Joseph (Josef or Ywsep) Rogel was born on August 8, 1911, in Tarnów, Poland.

He was a Jewish Canadian poet, lyricist, and translator. In January 1941, an SS patrol caught him on the streets of Tarnów and sent him to a labour camp in Auschwitz. This experience dominates the theme of his work. He published several collections of poems in English and Yiddish, e.g., "Oyshṿits: lider" (1951), "Confessions of an Auschwitz number: (A-18260)" (1972), "Poems for My Mother" (1975) and "Soliloquy of a shadow: poems" (1979). His poem appears in Gershon Kingsley's “Voices from the Shadow / Jazz Psalms / Shabbat for Today” (2005), a musical setting of poetry written by concentration camp prisoners.

He was married to Clara (Klara, Connie, Konny) Schachter (1911-2002). He died on July 26, 1989, in Montreal, Quebec.

Stanley William Rogal was born on March 5, 1950, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

He is a Canadian actor, director, playwright, writer, and poet. He was educated at Simon Frasier University (B.A., 1982) and York University (M.A., 1988). He began his career as an actor and director in Toronto, Ontario, where he served as co-founder and artistic director of the Bald Ego Theatre and the Bulletproof Theatre. Rogal's writing expanded beyond theatre to include short stories, novels, and poetry collections. He has authored 21 books: 11 collections of poems, e.g., “Sweet Betsy from Pike” (1992), “The Imaginary Museum” (1993), "Geometry of the Odd" (1999), "In Search of the Emerald City" (2004); 5 collections of short stories, e.g., "What Passes for Love" (1996), "Personations" (1997), "Restless" (1998), "Tell Him You're Married" (2002) and 5 novels, e.g., "The Long Drive Home" (1999), "Bafflegab" (2001), "Bloodline: a Haunted Crime Story" (2011) and "The Comic" (2020). He is a member of the League of Canadian Poets and Playwrights Union.

He lives and writes in Toronto, Ontario.