MATT COHEN (1942-99) was an acclaimed author of adult and children''s literature. His final novel, Elizabeth and After, won the Governor General''s Literary Award for Fiction. His other novels include The Disinherited and Emotional Arithmetic, which was adapted into a feature film. He is honoured by the Writers'' Trust of Canada, of which he was a founding member, with the Matt Cohen Award, given out annually for lifetime achievement in Canadian literature. He also wrote several books for children under the pseudonym Teddy Jam.

WAYNE GRADY is the author of two novels, Emancipation Day and Up from Freedom, and fourteen books of science and natural history. He is also the editor of six anthologies of short stories, including two co-edited by Matt Cohen, and one of Canada''s top literary translators. He has won the Amazon.ca First Novel Award and the Governor General''s Literary Award for Translation, among many other honours. He lives in Kingston, Ontario, with his wife, novelist Merilyn Simonds.