Many Mothers, Seven Skies

Joan Crate was born in the Northwest Territories at S mbak'è on Chief Drygeese territory, traditional land of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. After finding homes in various places, she now lives in Calgary - Mohkinstsis - and the rural Okanagan on the unceded territory of sqilx?/syilx (Okanagan) peoples. She writes both poetry and fiction and has won several writing awards over the years, including the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Award for Black Apple, which was also shortlisted for the Frank Hegyi Award. The band U2, of whom she's a big fan, featured her poem "I am a Prophet" on screen in their last Canadian tour. She lost her partner of almost four decades at the beginning of the pandemic. Since then, she has had work appear in five anthologies and on CBC Radio. She continues to explore writing in all its forms, visual art and is even dabbling in acting.

Cheryl Foggo is a multiple award-winning playwright, author and filmmaker, whose work over the last thirty years has focused on the lives of Western Canadians of African descent. Recent works include the release of her NFB feature documentary John Ware Reclaimed, available on nfb.ca, as well as the thirtieth anniversary edition of her book Pourin' Down Rain: A Black Woman Claims Her Place in the Canadian West. Recent journalism can be found in the Interrupt/Reframe issue of The Fold, on CBC Black on the Prairies and in Westword Magazine. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, her plays Heaven and John Ware Reclaimed have received multiple productions, including at The Citadel in Edmonton, Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary, at the Blyth Theatre Festival and in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre. She recently wrapped shooting of a short film about northern Saskatchewan's Black History, scheduled to premiere in 2023. Cheryl is the recipient of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Outstanding Artist Award, the Doug and Lois Mitchell Outstanding Calgary Artist Award and the Arts, Media and Entertainment Award from the Calgary Black Chambers, all in 2021. She is a 2022 inductee into the Alberta Order of Excellence.

Linda Gaboriau is an award-winning dramaturg and literary translator based in Montreal. Her translations of plays by Quebec's most prominent playwrights have been published and produced across Canada and abroad. Recently published and soon to premiere at Centaur Theatre is her translation of Michel Marc Bouchard's play "Embrasse/Kisses Deep." In her work as a dramaturg, she has directed numerous translation residencies and international exchange projects. She was the founding director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre, has won the Governor General's Award for Translation three times and is a member of the Order of Canada.

Tchitala Nyota Kamba is a Calgary-based writer, actor, poet, drummer and educator, as well as the founder of Miabiwood Film Production (MFP) Ltd. (formerly Apapi Film & Theatre). Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, she has a PhD in French Studies from the Université de Montréal and has published poetry collections, written for the theatre, most recently for the 2021 Ethnik Festival for the Arts, and acted in and directed performances for Calgary's Alliance Française, among others. Her next book, Kayowa wa Bayombo, will be published by France's Éditions Amalthée in 2023.

Sherry Letendre is a Coordinator for the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation Integrated Youth Hub Project. She is also a Facilitator and Community Researcher and her current work is focused on the Nimi Icinohabi Life Skills program and Healthy Relationship Project for youth, to culturally adapt it for grades 10-12 and for young adults and includes some theatre. She is enrolled in the Bachelor of Native Studies program at the University of Alberta. Her journey and passion led her to pursue a career in child and youth care, bringing her back to her own community after years of educating herself. She credits much of her accomplishments to the Creator and to her mother for instilling a vision for change in her community.

Karen W. Olson is nehiyaw/anishinaabe of the Marten Clan and from Peguis First Nation. She is the Department Head of Creative Writing at En'owkin Centre and the author of four children's books. Karen is the Artistic Director and founder of Prairie Thunder Arts, an Indigenous performance company. She is passionate about sharing the stories and teachings of her Indigenous heritages.

Susan Ouriou is an award-winning fiction writer and literary translator with an interest in theatre and song-writing. She is a Governor General's Award recipient and was most recently shortlisted for that same award for her translations The Lover, The Lake by Eeyou author Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau of Quebec in 2021 and White Resin by Quebec author Audrée Wilhelmy in 2022. She was also shortlisted for the WGA's Georges Bugnet Prize for the first of her two novels, Damselfish. She has edited two anthologies: Beyond Words: Translating the World and Languages of Our Land: Indigenous Poems and Stories from Quebec. In 2010, she was appointed Chevalier in France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.