Jessie MacKenzie, author of Where They Belong was born to a Dene/German mother and a Scottish/Lakota father. Spending the summers in Windsor and the school year in Yellowknife, she enjoyed both the city life and Northern life. As a typical Northerner, she regularly went boating, skidooing, tagged along on hunting trips, and attended drum dances. Being very close to her grandmother, Celine Conrad and her great uncle Alex Desjarlais, she would always ask them to tell her stories of the ‘old days’. Thus, story-telling and creative writing came naturally and is something Jessie has been doing since she was seven years old. Now in adulthood and attending the University of British Columbia studying political science and theatre, she makes it a rule to take time out and write stories with Northern content as a means to stay connected to her Dene roots.