Michael Prior is a writer, teacher, and editor. His most recent book of poems, Burning Province (McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House, 2020), won the Canada-Japan Literary Award and the BC & Yukon Book Prizes' Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. He is also the author of Model Disciple (Véhicule Press, 2016), which was named one of the best books of the year by the CBC. He holds graduate degrees from Cornell University and the University of Toronto, and is an Assistant Professor of English and ACM Mellon Faculty Fellow at Macalester College. He currently edits the Véhicule Press poetry imprint, Signal Editions.

Kerri Sakamoto was born in Toronto to a Japanese Canadian family. Her first novel, The Electrical Field, was a finalist for a slew of awards, including a Governor General’s Literary Award, and won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book. She has since published two additional novels: One Hundred Million Hearts and The Floating City, which won the Canada-Japan Literary Award and was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards. In 2021, she received the Writers’ Trust Engel Findley Award. She lives in Toronto.

Leanne Toshiko Simpson is a mixed-race Yonsei writer and community organizer who lives with bipolar disorder. Named Scarborough’s Emerging Writer in 2016 and nominated for the Journey Prize in 2019, she teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto and co-founded Mata Ashita, the Japanese Canadian writing workshop series. Her debut novel Never Been Better (2024) explores mental health and institutionalization from cross-cultural perspectives.

Mia Ohki is an illustrative artist from St. Albert, Alberta, currently working in Ottawa, Ontario. Of Metis-Japanese-Canadian heritage, Mia channels her unique mixed cultural perspective to create relatable portrayals of the feminine, social and cultural influences in her life. She also enjoys exploring interactions with nature and the personification of nature in her practice.

Kyle Yakashiro is a mixed-race Yonsei settler from Abbotsford, BC, claiming Japanese, Scottish, and Indigenous heritage. Previously he attended the University of British Columbia earning a BA with a double major in Math and Economics. Currently he works as an Account Manager at Vancity Savings Credit Union. In his free time he helps with organizing various Japanese Canadian initiatives including Ensoku 2024, the Paueru Gaizette, and has also served on the Board of Directors for Powell St. Festival Society.