Horses in the Sand is a collection of stories telling of one queer woman’s journey to becoming a tradeswoman, teacher and artist from meagre beginnings as a child. It speaks of self-acceptance and how identity over time changes. It’s also a celebration of pride in building a home, creating art, telling stories and finding both her natural father and an indigenous community she never knew she belonged to.

Tradeswoman, artist, writer, and teacher Lorrie Potvin, a queerishly two-spirited Métis, is the author of Horses in the Sand – A Memoir (Spring 2022)

Her first book, First Gear – A Motorcycle Memoir (2015), the essays – My tattoos speak of life and loss (2009) and Why I’m thankful for multiple sclerosis (2009) – The Globe and Mail, were published under her previous surname Jorgensen, as was the short story, The 13th Dock, Writing At Wintergreen (2012), an anthology edited by Helen Humphreys.

Working and teaching in the trades for over 30 years Potvin holds an Inter-Provincial Red Seal in Auto Body Repair and Refinishing from Algonquin College and a diploma in Technological Education from the Faculty of Education, Queen’s University, with additional qualifications in Manufacturing and Special Education.

A citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario, Lorrie lives on a lake north of Kingston in the area served by the High Land Waters Métis Council where she’s lived for 30 years, building her home and creating art made of stone, wood, hide and steel.

We are very lucky to also be joined by Tyler Pennock and Seán Carson Kinsella who will be sharing readings with us!

Tyler Pennock, author of Bones (2020) is a two-spirit adoptee queerdo from Faust, Alberta, and is a member of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. They graduated from Guelph University’s Creative Writing MFA program in 2013, and currently live in Toronto.

Seán Carson Kinsella (ê akimihtnêhi(y/th)aw/otipemisiwak/Nakawé/Irish) is migizi dodem (Bald Eagle Clan) and two-spirit/Indigequeer/aayahkwêw and is descended from signatories of Treaties 4, 6 and 8. They were born in Toronto, on Treaty 13 lands and grew up in Williams Treaty territory and currently reside between the Deer Park area of Toronto and sagetewedgewam (Trent River) on Michi Saagig territory. They are a sought keynote speaker, storyteller, and poet of smutty renown and have recently been part of the Toronto International Festival of Authors and the Naked Heart Literary Festival.