Ulrikka S. Gernes was born in 1965 in Sweden of Danish parents. At the age of twenty-two she moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, already a published and highly acclaimed poet. Her first collection, Natsværmer (Moth), was published in Denmark in 1984, when she was eighteen years old. Since then she has published an additional ten collections, all of them received gratefully in the Danish press. She is also the author of two books for children, as well as many short stories, songs, and various contributions to literary anthologies, art catalogues, magazines, newspapers and Danish National radio. In 2001 A Sudden Sky: Selected Poems, translated into English by Per Brask and Patrick Friesen, was published by Brick Books. Frayed Opus for String & Wind Instruments is the second translation of Ulrikka's work published by Brick Books (2015).

Patrick Friesen, a resident of Winnipeg for thirty years, now lives in Vancouver, teaching at Kwantlen University College. He has written numerous books of poetry and has also worked on translations of Danish poets, including A Sudden Sky (2001), a collaborative translation with Per Brask of selected poems by Ulrikka S. Gernes. Friesen has also written several stage and radio plays, and has collaborated with choreographers, dancers, musicians and composers. His books have been shortlisted for the BC Book Prize and the Governor General's Award.

Per Brask is a Professor in the Department of Theatre and Film at the University of Winnipeg where he has taught since 1982. He has published poetry, short stories, drama, translations, interviews and essays in a wide variety of journals and books. This is his fifth volume of poetry co-translated with Patrick Friesen.