Kathleen Finlay
Born in Montréal, Quebec, Kathleen is based in Toronto and has been happily shooting commercial assignments for various publications and advertisers since 1992. Her fine art work has been exhibited and sold in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Canada and internationally: Gallery One, Rouge Concept, Harbourfront Centre, Cirque du Soleil, La Tohu. Her food photography was published by Penguin in the Lynn Crawford cookbook Pitchin' In. Kathleen's next projects are Naninoo and the Mystifying Cuccabarro, an upcoming book and animation project, featuring the work of artist Giovanni Pittalis, about a one-eyed girl trying to reach the moon, and a new collaboration with Lynn Crawford. www.kathleenfinlay.com
Diana Kolpak
Born in Lethbridge, Alberta to a family filled with entertainers and superb storytellers, Diana grew up being told she could be anything she wanted to be, so she became a writer, director, and performer who now runs her own Dora Award-nominated theatre company, Whetstone Productions. Her play Bedtime Stories is published in Ontario Playwrights: Eight Short Plays, and was excerpted in Taking the Stage: Selections from Plays by Canadian Women (both Playwrights Canada Press). Starfall is her first children's book. Diana has developed and directed more than a dozen original productions that have been performed across Canada and was the first Canadian invited to perform at clownin, an international festival of women clowns, in Vienna, Austria. Diana currently lives in Toronto with her husband, Michael Melling and, when not on stage or at her desk, can be found happily puttering in her garden. www.dianakolpak.ca