Emma Donoghue is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright. Her novel Room has sold almost three million copies, won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker and Orange Prizes. Donoghue scripted the film adaptation, which was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The Wonder was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and Donoghue co-wrote the screen adaptation of the Netflix film which starred Florence Pugh. The Pull of the Stars was nominated for the Trillium Book Award and Scotiabank Giller Prize. Donoghue's fiction ranges from the contemporary to the historical and includes two books for young readers.

The Honourable Paula Simons is an Independent Senator from Alberta. She joined the Senate in 2018, after a 30 year career as an investigative reporter and political columnist. She has also been — from time to time — a documentary producer, a playwright, and a writer of popular history.