Emru Townsend
Pierrefonds, Quebec, Canada Email: emru@pobox.com
Home page: http://5x5media.com
Banging away at my first typewriter in 1976, I suddenly realized I wanted more than anything else to be a writer. Of course, since I was only seven years old, I had already decided to be a superhero, an astronaut, and, briefly, peanut butter. By the time I was ten I had narrowed down my choices to writer, publisher, superhero, animator, comic book artist, teacher, and computer maven.
When I found I was still undecided nine years later, I made up my mind to try to do them all. While studying animation at Concordia University, I founded and self-published fps: The Magazine of Animation (the first animation magazine to have an Internet presence and, later, a web site). Though I handed the publishing reins over to Pawn Press a few years later, I served as managing editor for six years. During this time I also applied my considerable computer skills toward teaching at a job training centre.
Through means as yet undetermined, I also found time to produce short animated clips and doodles for Concordia University's MITE AVISTA multimedia lab, various small businesses and a couple of small-press publications — that is, when I wasn't drawing the occasional comic for fun.
I have yet to successfully become a superhero, but I anticipate a breakthrough involving radioactive spiders any day now.
Twenty-plus years after that first epiphany, I have discovered that while other interests have waxed and waned, I have always been a writer. Where possible, I like to explore where two seemingly separate fields meet -- technology and the arts being a particular favourite. Never one to sit still, I currently balance my freelance writing with web site design work and planning book and animation projects for the near future. Interests: Pop culture, film, animation, video, technology
Published writer: Yes
Freelance: Yes |
