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Martin Louis Kovacs was born in Budapest in 1918, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938; a Master of Arts degree in 1940; and a Ph.D. in 1942 in Budapest. From 1942 to 1948 Kovacs worked at the National Archives / Museum in Budapest. And from 1949 to 1968 he worked in Australia as a teacher and obtained a Master of Arts degree in 1955; a Bachelor of Education degree in 1956; and a Master of Education degree in 1966 from the University of Melbourne in Australia.

In 1968 he immigrated to Canada and began teaching history at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus, he became an Associate Professor in 1969, a full Professor in 1976, and served as Chairman of the Research Section at the Canadian Plains Research Centre from 1975 to 1983.

Kovacs also served on the Senior Academic Committee, the Archives Committee, and Curriculum Committee. He was a member of the Ethnic Research Section at the Canadian Plains Research Center, his public service included roles as President for the Kipling District Historical Society and as President of the Kipling District Museum Society. He was Vice-President and Conference Co-ordinator for the Canadian Association of Hungarian Studies; Vice-President and Conference Co-ordinator of the Central and East European Studies Association of Canada and he was Associate Editor of Nationalities Papers, a semi-annual journal of the association for the Study of Nationalities (USSR and East Europe).

Kovacs spoke, wrote and read several languages: English, Hungarian, German, Italian, Latin, French and Spanish. He worked and organized conferences for the Canadian Association of Hungarian Studies and the Central and East European Studies Association of Canada (Edmonton) and between 1974 and 1983 Kovacs wrote books and authored numerous papers for scholarly journals focusing on Hungarian settlement in Saskatchewan. Kovacs retired from teaching at the University of Regina in 1986.

Kovacs wrote and edited many books on early Hungarian settlement in the Canadian West including Peace and Strife: Some Facets of the History of an Early Prairie Community (Kipling, Saskatchewan: Kipling District Historical Society, 1980). Ethnic Canadians: Culture and Education. (Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 1978) Roots and Realities Among Eastern and Central Europeans, (Central and East European Studies Association of Canada, Edmonton. 1983) Esterhazy and Early Hungarian Immigration to Canada; a study based upon the Esterhazy immigration pamphlet, (Canadian Plains Studies Centre, University of Saskatchewan, 1974)

He also published articles relating to the subject. "The Hungarian School Question," in Ethnic Canadians: Culture and Education, ed. M.L. Kovacs (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 1978), pp. 333-58. "Searching for Land: The First Hungarian Influx into Canada" Canadian-American Review of Hungarian Studies, VII, 1 (Spring, 1980), 37-43; "From Industries to Farming" Hungarian Studies Review, VIII, 1 (Spring, 1981), 45-60; as well as chapter three of Struggle and Hope.

Martin Kovacs died in Regina, Saskatchewan in 2000.

Myrna Ann Kostash is a journalist, essayist and writer of regional and national acclaim. She was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1944. She attended the University of Alberta, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in 1965 with a major in Russian. She then pursued graduate studies in Slavic language and literature at the University of Washington and the University of Toronto where she received a Master of Arts in 1968.

Kostash is the author of several books, All of Baba’s Children, Long Way From Home: The Story of the Sixties Generation in Canada, No Kidding: Inside the Life of Teenage Girls, Bloodlines: A Journey into Eastern Europe, The Doomed Bridegroom: A Memoir, The Next Canada: In Search of the Future Nation, Reading the River: A Traveller’s Companion to the North Saskatchewan River, Locating the Past/Discovering the Present, The Frog Lake Reader, Slice Me Some Truth, Prodigal Daughter, Unbound: Ukrainian-Canadians Writing Home and more recently, The Seven Oaks, a companion volume to The Frog Lake Reader.

