development
Manager at the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society and enjoys her position on the
Board of Directors of Pandora’s Collective. Besides being a mother she is an art
collector, avid runner and enjoys tennis, gardening, reading and entertaining
when time permits.
Event Hosts
 Suzy Malcolm:
Songwriter/Poet for children and adults, Suzy Malcolm's often humorous writing
has been published in several anthologies. She co-hosts Word Whips North Shore
Edition and loves that it's a writers' group open to the public and those
"let's- get- writing" prompts. Suzy has 3 kids music cds to her credit
and 2 for grownups set for release.Her literary highlights include having her
poem etched in glass at the new LynnValley Library and having another poem used
by an international organization on a poster for peace.
 Fran
Bourassa is a poet/artist/performer and contributing writer to numerous
anthologies including Sono Nis Press -Breaking the Surface and the North Shore
Writers Association Millennium Anthology - Shore Lines. Fran recently won the NS
Writers Festival contest for best Postcard story as well as the NSWA contest for
best poem. She also freelances as an Arts Reporter. She has been awarded a
Scholarship to the Banff Wired Writing Studio, has been a Finalist Vancouver
Poetry Slam, and a feature at many venues including, Word on the Street. She
co-hosts Word Whips; the North Shore Edition - an open Monthly Reading/Writing
Series supported by Pandora’s Collective. (To see some of her poetry – check out
the contest winners links on this website.) Fran lives and works on the North
Shore. Contact her at
fbourassa@nvsd44.bc.ca
 Sita Carboni
and Bonnie Nish have been co-hosting events, performing and instructing
workshops together
since June 2003. The pair have a dynamic presence, with works that are
at times diametrically opposed, creating a fascinating and compelling view of the world.
The have co-hosted Word Whips, Twisted Poets,
Echoing Voices,
The Summer Dream Literary Arts Festival, Under The Elephant, CWILL's Fall
Book Harvest and Spring Book Hatching, Upstart Crow Reading Series, Word on the
Street's Poet's Corner, Zap Kids, The Roundhouse Poets Corner , VanDusen
Botanical Garden Readings and many other literary events. They strive to create
a safe and inspiring environment for performers and audiance members alike and
to facilitate the promotion of emerging and established writers.
Previous Board Members:
 Director:
Tara Harris was born in Victoria BC where she was
actively involved in the theatre and dance culture.
There she performed, taught, choreographed and travelled
with the Kidco Theatre Dance Company until she moved to
London, England in 1993. Over the years Tara travelled
extensively in Europe, Asia and North America, her
passion thriving in the arts. "I love music, theatre and
film - and I write, recreationally, for my eyes only! -
Still keep your eyes open for my upcoming book Other
Peoples' Ketchup - One Girl's Battle with Chronic
Waitressing Disorder". Tara recently spent two years in
Toronto working in the film industry but is now happily
back in Vancouver. Tara's career in the hospitality
industry is in leadership and development - taking small
and large teams of corporate trainers on the road -
facilitating motivational workshops and helping
individuals recognize their own strengths.
 Treasurer:
Joanne Kim originally from S. Korea, has been in
Vancouver since her move to Canada in 1996. Presently
working as a Certified General Accountant for non-profit
and profit organizations. Her skills are an incredible
asset to Pandora's Collective. Surprisingly, in Korea,
Joanne majored in French Literature. She is now fluent
in Korean, English, French and Spanish. Her interest and
love encompass all of the arts. She is presently taking
weekly piano lessons, Flamenco dance lessons and
continuing her studies of the Spanish language. Her
passion for life, knowledge and her generous personality
has made her an integral part of Pandora's Collective.
When she is not working as a CGA in Richmond, or taking
one of her many lessons, you may find her fly fishing,
hiking, travelling, cooking up a storm or doing yoga,
photography or watching foreign movies.
 Vice
President, Canada:
Don Simpson
Donald W. Simpson.
Retired businessman, dabbler, sesquipedalian, literary
traditionalist, ectomorph.
 Director,
USA:
Edmond Chow has a strong technical background and
is presently working at one of the US national labs near
San Francisco. He is also an active member of the arts
community, having been involved with poetry and creative
writing for about 15 years. He is on the Board of the
Kearny Street Workshop, a non-profit Asian American Arts
organization in San Francisco as well as Pandora's
Collective. Edmond has taught poetry classes for the
Kearny Street Workshop for the past three years and
before that taught several creative writing classes for
his local city's Adult Education Department and for a
high school extracurricular program organized by the
Asian American Renaissance while he was living in
Minneapolis. Edmond is a published poet.
Kearny Street
Workshop
Previous Director
 Heather
Neale is a Vancouver-based freelance writer
published in The Georgia Straight, The Times Colonist,
The Globe and Mail, etc. An original member of Pandora's
Collective, her enthusiasm helped to spark the early
stages of Pandora's Collective. She is the editor of
luluzine and a regular writer for The Kitsilano View and
Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine. When she is not writing
she can be spotted shaking up the dance floor.
luluzine
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