Geoffrey Ursell is an award-winning writer of drama for stage, television, and radio, as well as of fiction, poetry, and songs. His stage plays have won three national playwriting awards, and his novel Perdue won the Books in Canada First Novel Award. His musical comedy, Saskatoon Pie!, has been produced twice and toured provincially by Persephone Theatre. Other plays include Winning the Prairie Gamble (a collaboration with Barbara Sapergia) for Persephone's SaskTel Youth Tour Centennial Year, and Gold on Ice (a musical celebration of the Sandra Schmirler curling team) at Dancing Sky Theatre. His dramatization of Martha Blum's novel The Walnut Tree opened Persephone's 2009/2010 season, and his thriller Dead Midnight opened the theatre's 2011/2012 season. Geoffrey is also a founding member and current President of the nationally esteemed publisher Coteau Books. He was awarded the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2009 for his work in the arts.