Leesa Dean is a graduate of Concordia (BA) and the University of Guelph's (MFA) Creative Writing programs and teaches Creative Writing at Selkirk College in Castlegar, British Columbia. Her previous publications include Waiting for the Cyclone, nominated for the 2017 Trillium and ReLit Awards, and the poetry chapbook The Desert of Itabira. Her novella-in-verse based on the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop, The Filling Station, was recently published with Gaspereau Press. She has a second chapbook, Apogee/Perigee, forthcoming with above/ground press in 2023. She lives on an acreage with her husband and daughter in the very rural hamlet of Krestova, BC and keeps busy helping run the Black Bear Review and the Elephant Mountain Literary Festival.