Jessica Joy Hiemstra and Paul David Esposti

—2nd Place Winner of the Brush & Lyre Prize—

Jessica Hiemstra is a visual artist, designer and widely published in Canadian literary journals and anthologies. She has published three trade collections of poems, most recently The Holy Nothing with Pedlar Press in 2015. Paul David Esposti makes short films and takes photographs. He has been taking photographs since he was young, in fact, he began taking photographs on a family trip as a child when he saw a pair of swans in a pond. He is especially interested in photographing birds because they are so elusive to the camera. Paul has also worked with National Geographic photographers Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen and is interested in the relationship between the photograph and environmental action.