Gail Sidonie Sobat


Gail Sidonie Sobat is a Canadian writer, educator, singer and performer. She is the founder and coordinator of YouthWrite, a writing camp for children, a non-profit and charitable society. She is also the director of the Spoken Word Youth Choir Her poetry and fiction, for adults and young adults, are known for her controversial themes. For 2015, Sobat was one of two writers in residence with the Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries. She is also the founder of the Spoken Word Youth Choir in Edmonton.

Early life

Sobat was born in Calgary, Alberta of first-generation Ukrainian-Canadian and Serb-Canadian parents. A striking Drumheller miner with socialist sympathies, her Ukrainian grandfather had been blacklisted by the RCMP in his youth; her Depression-era parents maintained socialist leanings throughout their lives.
She spent her early years in Drumheller, then Shouldice, and on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, now Siksika Nation, near the hamlet of Gleichen. She attended kindergarten at the Old Sun Residential School, and later in St. Paul, near the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. Her father worked with Indian Affairs. Sobat completed Education and Arts degrees and a master's degree in English at the University of Alberta in Children's Literature, specializing in fantasy.

Writing

Sobat's first publication was "Today She Was in Curlers," a short story published in Edges Literary Magazine in 1986. Sobat's books include the Young Adult/ New Adult novels Jamie's Got a Gun, Not With A Bang, Ingamald, A Winter's Tale, A Glass Darkly, Gravity Journal, Chance to Dance for You and a picture book, In the Graveyard, illustrated by artist, Spyder Yardley-Jones. She has also written two books of poetry, "How the Light is Spent" and Aortic Caprice, as well as a novel, The Book of Mary, for adult audiences.

Career

Sobat taught in middle, secondary, and post-secondary schools. For the Legacy Project, a high school program addressing the gulf between aboriginal and non-aboriginal students, Sobat and her co-creators were named finalists for the Governor General Excellence in Teaching History Award.
Sobat founded YouthWrite in 1996, a multi-disciplinary camp for young writers. Courses offered include traditional poetry and fiction classes, but also drumming and words, movement and words, playwriting, journalism, illustration, writing for radio, screenwriting, and songwriting. The camp runs each January and July, and is overseen by Sobat, a team of supervisors, and a slate of professional authors and illustrators. 2015 marked the inaugural year for JustWrite, a writing camp for adults.
Sobat was adjunct professor in the University of Alberta Faculty of Education, and was the 2007 Canadian Authors Association Writer-in-Residence at the University of Alberta Bookstore. She has also been Writer-in-Residence at Queen's University and taught in Istanbul, Turkey at Ata College. Currently, she teaches creative writing and communications at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta.
Sobat founded the Spoken Word Youth Choir, which first performed in September, 2007, as part of The Roar Spoken Word Festival in Edmonton. Later that year the group performed at the Edmonton Creative Cities Conference and the Edmonton Cultural Capital Gala. In 2008 they performed at the CANWRITE – Canadian Authors Association National Conference, and in 2009, at WordsWorth 2009 at Bragg Creek, and at several Edmonton venues. In 2010 the choir performed at the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival. Sobat has performed solo and with SWYC on stage and in public performances and presentations across Canada, in Doha, Qatar; Cincinnati, Ohio; Monteagle, Tennessee; Bern, Switzerland; Helsinki, Finland; and Hanoi, Vietnam.

Awards

The Book of Mary - Sumach Press 2006

Adult Poetry

Aortic Caprice - River Books 2003/2004
How the Light is Spent - Wintergreen Studios Press 2013

Young Adult/New Adult Fiction

Ingamald - Spotted Cow Press 2001
A Winter’s Tale - Great Plains Publications 2004
A Glass Darkly - Great Plains Publications 2006
Gravity Journal – Great Plains Publications 2008
Chance to Dance for You - Great Plains Publications 2011
In the Graveyard - Bryler Publications-Little Fish Books 2011
Not With a Bang - Magpie Books 2012
Jamie's Got a Gun - Great Plains Publications 2014

Criticism

"Not With a Bang, Neither With a Whimper: A fictional narrative about death and assisted suicide." in Death in Literature, edited by Outi Hakola.
"Why the prince has to bite it" in Mind Rain: Your Favorite Authors on Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Series, edited by Scott Westerfeld.
The thing about elves is..." in Secrets of the Dragon Riders: Your Favorite Authors on Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Series, edited by James A. Owen.
"The Night in Her Own Country: The Heroine's Quest for Self in Ursula K. Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan." Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams and the Genres of Myth and Fantasy Studies 21:3 : 24–32.
"If the Ghost Be There, Then Am I Crazy?": An Examination of Ghosts in Virginia Hamilton's Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush and Toni Morrison's Beloved." Children's Literature Association Quarterly 20:4 : 168–174.http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/chq/summary/v020/20.4.sobat.html

Educational Writing

Aboriginal Perspectives – English 10-1 and English 10–2, NorQuest Community College.
Teacher's Guide and Student Handbook, Mountain Ash Poetry Series.