Ever since Esme discovered Nancy Drew, she's wanted to solve mysteries. As a mystery author, she's finally found a way to make that dream come true. Esme lives in Raleigh, NC with her family. When she's not writing or dreaming up new mysteries for her sleuths to stumble upon, you can find her dancing her calories away in Zumba, patronizing her local bookstores or visiting the beach, the mountains and all historical sites in between.

Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN, (Veteran), a native of NJ, is owner/president of SJF Communications, San Diego, CA. Ms. Farese has diversified experience in health care/communications, including military and civilian nursing practice, management, education/training, research and consulting. SJF Communications provides Public Relations, Social Media, Websites, Writing, Acting, Filmmaking, Mentoring and Photography. Clients include theatres, musicians, filmmakers, authors and businesses. Susan is the author of the book “Poetic Expressions in Nursing: Sharing the Caring” (1993 and 2021) and has written poetry and articles on a variety of topics. She is on the Advisory Board for San Diego Film Week, and is a member of SAG-AFTRA, Veterans in Media & Entertainment, San Diego Writers, Ink, Southern California Writers Association and the San Diego Press Club.

Yang Huang grew up in China and has lived in the United States since 1990. Her novel MY GOOD SON won the University of New Orleans Publishing Lab Prize. Her linked story collection, MY OLD FAITHFUL, won the Juniper Prize, and her debut novel, LIVING TREASURES, won the Nautilus Book Award silver medal. The New York Times said, “As with her previous books, ‘Living Treasures’ and ‘My Old Faithful,’ Huang’s latest explores the generational push-pull of family life in post-Tiananmen China.” She works for the University of California, Berkeley and lives in the Bay Area with her family.

Victor Piñeiro is a creative director and content strategist who's managed @YouTube and launched @Skittles, creating its award-winning zany voice. He's also designed games for Hasbro, written/produced a documentary on virtual worlds, and taught third graders. Time Villains is his first novel.

Elizabeth Gonzalez James's stories and essays have appeared in The Idaho Review, The Rumpus, PANK, and elsewhere and have received numerous Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. Her debut novel, MONA AT SEA, was a finalist in the 2019 SFWP Literary Awards judged by Carmen Maria Machado, and is forthcoming June 2021.

Dana Mack just published her first work of fiction, All Things That Deserve To Perish: A Novel of Wilhelmine Germany. A musician, journalist, and historian, she is the author of two non-fiction books, The Assault on Parenthood: How Our Culture Undermines the Family (Simon & Schuster; Encounter Paperbacks) and The Book of Marriage: The Wisest Answers to the Toughest Questions (Eerdmans). Her essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, The New Criterion, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, and many other publications. She lives in New Canaan, Connecticut with her husband.

Faith Fuller Wilcox believes that self-expression through writing leads to healing. Her writing is reflective of a growing body of medical research about “narrative identity,” which illuminates that how we make sense of what happens to us and the meaning we give to experiences beyond our control directly impact our physical and psychological outcomes. Faith learned these truths firsthand when her thirteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer that took her life. Faith’s journey from grief and despair to moments of comfort and peace taught her life-affirming lessons, which she shares today through her writing. Faith is the author of Hope Is A Bright Star: A Mother’s Memoir of Love, Loss, and Learning to Live Again that will be published in June 2021. Faith is also the author of Facing Into The Wind: A Mother’s Healing After the Death of Her Child, a book of poetry.

Simonetti grew up in the New York suburbs just outside of the city. After earning a BS in marketing, she spent several years writing press releases, until she left her corporate job to focus on her passion for crafting fiction. She lives on Cape May Harbor with her husband. When not on her paddle board or yoga mat, she can be found at the beach trailing the shoreline for seashells, scribbling in her notebook, and channeling dolphins for meaningful conversation.

Mary Camarillo’s debut novel “The Lockhart Women” was published on June 1, 2021 by She Writes Press. It recently won First Place in the 2021 Next Generation Indie Awards for First Novel. Her prose and poems have appeared in publications such as “The Sonora Review,” “166 Palms,” the “Tab Journal,” and “The Ear.” She lives in Huntington Beach, California with her husband who plays ukulele and their terrorist cat Riley.

P.L. Stuart is a Canadian high fantasy author, of Ghanaian and Barbadian descent. He lives in picturesque Chatham, Ontario, with his beautiful wife Debbie, who is his business partner in authropreneurship. A Drowned Kingdom is the first novel in The Drowned Kingdom Saga. P.L. holds a Degree in English, with a specialization in Medieval Literature and a Minor in History from York University in Toronto, Canada.

Award-winning author, Saralyn Richard was born with a pen in her hand and ink in her veins. A former educator, she loves connecting with readers. Her humor- and romance-tinged mysteries and children's book pull back the curtain on people in settings as diverse as elite country manor houses and disadvantaged urban high schools.

