MJD Algera was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada on February 14, 1986, and currently resides in Hamilton, Ontario. He started writing at age 17, and since then his work has appeared in several literary magazines in North America and in Israel, online and in print.

Aside from Word Salad, he has seen his work appear in the following journals:

Epiphany Arts

Crusader Corps

Mystic Prophet

Stuff My Ear

Variations

Strathspey

Cyclamens & Swords

Three of his poems have been shortlisted for national contests such as the Arc Poetry Magazine Poem of the Year contest in 2008 & 2011; the 17^th Annual Arts Hamilton Literary Award nomination for Best Individual Poem.

He is a graduate of McMaster University, and in 2009, he earned a certificate in Creative Writing.

He’s traveled and has read at several small artists’ lounges, cafes and libraries across Ontario. His current chapbook Outskirts is available online at www.cyclamensandswords.com/outskirts.php.

In 2008, he started a minute online writers group called The Writers of the Purple Wage, consisting of eight members, and collaborated frequently with its members through Yahoo! till its demise in early 2010.

Visit his blog, The Meandering Brick, at http://wwwmeanderingbrick-mjd.blogspot.com where excerpts of ongoing projects are in the works.

He continues to remain active in the arts community by volunteering at literary festivals such as grit LIT, and was a former member of the Tower Poetry Society. Aside from collaborating with Bruce Whealton on other Word Salad projects, he is pursuing a career in Teaching the Adult Learner.