BIO
Read what others are saying about Andrew’s work.
Andrew is an award-winning writer who writes for the page, stage, and screen. He is based in Red Deer, Alberta.
Andrew is the author of She Has A Name a full-length play for the stage that had a critically acclaimed sold out World Premiere February 2011 in Calgary, Alberta, followed by a sold out run in Red Deer, Alberta in March of 2011. Burnt Thicket Theatre, in partnership with Raise Their Voice are planning a multi-city North American tour of the show in 2012.
His plays Shelter, Joseph and She Has A Name were offical selections of Scripts At Work in Red Deer and have been granted workshops and public readings in Canada, the United States, including the 2008 Nextfest Festival of the Arts. She Has A Name was given the 2009 SAW/APN Award. His writing has been published around the world and translated into ten languages and has been described as “A siren call [that] will forever take us from our complacency to the plight of so many lost, lonely and hurting.”
Andrew writes freelance and is the author of Ten Silver Coins: The Drylings of Acchora (Xulon), Disappointed by Hope: Migrants and Refugees in Search of a Better Country, God/he a collection of poetry released in a limited edition hand-crafted book and now available as an ebook.
Andrew is an avid blogger and writes regular articles on the web, a weekly poetry feature called Fridge for Thought, and conducts frequent interviews with bold thinkers, artists, and activists. In Summer 2010 he started to blog for Bully Pulpit.
Andrew’s writing has been published around the world and translated into ten languages. He has spoken and taught on a variety of subjects, including writing, creativity, identity, the literature of the Bible, English as a Second Language, and justice issues in Kenya, India, Malaysia, Mongolia, the UK, the USA and in Canada.
published and award-winning writing
Andrew’s play She Has A Name was given the 2009 Scripts at Work / Alberta Playwright Network Award. His Fridge for Thought poem “I Who Am Entering” was selected for the 2009 Utmost Christian Writers contest. His short story “Nazar“ was awarded the 2004 Hobson Foundation Prize for Fiction. In the same year, select poems from God/he were awarded Third Prize in the 2004 Utmost Christian Poetry Contest. Poems from his book-length work of prose and verse entitled Joseph, a discourse on the Biblical name, appeared in Rock and Sling (Volume 1, Issue 1, 2004) as did excerpts from God/he.
Poetry from his book length manuscript The Gospel Writers Meet has also appeared in Rock and Sling (Volume 3, Issue 2, 2006).
In 2006, fourteen of Andrew’s short stories about gender-based injustice were published in the English version of 30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless, a publication which has since been translated into Japanese, Korean, Urdu, Russian, German, Spanish and Dutch. Andrew wrote four more stories for a new edition of the booklet in 2009.
Andrew’s poetry, short stories, and articles have also been featured in The Red Deer Express, The Red Deer College Notebook, Bohemian Alien, SaveAfricaNow Online, EyeSee Magazine and have been shortlisted for the WordAlive Writing Contest and Xulon Press. Andrew’s short story “Nazar” was translated into Romanian for the Romanian literary e-zine EgoPhobia in September 2010. Andrew’s writing was featured in the 2011 YWAM Prayer Diary and is forthcoming in a new compilation Stirred to Action (TBA). He is thrilled to work as editor on the upcoming second edition of photogenX’s 30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless, though the scope of the issues featured in the publication break his heart.
history of play development
Andrew’s first play, Shelter, was an official selection of Scripts at Work (SAW) 2007, and he had the privilege of workshopping the one act with acclaimed actress and playwright Mieko Ouchi. The play was directed for a public reading by Vanessa Porteous at the Margaret Parson’s Theatre in April 2007. The play, about potatoes, an affair, and grace, was also granted a reading workshop at the 2008 Nextfest Festival of the Arts in Edmonton under the direction of Tanya Ryga.
His second play, Joseph, was selected for the same workshop in 2008 and Andrew had the privilege of working with film actor, playwright, and dramaturg Daniel Libman, and to learn from Eric Rose who directed a public reading of the one act at the Red Deer College Studio Stage in April 2008.
Andrew wrote the vignette Though He Crush Me which was performed on Good Friday, 2008 at CrossRoads Church in Red Deer, with fine performances by Aaron Krogman and Kelsey Krogman.
Andrew’s first full-length play, She Has A Name, was the winner of the Scripts At Work/ Alberta Playwrights Association Award, 2009. In January 2010 he workshopped the play with burnt thicket theatre in Calgary. The play was given a public reading in front of an audience of invited guests to positive reviews in Strathmore, Alberta. In the fall of 2010 She Has A Name was granted a series of public readings which brought the play to audiences in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Calgary and Red Deer. burnt thicket theatre in partnership with Raise Their Voice produced the World Premiere of She Has A Name in Calgary in February 2011 followed by performances in Red Deer.
filmwork
Andrew served as a Writer and Producer for the short film The Prison of Mine (MD Films) which was screened to wide acclaim in Red Deer. He also Produced The Blind (Unveil Studios and ReDefined Films) a short film and winner of the 2006 2880 Film Festival. Andrew was an Executive Producer and Overseas Location Manager for the much loved feature film, E for Everyone: The Mouse and the Elephant (Unveil Studios), and Wrote and Directed the short film Though He Crush Me (AK: The Impact Group).
television
- Voices of Change with David Youngren (TCT Network) – Episode 2, “The Gateway House” – Writer, Producer
- Voices of Change with David Youngren (TCT Network) – Episode 3, “The Task Force Team” – Writer, Producer
- Voices of Change with David Youngren (TCT Network) – Episode 4, “Juma and Haruna” – Writer, Producer
education, work, non-profit
Andrew graduated with distinction in 2003 from the University of Calgary (via The Red Deer College) with a BA in English. He holds a certificate in Biblical Studies (The University of the Nations, 2001) and a certificate in Multi-Media Design (The Red Deer College, 2007). He worked as a staff lecturer from 2003 – 2005 in the Penang, Malaysia branch of the University of the Nations in the School of Biblical Studies. Andrew is owner and operator of AK: The Impact Group, which produces innovative creative media, which he launched in 2007.
In the same year he also founded Raise Their Voice Against Injustice Red Deer, which aims to creatively and effectively address issues of global injustice.
