Lafcadio Hearn was born in Greece, eventually settling in Cincinnati where he became the city's best-known crime reporter but was fired after marrying a black woman. Devastated, he moved to New Orleans, where he championed French Creole and Caribbean culture and created the city's image as a place of voodoo and debauchery. Hearn arrived in Japan at a time of historic change. Sent there as a correspondent, over the next dozen years, he published 15 books on his adopted home and emerged as the leading writer on Japan and Japanese culture.

Anita Kreituse is a Latvian artist, painter and illustrator. She worked as a magazine art director, book illustrator, illustrator for package design, stage and costume designer and is a member of Aritsts' Union of Latvia since 1992 and has participated in numerous important art exhibitions. Her illustrations of Puika, kas zimeja kakus (The Boy Who Drew Cats) were nominated for Janis Baltvilks Prize in 2017.