Francine Cunningham is an award-winning writer, artist, and educator who spends her summer days writing on the Prairies and her winter months teaching in the North. Cunningham is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta but grew up in Calgary, Edmonton, and 100 Mile House, BC. Cunningham is also Metis, and has settler family roots stretching from as far away as Ireland and Belgium. She currently resides in Alberta. 

Her debut book of poems,  On/Me was nominated for the BC and Yukon Book Prize, an Indigenous Voices Award, and the Vancouver Book Award. Her debut collection of short stories, God Isn’t Here Today is a book of speculative fiction and horror that was longlisted for the inaugural Carol Shield’s Prize for Fiction, a finalist for the Indigenous Voices Award, and won a 2023 ReLit Award. She has also written two books for children: What If Bedtime Didn’t Exist? and Owl in the Attic.