“I first met Ali Bryan in an online session when she was the Author in Residence for the Calgary Public Library. The hour we spent discussing my short fiction excerpt was transformative. Ali pointed out avenues I could explore in sharing my work, as well as areas I should focus on to take my work to the next level. Through Ali’s encouragement and guidance, I was successful in placing a nonfiction essay with The Globe and Mail’s First Person column, and I created a Substack to share my holiday-themed short fiction. When I finally met Ali in person over a year later for coffee,  we discussed the writing process at length and troubleshooted a short fiction story I had been working on for some time. After working together again at a recent writing retreat, I feel like I’ve known Ali way longer than I actually have. She is intelligent, perceptive and hilarious.  She listens, asks the right questions, points out a piece’s strengths and identifies areas that need more. She knows how and when to push a writer. She believes in her fellow writers and she celebrates their success. Put simply, Ali Bryan is the definition of generosity, an invaluable member of the YYC writing community, and someone I am proud to know and call my mentor.”