Shirley Johnston is a poet and journalist, community activist and mother.

She is grateful to those people whose experiences and stories helped form what would become “13 Jaguár: Out of the Shadows,” the teachers, students, and parents at Cali Calmécac Dual Immersion School, the directors of The Imaginists and the actors in their on-going community theater projects about the US-Mexican border, starting with “The Divide,” “Extranjeros en su propia tierra,” and “REAL,” and to her husband, Brent Anderson, who introduced her to the world of graphic storytelling.

She lives in Windsor, California with her husband, their adult son, Bryce, and their cats Kami Katze Nekku Basu and Roddenberry.