About Us

Otters are chatty, full of stories, and so are we.

Independent publisher of art and literature.

Northern Otter Press was founded in 2020 by Alessia Di Cesare and Derek Schmucker.

The foundation of the press is based out of a love for literature and art.

Alessia Di Cesare

Co-Founder and Lead Poetry Editor

Alessia Di Cesare is a poet, daydreamer, and an anti-linear storyteller based in Toronto, Ontario. She spends her free time making too many Spotify playlists. Also likes photography. She has a poetry chapbook titled How the Heartache Humbled Me with Bottlecap Press.

Derek Schmucker

Co-Founder and Lead Fiction Editor

Derek is a lover of nature and the arts. While attending the University of Guelph he co-founded the arts collective Bumaroo. He is a writer of short stories and catchy tunes.

Matteo Cimellaro

Assistant Fiction Editor

Matteo Cimellaro is a writer living in Ottawa on Unceded Algonquin territory. He holds a BA in Philosophy and English from the University of Guelph.

Heaven Fay

Assistant Poetry Editor

Heaven Fay is a poet, writer, and spiritual creative living in Texas. For her, poems are immovable and enduring houses we erect out of our experience. She is the author of poetry collection Lyra and the Thrush: A ballet in poems.

Shay Donovan

Logo Designer

Shay Donovan is a multidisciplinary artist living and studying in Guelph, Ontario. In a studio context, Shay is focused on exploring foundations of identity through painting and photography while also pursuing digital design.