Meet the Pixelles Writing Incubator members!

Before we proceed, we’d like to thank every single person who took the time to apply to the incubator. There were a large number of extremely talented applicants, and we’d like to say that just because you weren’t selected doesn’t mean you aren’t an amazing person with valuable stories to share. Because YOU ARE!

Now, without further ado… we present this year’s Pixelles Writing Incubator participants!

In six months, these women will have produced five pieces of game writing and spent many hours critiquing each other’s work! Writing is a marathon, not a sprint, and we are excited by their level of dedication to our program.

Diane Easily attached to anything and everything pink, cute and shiny. A fervent feminist. Head over heels with video games, anime and literature. Ultimate dream is to become a Pokemon Trainer, but I’ll settle with becoming a writer in some fashion.	O. Yassi Alexander O. Yassi Alexander is in her final year of her bachelor of arts degree in Creative Writing. She has a background in theatre, classical vocal music, and has been writing and gaming since she was a small child. She believes the best games seamlessly fold intricate mechanics and visceral storytelling, and that this trait unique to the medium will make video games the more powerful art form of the future.
Kylie Szymesko Kylie is an office worker by day and a lazy creative by night. While not watching hours of competitive Smash Bros videos she tries to find ways to achieve that most magical girl hair possible.	Andrée Boutin As a former linguist, French teacher, speech-language pathologist, and current library sciences student, some could say Andrée is obsessed with words. She loves games as much as she loves books. And she loves books enough to be your worst help-a-friend-move nightmare. But her friends forgive her, because she also loves to cook.
Linda Nguyen She’s a word-weaver, a world-builder, an Arizona tea drinker, a part-time dumpling taster, a moviegoer and a UFC fan. If you meet her, ask her about what games she’s working on, or even about her Pokemon impersonations.	Tasha Wilhelmsen Writer, gamer, reader, amateur historian, I just love stories. Currently I’m completing my BS in Professional Writing at Champlain College. My pie in the sky dream is to publish a series of books. Full disclosure: I live in the USA… unless Canada wants to adopt Vermont?
Marri Lynn Neutral good ranged caster/healer with CON as a dump stat. Finished an ‘MA in the History of Medicine’ character arc a few years ago (lots of XP but not much gold). Currently writes healthcare industry eLearning games, and does freelance editing and fiction writing on the side. Dreams of writing stories and characters that move people.	Evelyn Lo Scientist by training, storyteller at heart, game tester by current profession. One day, will determine Grand Goal in life and set about getting there; until then, will continue regularly scheduled programming of making things and flailing a lot.

Program Coordinators

Jana Sloan van Geest
Jana is a Narrative Designer at Ludia, a mobile gaming company in Old Montreal. Armed with a BFA in Theatre Studies from Concordia, she worked in theatre for eight years before moving to the games industry, which she soon realized was exactly where she belonged. However, she’s grateful for the background in classical storytelling that her previous path gave her. She founded the Pixelles Writing Incubator because it’s something she would have wanted to have when taking her first unsteady steps into writing for games.


Elise Trinh
I was looking for a job where I could make cheesy puns and write weird anecdotes all day. That’s how I became a quirky Frenglish writer. As I’m quite a frantic multitasker, I’ve written for various media over the past 5 years: animated movies and series, French TV shows, children books… and video games. I’ve been wandering in the game industry for a while, in big and small studios. Since Pixelles Game Incubator II, I’ve developed some Indie games on my own, and worked closely with the IGDA Game Writing SIG. I can’t wait to play the games written by our talented Incubator members and Follow-Alongers.

♥ Founding Members

Natalie Zina Walschots, Jessica Rose Marcotte