A hotel maid is visited by the Holy Spirit, an ex child star finds temporary solace in a baby-dreaded rent boy, and an assortment of drifters, wastrels and lost girls seek transcendance and good times in the alternate universe that is Wayward. Part autobiographical exorcism, part analysis of the myth of the fallen woman, Wayward brings a haunting and unexpected perspective to being “on the road.”

Ali Riley's profile page

• Short-listed, League of Canadian Poets Gerald Lampert Memorial Award

Ali Riley’s first poetry collection, Wayward, was short-listed for the Gerald Lampert Memorial award, and her second, Tear Down, was short-listed for the Re-Lit award. She was born in Calgary and was the singer/songwriter of the seminal psycho-country band Sacred Heart of Elvis. In Toronto her produced plays included dog dream, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Hole in My Heart the Size of My Heart. She was a contestant in the BookTelevision reality show The Three Day Novel Contest, and her three-day novel, Hag, won the Walrus Magazine/SLS literary contest. Her writing has appeared in Geist, The nth Position Anthology, Matrix, This Magazine, Event, The Moosehead Review, Alberta Views and Walrus. Her third book, 33 Million Solitudes, explores Canadian themes of isolation and survival with a 21st century twist, and reimagines the fur trade as a modern metaphor for love. She lives In Nanton, Alberta.