Dr. Tonya M. Foster is the author of A Swarm of Bees in High Court, the bilingual chapbook La Grammaire des Os; and coeditor of Third Mind: Teaching Creative Writing through Visual Art; and the forthcoming Umbra Galaxy: Reading Umbra & Umbra Galaxy: The Umbra Reader (Wesleyan University Press, 2027).  She is a poetry editor at Fence Magazine. Forthcoming publications include the poetry collections Thingifications: : A Mathematics of Chaos (Ugly Duckling Presse) and Letters from Planetary Probations. Dr. Foster is an Associate Professor in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University where she serves as the George & Judy Marcus Chair in Poetry and as a Director of the Poetry Center. 

Tlotlo Tsamaase is a Nommo Award-winning Motswana author of House of Margins.  Her debut novel Womb City is winner for the Nommo award and a finalist for the Locus and Ignyte Award. Her debut YA fantasy, The Bloodwinds, is forthcoming from Knopf in 2027. She is a Caine Prize finalist and has received support from the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Her novella, The Silence of Wilting Skin is a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and her short fiction has appeared in multiple best-of anthologies, Africa Risen, The Best of World SF Volume 1, Clarkesworld, Terraform, Africanfuturism Anthology, Chiral Mad 5 and other venues. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Botswana, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from Chapman University. She is currently a PhD student in English (Creative Writing) at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. 

A creative thinker with 30+ years of experience leading performing arts organizations, educational institutions, and large-scale public facilities. Strong track record in seasonal programming, cultural venue development and renovations, multimillion-dollar budget management, and collective bargaining. Skilled at managing large, diverse teams, preserving major public assets, and building reliable partnerships across unions, community groups, and government agencies. Currently as Director of Convening and Summits at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, I bring people together to explore ideas that matter—ideas rooted in our performing, visual, literary, and Indigenous arts programs, as well as our cultural and Indigenous leadership initiatives. My international experience in the performing arts and education sectors spans UK (RSC), UAE (SPAA), China (Dragone), US, (touring) and Canada, where I’ve led education programs and created diverse theatrical productions since the halcyon days of the 90s!

Elizabeth Mudenyo (she/her) is a poet, community-engaged organizer, and arts manager from Scarborough, Ontario. With over a decade of experience in arts administration, she is well versed in project and event management, serving diverse communities with Regent Park Film Festival (RPFF), Hot Docs, Wildseed Centre, Luminato Festival, North York Arts and Scarborough Arts among others. Of her professional achievements, she is most proud of managing Regent Park Film Festival's Home Made Visible, an award-winning nationwide archival project capturing the joys of BIPOC home movies.

She has since honed skills in research facilitation around arts and culture, and space creation through groups like Bespoke Collective, the Black Screen Office (BSO) and the Racial Equity Media Collective (REMC) as well as former Scarborough based initiative, The Group Project. Elizabeth is a graduate of the BFA in Film Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University and the MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. She will hand you her first poetry book soon. Find her where the birds are.

Wil Fraser (he/him) is the Program Associate and Elders/Knowledge Keepers/Participant Support for Indigenous Leadership and Cultural Leadership Programs at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. In this multifaceted role, Wil provides holistic care and cultural support to Elders, Knowledge Keepers, faculty, and participants, fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment throughout each program.  With a deep commitment to Indigenous ways of knowing and community-building, Wil plays a vital role in ensuring participants feel safe, supported, and empowered during their time on campus and works closely with Leadership team to uphold the integrity and spirit of the programs.  Wil is also currently pursuing his Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies at Royal Roads University, further deepening his knowledge and expanding his capacity to serve through education and leadership. His work is grounded in respect, relationality, and the belief that meaningful cultural exchange, informed by wise practices and right relations, can transform individuals and communities alike. 

