Born in Ireland, Dermott McInnes is the author of The Spirit Within: Poems to Nurture the Spirit and Images to Kindle the Soul (2006). McInnes attended the University of Alberta and St. Stephen's Theological College in Edmonton and Union Theological Seminary in New York, USA. As a minister in the United Church of Canada, he served congregations in Jasper and Prince George before moving to Vancouver where he was minister at a number of churches. He concluded his career as the first chaplain at Lion's Gate Hospital in North Vancouver. He began writing his poems during his years there, ministering to the ill and their families.

[BCBW 2006]