Those Who Dwell Below

About Aviaq Johnston

Aviaq Johnston is a young Inuk author from Igloolik Nunavut. Her debut novel Those Who Run in the Sky was released in the spring of 2017. In 2014 she won first place in the Aboriginal Arts and Stories competition for her short story Tarnikuluk which also earned her a Governor Generals History Award. Aviaq is a graduate of Nunavut Sivuniksavut and she has a diploma in Social Service Work from Canadore College. Aviaq loves to travel and has lived in Australia and Vietnam. She spends most of her time reading writing studying and procrastinating. She goes back and forth between Iqaluit Nunavut and Ottawa Ontario. From his early days of reading sci-fi and fantasy books Toma Feizo Gas has been fascinated with the dramatic scenes portrayed on the covers of those books. There started his lifelong love affair with telling stories through pictures. Today Tomas key influence remains the people in these stories the motives that drive us and the decisions that shape us propelling him to craft bold visual statements and contrast in his own art. As a career illustrator his work can be found gracing the pages and covers of titles such as Dungeons & Dragons Pathfinder the Star Wars and Mutant Chronicles role playing games as well as several upcoming fantasy novel series. Jaypeetee Arnakak is a linguist translator and educator. He spent many years as a policy analyst specializing in Inuit culture language and education issues. He is the editor of Unikkaaqtuat Qikiqtaninngaaqtut a collection of thirty-three versions of traditional stories transcribed and edited from oral recordings of ten Inuit elders from two High Arctic communities Arctic Bay and Igloolik. He has also adapted several traditional Inuit stories into children's storybooks.