Masthead

managing editor

Jaclyn Desforges

Jaclyn Desforges is the queer and neurodivergent author of Danger Flower, winner of the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry and one of CBC's picks for the best Canadian poetry of 2021. Selected for the New York Times-featured Lunar Codex Project, Danger Flower is now archived on the moon. Jaclyn is also the author of the picture book Why Are You So Quiet? and has received Canada Council for the Arts support for both her forthcoming short story collection, Weird Babies (The Porcupine's Quill, 2026), and her novel-in-progress, Eyelash Person. A Bread Loaf alumna and RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award winner, Jaclyn teaches creative writing at Wilfrid Laurier University. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario with her partner and daughter. 

Publisher and editor-in-chief

Dana Hansen

Dana Hansen (she/her) is a professor of English literature, language, and communications at Humber College in Toronto, a writer and book reviewer with work in a number of publications, a librarian-in-training, and the founding publisher and editor-in-chief of Hamilton Review of Books. An eclectic reader with a particular affinity for essays, nonfiction, and first novels, she feels privileged to have the opportunity to work with such a dedicated team at HRB working to highlight the outstanding and diverse work of writers in Hamilton and beyond. She lives in Waterdown with her family.

Website Manager

Jennifer Rawlinson

Jennifer’s love of stories began with ghosts. She carried this passion for exploring personal and cultural anxieties via stories through her Professional Writing program at York University and Publishing program at Toronto Metropolitan University. After landing in Hamilton, Jennifer interned with Wolsak and Wynn where she continues to work as Production Coordinator and Co-editor for the speculative fiction imprint, Poplar Press. She also works with gritLIT: Hamilton’s Readers and Writers Festival as Festival Assistant. In her free time, Jennifer can be found writing her own spooky stories and investigating things that go bump in the night.