Margaret Ann Griffiths was born in London in 1947. Rather than seek publication through traditional channels, she was content to share her work with fellow poets on various Internet forums. On the rare occasions that she submitted work for publication, it was typically to online venues. Also known by the Internet pseudonyms 'Grasshopper' and 'Maz', she began posting her poetry online in 2001. During the mid-2000s she worked from home, running a small Internet-based business, and edited the Poetry Worm, a monthly periodical distributed by email. In 2008, she was a Guest Poet on the Academy of American Poets website, where she was hailed as "one of the up-and-coming poets of our time." Her death in 2009 inspired poets from London, Derby, Scotland, Wales, Queensland, New South Wales, Massachusetts, New York, Minnesota, Missouri, Maryland, California and Texas to collect her work in what would eventually become GRASSHOPPER: THE POETRY OF M A GRIFFITHS (Able Muse Press, 2011).

Jake McDonald is a full-time writer who spends his summers in a floating cedar house on the Winnipeg River. Over the past 20 years, he has also worked as a fishing guide in Northwestern Ontario. His stories appear frequently in magazines such as Outdoor Canada, Canadian Geographic, Field and Stream and Cottage Life. He is the author of several works of fiction, including The Bridge Out of Town and Raised By the River.