Born in Fort Smith, NWT, bestselling author Richard Van Camp is a member of the Dogrib (Tłįchǫ) Dene Nation. A graduate of the En’owkin Centre’s writing program in Penticton, BC, he completed his BFA in writing at the University of Victoria and received an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia. His work has won many awards and honours, among them the Blue Metropolis First Peoples Literary Prize and the title of Storyteller of the Year from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers.

Julie Flett is a Swampy Cree and Red River Métis artist and author. She studied fine arts at Concordia University in Montreal and Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, British Columbia. She won the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature for her work on When We Were Alone by David Robertson, and her book Birdsong won the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. She is the three-time recipient of the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Award for Owls See Clearly at Night: A Michif Alphabet, Dolphin SOS and My Heart Fills With Happiness.

Lawrence Schimel is an award-winning author and anthologist who has published over 70 books in many genres, including four anthologies for Arsenal Pulp Press, all co-edited with Richard Labonte: The Future is Queer (2006), the Lambda Award-winning First Person Queer (2007), its sequel Second Person Queer (2009), and I Like It Like That (2009). His other books include Lambda winner PoMoSexuals: Challenging Assumptions about Gender and Sexuality (with Carol Queen), The Drag Queen of Elfland, The Mammoth Book of Gay Erotica, and Things Invisible to See: Lesbian and Gay Tales of Magic Realism. Formerly of New York, he has lived in Madrid, Spain since 1999.

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