John Terpstra's latest non-fiction work, Skin Boat: Acts of Faith and Other Navigations, appeared from Gaspereau Press in 2009. His previous non-fiction work, The Boys, or Waiting for the Electrician's Daughter was short-listed for both the Charles Taylor Prize and the BC Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. He is also the author of eight works of poetry, the most recent being Two or Three Guitars: Selected Poems (2007). An earlier work, Disarmament, was short-listed for Canada's Governor General's Award. He has won the CBC Radio Literary Prize for Poetry, the Bressani Prize, and several Arts Hamilton book awards in both poetry and non-fiction.

He lives in Hamilton, where he works as a writer and carpenter.