Fiona Gardner and Uche Nduka, 2013 June 5, inclusive

Fiona Gardner was born to white American parents with Romanian and German Jewish heritage and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. Gardner received a B.F.A. in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and an M.F.A. from Columbia University in New York City. She worked as a photographer and artist in Boston, Massachusetts and New York City.

Uche Nduka was born to Igbo parents in Umuahia, Nigeria. Nduka received a B.A. in English and history from the University of Nigeria in Nsukka. He lived in Bremen, Germany and Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and received an M.F.A. in creative writing from Long Island University in Brooklyn. He worked as a writer and an adjunct college lecturer in literature in New York City.