Hi,
I'm Gail Sidonie Šobat.

Gail Sidonie Šobat is a witch at heart, a pirate in her dreams, and a gypsy in practice. She has assumed any number of disguises in her lifetime, including that of teacher, adjunct professor, woman-in-black, professional actor and singer, grounds keeper, flag girl, parimutuel seller and flower seller.

She is the creator/ coordinator of YouthWrite®, camps for kids who love to write, just about anything!©, its adult version, JustWrite, and the Spoken Word Choirs. Gail is also an instructor in the Communications and Arts and Cultural Management programs at MacEwan. From 2016-2020, she was the regional representative for The Writers' Union of Canada.

She has moved over 40 times in her life from Badlands to Siksika Nation Reserve to hideous suburbs to Istanbul to the Sunshine Coast to her writer’s garret in a near-century-old temperamental house. Gail completed a Master’s degree in English at the University of Alberta in Children’s Literature, specializing in fantasy.

She is also an award-winning teacher. For the Legacy Project, a high school program addressing the gulf between aboriginal and non-aboriginal students, Gail and her co-creators (Wally Diefenthaler and Kaye Steward) were named finalists for the Governor General Excellence in Teaching History Award and garnered national recognition and international attention.

Her dedication to mentoring youth through the provincial arts summer camp, YouthWrite, was celebrated in a half-hour documentary that aired on BookTV.

Gail’s vision was to create a retreat-like setting where young writers could participate in an interdisciplinary exploration of words, including songwriting, cartooning, dance and text, drumming and text, hip hop, storytelling, playwriting, screenwriting, photojournalism, interwoven with fiction, creative non-fiction and poetry.

For twenty-five years, YouthWrite camps and workshops, presented by a group of dynamic and established Canadian artists under Gail’s direction, have helped young aspiring authors develop confidence and a sense of place in the world.

Experience in professional theatre and singing make Gail at ease in performance and with any age group. Described as vivacious and lively, Gail is frequently sought after as a speaker, workshop presenter and writer-in-residence.

She has presented across Canada, including Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Jasper, Banff, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal (with the TD Canadian Children’s Book Week 2004), through Northern Saskatchewan with the Pahkisimon Nuye?áh Library System; in Doha, Qatar with the Qatar Reading Association; in Hanoi, Vietnam; at conferences throughout Alberta; in Cincinatti, Ohio; Monteagle, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; at the International Conference on Poetry, Biography and Canon in Bern, Switzerland; and at the Death in Literature Conference at the Helsinki Academy for Advanced Studies. Gail has been writer in residence in several Edmonton schools, at Queens’ University, in Doha, Qatar, at the University of Alberta through the Canadian Authors Association, at the UN International School of Hanoi, and most recently at Yeditepe University in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Toronto Public Library noted that Gail is "energetic and friendly, ... a warm and engaging speaker with a great sense of humour. She gave excellent, in-depth answers to all questions throughout her talk and demonstrated her passion for writing for youth. Her visit was excellent and a highlight for library programming."

Gail’s work has been published in academic and literary journals, anthologies, and has been broadcast on radio and performed on stage.

In addition to her forthcoming poetry collection, Lessons from the Greeks, she is the author of the YA fantasy series Ingamald, A Winter’s Tale, and A Glass Darkly; a novel for adults, the award-winning The Book of Mary, and two collections of poetry, Aortic Caprice and How the Light is Spent. In collaboration with illustrator artist, Spyder Yardley-Jones, Gail wrote the graphic novel, Jamie's Got a Gun, and the picture book, In the Graveyard. Her other young adult novels include Gravity Journal, Chance to Dance for You, and Not with a Bang.

Gail Sidonie Sobat – Bibliography

• Ingamald - Spotted Cow Press, Edmonton, AB, 2001(ISBN 0-9688977-6-2) 
• A Winter’s Tale - Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2004 (ISBN 1-894283-45-7)
• A Glass Darkly - Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2006 (ISBN 1-894283-69-4)
• Aortic Caprice - River Books, Edmonton, AB, 2003/2004 (ISBN 1-895836-97-2)
• The Book of Mary - Sumach Press, Toronto, ON, 2006 (ISBN 1-894549-54-6)
• Gravity Journal – Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2008 (ISBN 1894283783)
• Chance to Dance for You – Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2011 (ISBN 978-1-926531-11-3)
• In the Graveyard  (illus. Spyder Yardley-Jones) - Bryler Publications, Chester, NS, 2011 (ISBN 978-1-927003-19-0
• Not With a Bang – Palimpsest Press – Kingsville, ON, 2012 (ISBN 978-1-926794-12-9)
• How the Light is Spent – Wintergreen Studios Press, Kingston, ON, 2013 (ISBN 9780986547393)
• Jamie’s Got a Gun – Great Plains Publications, Winnipeg, MB, 2014 (ISBN 978-1-926531-88-5)