Discipline Category: Fiction

S.M. (Samantha Mary) Beiko is an award-winning author of young adult fantasy, and the artist and writer of the graphic novel series KRAMPUS IS MY BOYFRIEND! She has worked in the book publishing industry as an editor and graphic designer since 2010, both freelance as well as for established publishing houses. She has won the Aurora Award for Best Artist multiple times, notably for her covers for Laksa Media.

Beiko's novels have been published by ECW Press in Toronto since 2013. Her first novel, THE LAKE AND THE LIBRARY, was nominated for the Manitoba Book Award that year, while SCION OF THE FOX won the Copper Cylinder Award for science fiction in 2018. She was the co-editor on the original comics anthology GOTHIC TALES OF HAUNTED LOVE (Bedside Press), and the sole editor on its follow up, GOTHIC TALES OF HAUNTED FUTURES. Her current series, The Brindlewatch Quintet, are capsule stories featuring queer characters and cozy monster romance. Her short fiction has been published in the following anthologies: GUSH, THAT WITCH WHISPERS, PARALLEL PRAIRIES, plus a short comic in DIRE BEASTS.

Beiko is also the sole creator (artist and writer) of KRAMPUS IS MY BOYFRIEND!, a slice of life teen romantic comedy which won the 2020 Aurora Award for Best Graphic Novel, and was nominated for the Joe Shuster Award for Best Webcomic that year. It is ongoing and self-published.

Beiko's freelance editorial work covers all aspects of developmental editing for prose fiction. She specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and also edits and art directs for comics and graphic novels at all stages (from pitch to script to layouts and finals). She has a studio in downtown Winnipeg's Exchange District, and is the Artistic Director for Prairie Comics Festival.

I have an eclectic mix of interests reflected both in my personality and work. From Japanese pop culture and history, folklore, gaming, to gothic/cute street fashion and more! If I find it engaging and fun, I want a piece of it; I want my creative practices to be centered on joy!

I was raised on books and visual arts in all their myriad forms. So, of course, that's where my creative outlets flourished! From as early as grade one I was writing and illustrating, surprisingly tragic and dramatic, stories to share with my classmates and teachers.

I have one novel self-published, with more on the way, and several small pieces published in local libraries and such. My inspiration derives from whatever emerges from my head, be it in the form of dreams, random thoughts, or unexpected eureka moments.

Natalie Mark 麥月明 is a local Winnipeg/Treaty 1 illustrator and cartoonist.

In 2023-4, Natalie received an award for emerging cartoonists and made a comic for CAKE Chicago. They have also facilitated various community and public art projects for Winnipeg’s Chinatown, and run many art and comics workshops in Winnipeg and beyond including the Snoopy and the Red Baron traveling exhibit from the Charles M. Schulz Museum, at VanCAF in Vancouver, and MICE in Boston.

Natalie’s comics are somewhere between a reflection of life and small curiosities. Their work plays with myth-making and whimsical fantasies projected onto social realism. Storytelling is Natalie's primary tool for understanding themselves and exploring the world around them.

When they are not drawing, Natalie loves going to their local library, playing TTRPGs, and going on picnics! Visit their site: https://nataliemark.ca or follow along with their art journey @floodkiss across the internet.