McWHIRTER, Teresa A. 1971-

PERSONAL: Born July 21, 1971, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; daughter of James (an engineer) and Sharon (a care giver; maiden name, Lucas) McWhirter. Ethnicity: "French-Scottish-Native Canadian." Education: University of Victoria, B.A. (with distinction), 1995. Politics: Green Party. Religion: "Agnostic." Hobbies and other interests: Reading, cinema, herbal therapies.

ADDRESSES: Home—12-B 181 East Third Ave., Vancouver, British Columbia V5T 1C7, Canada. Agent— Carolyn Swayze, Carolyn Swayze Literary Agency Ltd., WRPO Box 39588, Vancouver, British Columbia V5T 1C7, Canada. E-mail—punkassface@hotmail. com.

CAREER: Smoking Lung Press, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, copy editor, 1994-2000; driver of an ice cream truck in Vancouver, 2000; Nerve (magazine), Vancouver, writer and reviewer, 2000-02. Reg Smart (bookstore), clerk, 1994-96; Ahn Hogwan, English teacher in South Korea, 1996.

MEMBER: Federation of British Columbia Writers.

WRITINGS:

Hammer and Tongs: A Smoking Lung Anthology (prose), Anvil Press, 1998.

Some Girls Do (fiction), Polestar Books, 2002.

Contributor to periodicals, including Capilano Review, Vice, and Bust. Member of editorial board, Prism International, 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Teresa A. McWhirter told CA: "My primary motivation for writing is to document the injustices perpetrated by the middle-aged white men of corporate America and the consequences of greed that are being felt by their children. I am influenced by the people around me who I admire for living with honesty and grace, even down and out in the city.

"I was inspired to write the characters of Some Girls Do by the women living around me in Victoria, British Columbia. For a period of time in the 1990s there was an explosion within the subculture of writers, poets, musicians, painters, and filmmakers who were women: an inclusive wave of feminists who defended and supported and didn't judge one another. The media used the term 'Riot Grrls' because there was a lot of anger involved at societies' slow advancement of the rights of women. Angry, righteous women inspire me.

"My writing process involves writing intensely for a few weeks or months, then leaving the work alone for the same amount of time before another revision or draft. My writing style hasn't changed, except for an even greater love for the poetry of language."