Tina Biello comes from a small logging town in BC, and is born of immigrant parents. She studied theatre at UBC and is an actor and now a poet and playwright. Her poems have appeared in chapbook anthologies edited by Patrick Lane since 2008. Her first full-length book of poetry, In the Bone Cracks of the Walls, published by Leaf Press Spring 2014, was shortlisted for the Bressani Prize and was part of a multi-disciplinary art exhibition of poetry, watercolour and music in Montreal, Vancouver and Italy. She has had poems set to music by composers from Vancouver, Montreal and Cape Breton. Her second full-length book of poems, A Housecoat Remains, was published by Guernica Editions, September 2015. She is currently Poet Laureate of Nanaimo.

“It isn’t often that poetry keeps me reading to find out what happens next but that was the case with Playing into Silence, Tina Biello’s third, full-length collection of poetry. […] The conversational aspect and first person voice of many of the poems will make those readers who are fearful of or resistant to poetry into fans…” —Mary Ann Moore, Story Circle Book Reviews