Bella Mahaya Carter is the author of Where Do You Hang Your Hammock?: Finding Peace of Mind While You Write, Publish, and Promote Your Book. She is a creative writing teacher, empowerment coach, and speaker, and author of an award-winning memoir, Raw: My Journey from Anxiety to Joy, and a collection of narrative poems, Secrets of My Sex. She has worked with hundreds of writers since 2008 and has degrees in literature, film, and spiritual psychology. Her poetry, essays, fiction, and interviews have appeared in Mind, Body, Green; The Sun; Lilith; Fearless Soul; Writer’s Bone; Women Writers, Women’s Books; Chic Vegan; Bad Yogi Magazine; Jane Friedman’s Blog; Pick the Brain; Spiritual Media blog; Literary Mama; several anthologies, and elsewhere.

Kirsten Mickelwait is a professional copywriter and editor by day and a writer of fiction and creative nonfiction by night. She's an alumna of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, the Napa Valley Writers' Conference, the Paris Writers' Conference, and the San Francisco Writers' Conference. Her short story, "Parting with Nina," won first prize in The Ledge's 2004 Fiction Awards competition. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she's at work on a new novel. The Ghost Marriage is Kirsten's first memoir. The book tells her story of spiritual connection and surviving divorce after 50.

Before turning her hand to novel writing, Jane Rosenthal was as a radio journalist, a bilingual reporter and finally as an English and creative writing teacher.

Marian Leah Knapp is a writer and community activist. Her previously published books include Aging in Places: Reflective Preparation for the Future, A Steadfast Spirit: The Essence of Caregiving, and, with Vivien Goldman, The Outermost Cape: Encountering Time. For more than ten years, she has written a regular column for the Newton TAB. When Marian was sixty-four years old, she went back to school to obtain a PhD. She passed her dissertation defense right before her seventieth birthday. Marian lives in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Jessica Barksdale Inclán is the author of fifteen novels, including the award-winning The Burning Hour as well as Her Daughter's Eyes, The Matter of Grace, and When You Believe. Her debut poetry collection, When We Almost Drowned, was published in March 2019; her second poetry book, Grim Honey, was published in April 2021. A Pushcart Prize, Million Writers Award, and Best-of-the-Net nominee, Barksdale Inclán was an English professor at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, for thirty-one years, and continues to teach novel writing for UCLA Extension and the MFA program for Southern New Hampshire University. She holds an MA in English Literature from San Francisco State University and an MFA from the Rainier Writers Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. A San Francisco Bay Area native, she now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.

Dr. Joan Steinau Lester is an award-winning commentator, columnist, and author of critically acclaimed books, including the novels Mama’s Child and Black, White, Other. Her writing has appeared in such publications as USA Today, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, Common Dreams, and Huffington Post. Her memoir, Loving Before Loving: A Marriage in Black and White, will be published on May 18, 2021.

X.H. Collins was born in Hechuan, Sichuan Province, China, grew up in Kangding, on the East Tibet Plateau, and now calls Iowa home. Although always wanting to be a writer, she chose a career path of science and earned a MS in cell biology and a PhD in nutrition, and has taught biology at a community college for the past fifteen years. When she's not teaching or writing, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, dancing (ballroom and Latin), and cooking. Her debut novel: FLOWING WATER, FALLING FLOWERS.

Elizabeth Marcus grew up in Manhattan, the only child of a dentist and a Macy’s dress buyer, the Zeus and Hera of Apartment 2B. After escaping to Boston, she ran a small architectural office for 20 years, when she wasn’t traveling to far-flung places with her psychiatrist husband and rambunctious children. Eventually, she decided to concentrate on writing, which allows her to pursue the many, quirky questions that fascinate her: Why are butterflies called ‘butterflies’? Why can’t she recall the taste of wines? Why are first-love memories so potent? Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and Boston Globe, on online sites like Cognoscenti, and in essay anthologies like Travelers’ Tales. “Don’t Say A Word!”: A Daughter’s Two Cents, in 90,571 Words is her first book. She lives in Boston.

Loren Stephens is a widely published essayist and fiction and nonfiction storyteller. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, MacGuffin, The Jewish Women’s Literary Annual, Forge, Crack the Spine, Amuse Bouche, The Writer’s Launch, the Summerset Review, the Montreal Literary Review, and Tablet Travel Magazine to name a few. She is a two-time nominee of the Pushcart Prize and the book Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Review, by Cliff Simon with Loren Stephens was named one of the best titles from an independent press by Kirkus. She is president and founder of the ghostwriting companies, Write Wisdom and Bright Star Memoirs. Prior to establishing her company Loren was a documentary filmmaker.