Masculindians (by Sam McKegney)

Sam McKegney is the author of Magic Weapons: Aboriginal Writers Remaking Community After Residential School and numerous articles on Indigenous and Canadian literatures. He is an associate professor of English and Cultural Studies at Queen’s University.

Alison Calder has published widely on Canadian prairie literature and culture, including critical editions of Settlers of the Marsh and Over Prairie Trails by Frederick Philip Grove, and Desire Never Leaves: The Poetry of Tim Lilburn. Her poetry collections are Wolf Tree and In the Tiger Park, and with Jeanette Lynes she is the co-author of Ghost Works: Improvisations in Letters and Poems. She teaches Canadian literature and creative writing at the University of Manitoba.

Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, PhD., (he/him/his) is Anishinaabe (St. Peter’s/Little Peguis) and an associate professor at the University of Manitoba. He regularly speaks and writes about Indigenous issues for national and international media outlets and his writing appears bi weekly in the Winnipeg Free Press. He has also published short stories in books like The Exile Edition of Native Canadian Fiction and Drama and graphic novels like This Place: 150 Years Retold. He is the 2018 recipient of a National Newspaper Award for best Canadian Columnist and also was named 2019 Peace Educator of the Year by the Peace and Justice Studies Association at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Niigaan is co-editor of the award-winning Manitowapow: Aboriginal Writings from the Land of Water and Centering Anishinaabeg Studies: Understanding the World Through Stories and the editorial director of The Debwe Series (published by HighWater Press).

Sky Dancer Louise Bernice Halfe is nêhiyaw poet raised on the Saddle Lake Reserve in Alberta. She has travelled extensively nationally and internationally both as a poet and keynote speaker. She served as poet Laureate in Saskatchewan for two years and was given an honorary Ph.D. from Wilfrid Laurier University. In 2017 Halfe was awarded the Latner's Writers' Trust Poetry Prize for an exceptional body of work in the field of poetry.

Warren Cariou was born in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan into a family of Métis and European heritage. He has published works of fiction, criticism, and memoir about Indigenous cultures and environmental issues in Canada. He directs the Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture at the University of Manitoba.

Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee Nation) is Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Literature and Expressive Culture at the University of British Columbia. A widely published scholar in Indigenous literary studies, he is the co-editor of the groundbreaking Oxford Handbook of Indigenous American Literature (2014) and author of a Cherokee literary history, a cultural history of badgers, and an Indigenous epic fantasy series.

Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm is a writer, poet, spoken-word performer, librettist, and activist from the Saugeen Ojibway Nation. She is the founder and Managing Editor of Kegedonce Press which was established in 1993 to publish the work of Indigenous creators. Kateri has written two books of poetry, was a contributor to the graphic novel anthology This Place: 150 Years Retold, was editor of the award-winning Skins: Contemporary Indigenous Writing, and has also released two poetry and music CDs. Kateri's work has been published internationally, and she has performed and spoken around the world.

Richard Van Camp is a proud member of the Tlicho Dene Nation from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. A graduate of the En'owkin International School of Writing, the University of Victoria's BFA in Creative Writing program and the MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, Richard is the author of over twenty books in just about every genre, including Little You and Welcome Song for Baby. His novel The Lesser Blessed is now a movie with First Generation Films.

Neal McLeod grew up Cree on the James Smith Reserve in Saskatchewan and studied at the Swedish Art Academy at Umeå. His 2005 exhibition au fil de mes jours (in my lifetime), at Le Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, was remounted at the Museum of Civilization in 2007. He has two books of poetry—Songs to Kill a Wîhtikow (2005) and Gabriel’s Beach (2008). Cree Narrative Memory (2007) was nominated for book of the year at the Anskohk McNally Aboriginal Literature Awards. He teaches Indigenous studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario.