Andris Taskans lived his whole life in his beloved city of Winnipeg, where he was born and raised. Son of Latvian post-war immigrants, he studied religion at the University of Winnipeg, but found himself swept into the world of writing and publishing. He was a founder of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild, Prairie Fire Magazine, and of what is now Thin Air, one of the premiere writers’ festivals in Canada. Andris died in 2019.