Noelle Allen is the owner and publisher of Wolsak and Wynn, an award-winning literary press based in Hamilton, Ontario. She has served on many boards and committees within the publishing community, including as the Chair of the Literary Press Group, the Co-chair of gritLit: Hamilton’s Readers and Writers Festival and as the Chair of the Literary Advisory Committee for the Hamilton Arts Council. Currently she works with Supercrawl, Hamilton’s largest music and arts festival to organize their literary programming. She recently founded Sharp Words: Hamilton’s Winter Book Fair and in 2024 received the Arts Champion Award from the City of Hamilton.   
 

Sandra Ridley is the author of five books of poetry, including Silvija, a finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize, and Vixen, winner of the Pat Lowther Award, the City of Ottawa Book Award, and the Archibald Lampman Award. Her poetry explores trauma, resilience, and transformation, drawing on personal experience, medical archives, and the impacts of gendered violence and environmental crises. Her work has received the bpNichol Chapbook Award, the Saskatchewan Book Award for Publishing, the Alfred G. Bailey Prize, and the International Festival of Authors’ Battle of the Bards. She has been nominated for the Ontario Arts Council’s KM Hunter Artist Award for Literature and the Ottawa Arts Council’s Mid-Career Artist Award. 

Ridley has taught poetry at Sage Hill Writing and Carleton University, and has mentored writers through Ottawa’s Footprints to Recovery program and the League of Canadian Poets’ P.K. Page Mentorship Program. She has participated in sound poetry groups and collaborative exchanges, and has presented work at the Ottawa Art Gallery, the National Arts Centre’s Fourth Stage, and Quebec’s Centre d’exposition l’Imagier. Her poetry has been anthologized and translated into German and French through the VERSschmuggel/reVERSible poetry project in partnership with Berlin’s Poesiefestival. She lives in Ottawa.

Suyi Davies Okungbowa is an award-winning author of various novels for adults, the latest of which are Lost Ark Dreaming (Ignyte & Nommo award winner; Nebula Award finalist), the Nameless Republic trilogy (from Son of the Storm to Season of the Serpent), and The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda, a Black Panther novel. His debut, David Mogo, Godhunter, won the 2020 Nommo Award for Best Novel. 

Writing as Suyi Davies, he has also published works for younger audiences, such as Stranger Things: Lucas on the Line (Random House Kids, 2022) and Minecraft: The Haven Trials (Del Rey, 2021) and contributed to the New York Times #1 bestselling anthology Black Boy Joy (Delacorte, 2020). His shorter works have appeared in various periodicals and anthologies and have been nominated for various awards. Okungbowa is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, where he currently lives. As a speaker and instructor, he has taught writing at the college level and spoken at various venues, institutionally and publicly. He earned his degree in Creative Writing at the University of Arizona.

Dr. Caroline Bergvall is an award-winning writer, poet, and interdisciplinary artist working across languages, media, and contexts. Her practice encompasses printed text, performance, installation, sound-work, and drawing. She often explores materials from both contemporary and historical sources. Bergvall’s many projects include collaborations across media and her books include Fig (2005), Meddle English (2011), Drift (2015), and Alisoun Sings (2019). She has shown work in galleries, museums, at festivals, internationally including the Tate Modern, MOMA, Serpentine Gallery, Fondation Vuitton, and the Powerplant Gallery. Bergvall has received a Cholmondeley Award (UK), and the Bernard Heidsieck Literary Art Prize (Centre Pompidou, Paris). Current live projects include Nattsong, a vocal and multilingual performance inspired by the Nordic prophecy of the Voluspå, and Conference of the Birds, a multidisciplinary conversation-soundwork. She led the pioneering Performance Writing programme, Dartington College of Arts, in its formative years and, since the 2020 lockdown, has developed a reputation for her unique creative coaching approach. Bergvall’s fellowships include being Henry Moore Artist Fellow (2024) and she is currently Research Fellow, School of Advanced Studies, University of London. Caroline Bergvall is of French-Norwegian heritage, based in London.