Irena Friedman Karafilly was born in 1944 in the Ural Mountains; she now lives in Montreal. She has published a story collection, Night Cries (1990), and Ashes and Miracles: A Polish Journey (1998), a study of Polish society. She is now writing The Stranger in the Plumed Hat, an exploration of Alzheimer's disease. "Hoodlum" was a prize winner in the 1990 CBC Canadian Literary Awards and was published in The Canadian Forum (August, 1991).