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David John Hall was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on August 22, 1943 to parents Edward George Hall and Florence Margaret Walker. After finishing Grade 5, he moved to Calgary, Alberta where he completed his primary education at William Aberhart High School in 1961. He earned a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) from the University of Alberta at Calgary in 1965 and a subsequent Master of Arts from the University of Toronto in 1966. Continuing at the University of Toronto, he graduated with his Ph.D. in 1973. During this time he married his first wife, Ann Sutherland Forbes, and remained married until her passing in 2001. They have one son together named James Edward Hall. David was remarried to Adeline Gabrial in 2004.

Dr. Hall was appointed as Summer School Lecturer at the University of Calgary in 1968 before beginning his employment with the University of Alberta’s Department of History and Classics the following year, where he worked as Lecturer and then Professor until his retirement in 2004. During his time at the University of Alberta, Dr. Hall also held various administrative positions, serving as Department Chair and Acting Associate Dean of Arts (Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies). His other scholarly activities include various conference participation, manuscript assessment, consulting work, and committee memberships.

As Professor of History, he primarily taught and engaged in research in the areas of Western Canada since 1870 and political history. A prolific writer, Dr. Hall’s extensive academic publications include Clifford Sifton, vol. 1, The Young Napoleon, 1861 – 1900 (1981), Clifford Sifton, vol. 2, A Lonely Eminence, 1900 – 1929 (1984), and From Treaties to Reserves: The Federal Government and Native Peoples in Territorial Alberta, 1870 – 1905 (2015).

Outside of the University of Alberta, Dr. Hall has contributed to several other institutions. He maintained an active role in many public and professional activities and held various administrative positions in national and international organizations. Between 1992 and 2004 Dr. Hall acted as a Board of Trustees Member for what is now Taylor University College and Edmonton Baptist College before then going on to serve as Acting Academic Vice President for Taylor University College in 2008. From 2000 to 2006, Dr. Hall was also a Senate Member for The King’s University College. He has also delivered a number of talks, interviews, and reviews for newspapers and other media.

Dr. Hall is the recipient of the J.W. Dafoe Prize for his Sifton, vol. 2 biography. Since retiring from the University of Alberta in 2004, Dr. Hall went on to perform some post-retirement teaching for ELLA (Edmonton Life-Long Learners Association) until 2011 and continues to be involved in ongoing research.

Candas Jane Dorsey was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on November 16, 1952. She was educated at the University of Alberta where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work from the University of Calgary (Edmonton branch) and also a combined B.A. with distinction in English and Drama (1975). Candas subsequently earned a Master of Fine Arts from a British Columbia institution.

Candas worked as a social worker and child care worker in the 1970s and as of 1979, has primarily worked as a publisher, writer and editor in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, arts, poetry and journalism. Candas went on to edit and manage the monthly arts newspaper The Edmonton Bullet (1983-88) and in 1991, became a founding partner of Wooden Door and Associates, a professional communications company. The following year, Candas was founding member of The Books Collective, an independent trade publisher, which included roles as publisher and editor-in-chief of Tesseract Books (an imprint of The Books Collective) and River Books. Between 1990 and 1992, Candas held numerous Writer in Residences including with the Edmonton Public Library (1990), the St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Fort Saskatchewan Public Libraries (1991) and the Leighton Artists Colony (1992). She became an educator of professional writing programs and writing-related courses and workshops for Grant MacEwan College, University of Alberta Faculty of Extension and Metro Continuing Education, and a Sessional Instructor for MacEwan University’s Bachelor of Communication Studies program.

Candas’s range as a writer includes fiction and nonfiction, short and long form, as well as journalism and advocacy, television and theatre scripts, magazine and newspaper articles and technical writing and manuals. Her published works include Machine Sex: And Other Stories (1988), Black Wine (1996), Vanilla and Other Stories (2000), A Paradigm of Earth (2001) and has contributed to the Tesseracts anthology series. She has also worked on stories for young adults and children.

Candas has an active role in her community of Edmonton, serving as a community activist for non-profit organizations and community leagues, a civilian member of a Community/Police Liaison Committee for the Edmonton Police Service and in 2013, was a Ward Six Candidate for Edmonton City Council. In the literary field, Candas is past President of SF Canada (Canada’s National Association of Speculative Fiction Professionals), and former Vice-President (1992-93) and President (1993-94) of the Writers’ Guild of Alberta. Throughout her career, Candas has been invited to several conferences and speaking engagements, some internationally, to speak on speculative fiction and other topics.

Candas Jane Dorsey is the recipient of many honours and awards including a City of Edmonton Arts Award (1988), the Aurora Award from the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Association (1989), the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award for Black Wine (1998), the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Howard O'Hagen Award for Short Fiction for Vanilla and Other Stories (2001), an Alberta Centennial Gold Medal (2005) and the Writers’ Guild of Alberta Golden Pen Award for lifetime achievement (2017). In 2018, she was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy Hall of Fame.