Bob Kotyk was born in Winnipeg and was educated at the University of Manitoba (BA First Class Honours) and McGill University (MA). He is the co-writer of The Forbidden Room, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015 and won the Rogers Prize, the Bildrausch Ring of Film Art, and was nominated for Best Picture at the Canadian Screen Awards. His first film as director, Spirit Workers Union, was released in 2017 and won awards at the Canada Shorts Film Festival and the Sudbury Underground Film Festival. His poetry has appeared in the Sugar House Review, the Dalhousie Review, and others. He lives in Toronto.