Vicky, born Maria Victoria di Donato, is currently working on a BFA in Creative Writing at OCAD University. She has a BA in English Literature from TMU and currently works as a Competitive Gymnastics Coach at Scarborough Gym Elites. Growing up, she traversed all of America with her family, having lived in the United States, Canada, Argentina, and Brazil before the age of twelve. Vicky is currently working on her debut novel, The City of Old, a YA Sci-Fi dystopian set in futuristic and abandoned Old Toronto. Whether she is flipping, traveling, writing, or having meaningful conversations with the people she cares about, Vicky is a passionate storyteller and cherishes making the most out of the little things in life.
Follow Vicky on Instagram: @v.i.c.k.y.d.d and @mvdd_writes (writing account) or on her website
"will work for sonic youth CD's".
Follow Lenore on Instagram: @lnrtrj
Artemis is a second year creative writing student at OCAD U. They’re a writer of long-form fiction and prose, and have an unnaturally strong draw towards the fantastical and paranormal. They enjoy deep dives into niche topics, cooking the same dish until it sickens them, and snowboarding.
Follow Artemis on Instagram: @astronomers_ocean
Casper is a 3rd year Creative Writing major at OCADU. He mostly writes poetry and short fiction, with lofty aspirations of getting around to his novel eventually. You can read his work in the previous two editions of Pulse or by asking him nicely. When he's not writing Casper enjoys various arts and crafts, watching movies, and wandering about.
Follow Casper on Instagram: @lemurwithaspine
Alesha is a third year creative writing student at OCADU. She's a prose/poetry writer and enjoys writing about fantasy and magical realism. She enjoys everything racing and will regularly sacrifice her mental well-being for a good race weekend. She also likes art.
Follow Alesha on Instagram: @aleshaburton and @art.lesha (art account)
Anna is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on prose writing and illustration. She has interest in prose flow, sequential art, and animation. Because of this, she has developed the hobby of reminding people she's a writing major. Her work has been published by OCAD's 2023rd edition of the Art & Science Review. It is the only instance so far of her not using a penname.
Follow Anna on Instagram: @flying.elbow
Ash is a third year Creative Writing student with a focus on poetry, travel writing, game writing and copywriting. They enjoy travelling, looking up baking recipes, but never actually baking and working their own mini projects.
Follow Ash on Instagram: @ashpandey03
Sarah is a third year Creative Writing student. She thoroughly believes that buying books and reading books are two separate hobbies. She dabbles in photography, where she focuses mostly on self-portraits and experiments with faceless figures. In her writing, she explores topics of family, loneliness, and fitting in.
Follow Sarah on Instagram: @sarahb_213
Dylan is a fourth year creative writing student at Ocad University. As an avid reader with a penchant for science fiction, and crime thrillers, he tends to write descriptive narratives that toy with themes of identity, grief, and the dangers of technological advancement. He dreams of one day writing the next Canadian best-seller, hoping his narratives can enthrall and inspire just as past novelists have done for him.
Email Dylan: @dylantepper09@gmail.com
Kate is a student of Creative Writing at OCAD University, and was probably a rockstar in a previous life. A writer of poetry, fiction, and essays about her favourite bands, Kate dreams of one day following in the footsteps of the late Lester Bangs as a rock and roll journalist.
Follow Kate on Instagram: @kated.mp3 and @weileotz (art account)
“I make things to satisfy an itch and find devotion to something bigger than myself”
Anna is a third year Creative Writing student with a focus on prose, poetry, and graphic novel writing. She also dabbles in graphic design and illustration. You can find her buying a silly little drink, annoying her cat BB, or working on her webcomic THE END/THE WORLD/AND US.
Follow Anna on Instagram: @prod__cloud
Frances (she/her), A.K.A Sam Mercy perhaps, created this entire website. She is a proficiency collector, nocturnal poet, storycrafter in her dreams, professional sentence runner-on-er, amateur photographer, coding novice and wannabe artist. You can catch her daydreaming about how much angst she can fit in her new D&D character on the Lakeshore West line.
Follow Frances on Instagram: @notactuallyfrench
Emaan is a third year Creative Writing student with a focus on romance and fantasy fiction writing. She can usually be found with an iced shaken espresso, kicking her feet over a romance novel, or crying over fictional character deaths. After abandoning law because she realized it meant actually speaking in court, she turned to her lifelong love for creating stories. Now, she's writing one of her own.
Follow Emaan on Instagram: @emamahb and email her: emaanm@ocadu.ca
Michal is an exchange student from Czech Republic. He's studying screenwriting and dramaturgy in Master programme at Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Michal is a screenwriter of several short films, documentaries and plays. Czech national finalist in poetry slam.
Follow Michal on Instagram: @schmidtechre
Iman Sehrai is a third year Creative Writing student at OCADU. She is the oldest of five children and enjoys abstract painting, hosting dinner parties and snuggling her senior cat Boba.
Follow Iman on Instagram: @marveliman
Lia is a fifth year creative writing student at OCAD. They frequently play D&D and infrequently post on TikTok. They are known to create elaborate playlists on Spotify for their characters. She loves Greek Mythology, and was a competitive dancer for 12 years before university. They were featured last year in Grad-X with their short story Wax Wings, a modern re-imagining of the story of Icarus.
Follow Lia on almost everything: @Lia_Bean8
Jai is excited for you to read the third issue of Pulse!
Catherine Black is a Toronto-born writer, Associate Professor, co-founder and Chair of the Creative Writing BFA program at OCAD University.
Catherine’s first collection of prose poetry Lessons of Chaos and Disaster was the second book in Guernica Edition’s “First Poets Series,” and her lyric nonfiction novella A Hard Gold Thread (Guernica, 2011) was nominated for the ReLit award. Her third book, Bewilderness, was nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Her debut novel, Blessed Nowhere, won the Guernica Prize for Literary Fiction and will be published in 2024.
Follow Catherine on her website