Aviaq Johnston is a young Inuk author from Igloolik, Nunavut. Her debut novel Those Who Run in the Sky was released in the spring of 2017. In 2014, she won first place in the Aboriginal Arts and Stories competition for her short story “Tarnikuluk,” which also earned her a Governor General’s History Award. Aviaq is a graduate of Nunavut Sivuniksavut, and she has a diploma in Social Service Work from Canadore College. Aviaq loves to travel and has lived in Australia and Vietnam. She spends most of her time reading, writing, studying, and procrastinating. She goes back and forth between Iqaluit, Nunavut, and Ottawa, Ontario.
Richard Van Camp (he/him/his) is a proud member of the Tłı̨chǫ Nation from Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He is the author of more than 25 books including The Lesser Blessed (also a feature film), the Eisner Award–nominated graphic novel A Blanket of Butterflies (with Scott B. Henderson), and Three Feathers (also a feature film). He is a contributor to the groundbreaking graphic novel anthology This Place: 150 Years Retold. Richard is also the author of five collections of short stories, including Night Moves, and six baby books, including the award-winning Little You (with Julie Flett).
Of Inuit-Cree ancestry, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley was born in a tent on northernmost Baffin Island. She learned Inuit survival lore from her father, surviving residential school and attending university. In 2012, she was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for numerous cultural writings. Of Scottish-Mohawk ancestry, Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley was born in southern Ontario, learning woodcraft and stories from his father. Training as an artist, then writer, Sean’s sci-fi work won 2nd place at the California-based Writers of the Future contest, published by Galaxy Press. Rachel and Sean have worked for decades as Arctic researchers and consultants. In writing together, they have published 10 successful books and many shorter works, celebrating the history and uniqueness of Arctic shamanism, cosmology, and cosmogony. Their novel, Skraelings: Clashes in the Old Arctic, was a Governor General Awards Finalist and First Prize Burt Award winner.
Thomas Anguti Johnston grew up moving around the Baffin region of Nunavut and northern Quebec (Nunavik). He now lives in Iqaluit, Nunavut, with his two daughters, Amy and Leah. Anguti has been involved in the Inuit political realm, mostly with the National Inuit Youth Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. He decided to pursue his passion of filmmaking and writing full-time in 2014 and hasn’t looked back. Anguti has received Nunavut Commissioner's award for youth development and the Diamond Jubilee award for media arts. Anguti is a producer, writer, and lead actor, playing Inuk Qablunaaq on the popular Inuktitut television program Qanurli? on APTN.
Repo Kempt spent over fifteen years working as a criminal lawyer in the remote communities of the Canadian Arctic. He is a regular columnist for Litreactor.com and a member of the Horror Writers Association. You can find him on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @repokempt.
Jay Bulckaert grew up in farm-town Ontario, then moved up North in 2001, where he has carved out a career as a filmmaker with his company Artless Collective and founded the mayhem that is the Dead North Film Festival. He lives, hunts, and creates in Yellowknife with his lady and their two cats.
Gayle “Uyagaqi” Kabloona is Ukkusiksalingmiut (from the Back River area north of Baker Lake, Nunavut). Now based in Ottawa, she is interested in blending traditional Inuit storytelling with science fiction and magic realism to create alternate realities. Gayle is an urban planner, emerging writer, and multidisciplinary artist with a focus on fibre arts, ceramics, and printmaking.
Cara Bryant holds a degree in English and Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto. She is a based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, where she lives with her husband, two kids, and dog, Jenni.
K.C. Carthew is an award-winning filmmaker from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Her work across genres tends to feature the landscape as a character and speaks to the ways in which one’s relationship with the environment impacts one’s well-being.