Her articles and creative non-fiction have appeared in several anthologies, and extensively in periodicals such as Chatelaine, Maclean's, Geist, Border Crossings, Literary Review of Canada and Canadian Geographic. She has contributed radio, television, and film scripts to the CBC and the National Film Board, and has written stage plays. She has lectured widely in Canada and Europe and has taught courses, workshops, and seminars across the country. Kostash was Max Bell Professor at the School of Journalism, University of Regina for 1989 and 1990.

Kostash has recived numberous awards for her writing: in 1989 she received the Alberta Achievement Award, in 2008 the Writers Guild of Alberta presented her with the Golden Pen Award for lifetime achievement. She was inducted into the City of Edmonton’s Cultural Hall of Fame in 2009 and in 2010 she was awarded the Writers' Trust Matt Cohen Award: In Celebration of a Writing Life. Kostash accepted the Wilfred Eggleston Award for Nonfiction at the Writers Guild of Alberta awards gala in 2011, where Prodigal Daughter, won for Best Nonfiction Book. In 2012 Kostash was shortlisted for the Kobzar Literary prize.

Myrna Kostash resides in Edmonton.

Roy Kenzie Kiyooka was an influential Canadian photographer, poet and artist of national and international acclaim. He was a second generation Japanese Canadian, born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and raised in Calgary.

Kiyooka studied at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and Art, Alberta College of Art from 1946 to 1949, and in 1955 to 1956 he studied at the Instituto San Miguel de Allende in Mexico.

Following Kenneth Lochhead and Arthur McKay to the Regina College School of Art, he was the third instructor to be appointed. Along with Kenneth Lochhead and Arthur McKay, Doug Morton, Ted Godwin, Ron Bloore and Clifford Wiens were other artists heavily engaged in the Regina art scene. These young artists led the expansion of the Emma Lake Workshops by inviting major artists (or critics) as instructors. Kiyooka was one of the leading figures of this workshop and had great influence over decision making. The very successful 1959 workshop, which introduced abstract expressionist painting to Saskatchewan, was a crucial decision made by Kiyooka and his colleagues.

In 1960, Kiyooka’s new position at the Vancouver School of Art (Emily Carr College of Art and Design) required him to leave Regina, he became involved in poetry, photography, video, film, and music.

His book, Pear Tree Pomes, was nominated for the 1987 Governor General’s Award and in 1978, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada

Evelyn (Ching) Jonescu was born on a farm in Alameda, Saskatchewan and recalls her father teaching her to read at a young age. Evelyn later attended the University of Saskatchewan with an entrance scholarship in 1948 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1954, and a Bachelor of Education degree in 1962.

Jonescu taught in high schools for the Qu’Appelle Diocesan School for Girls in Regina, Markinch and in Cupar, Saskatchewan. In 1963 she began to pursue graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and obtained a Master’s degree in Botany there in 1966. She returned to Saskatchewan and began teaching at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus (fore-runner to the University of Regina) as an Assistant Professor while working on a Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan, which she obtained in 1974.

In 1975 Evelyn was appointed Director of the Canadian Plains Research Center and reappointed in 1981 for a 5-year term. She was chairperson of the Environmental Advisory Council for Saskatchewan and in 1976 was appointed to the Social Science Research Council’s Committee on the Human Environment.

Throughout a very long career with the University of Regina, Jonescu presented papers, led seminars and served on committees while working in areas involving the land’s natural resources and other environmental issues. She was recognized with meritorious certificates in 1978, 1981, and 1983. In 1985 she left the Canadian Plains Research Centre to work in the Faculty of Education as part of the Saskatchewan Instructional Development and Research Unit. Jonescu retired from University life in June 1989, becoming Professor Emeritus in 1991. In 1995 Evelyn was awarded a certificate of appreciation from the Community Health Division of the Regina Health District and in 2000 retired from the Board of Governors of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, where she had been a Fellow of the Society for many years. Still giving back to her community and to the University of Regina, Evelyn supports the University’s College Avenue Renewal Project and is a lifetime-member of the University of ReginaAcademic and Administrative PensionersAssociation (URAAPA).