John Cameron
John Cameron is an historian who writes about the American Civil War and 18th century France. Cameron’s nonfiction book, Tar Heels in Gray, was published in 2021. His first historical novel, The Roads of War, was published in 2022. Cameron grew up in the Sand Hills of North Carolina, where many generations of his Scottish-American ancestors lived. He spent every summer working in tobacco fields until he went away to college. At Davidson College, he studied history, and attended graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill, specializing in 18th century France and the Revolution. He is based in Norfolk, Virginia.
Colin Dodds
Colin Dodds has written several books, including Ms. Never and Windfall. He grew up in Massachusetts and lived in California briefly, before finishing his education in New York City. Since then, he’s made his living as a journalist, editor, copywriter and video producer. His work has appeared in Gothamist, The Washington Post and more than three hundred other publications, and been praised by luminaries such as David Berman and Norman Mailer. Colin’s poetry collection Spokes of an Uneven Wheel was published by Main Street Rag Publishing Company in 2018. His short films have been selected by festivals around the world and he once built a twelve-foot-high pyramid out of PVC pipe, plywood and zip ties. Forget This Good Thing I Just Said, a first-of-its-kind literary and philosophical experience (the book form of which was named a finalist for the Big Other Book Prize for Nonfiction) is now available as an app for the iPhone. He lives in New York City, with his wife and children.
Suzanne Moyers
Suzanne Moyers, a former teacher, was an education editor and writer for over 20 years. A lifelong history geek, Suzanne spends her free time as a volunteer archeologist, mudlarker, and metal detectorist. Suzanne is the proud mom to two amazing young adults, Sara and Jassi, and resides in the greater New York City area with her husband, Edward, and spoiled fur baby, Tuxi.
Ashley E. Sweeney
A native New Yorker, Ashley E. Sweeney is the award-winning author of three novels, Eliza Waite, Answer Creek, and Hardland. She lives and writes in Tucson and the Pacific Northwest.
Katie Keridan
Katie Keridan made her literary debut at ten years of age when she won a writing contest by crafting a tale about her favorite childhood hero, Hank the Cowdog. After that, Katie continued to write, through college and graduate school and during her career as a pediatric neuropsychologist. While Katie enjoyed being a doctor, scientific research didn’t bring her nearly as much joy as did creating her own characters and worlds, so she slowly left the medical world behind to focus exclusively on writing. In 2018 she self-published a poetry book, Once Upon a Girl, and her work has been featured in Highlights Hello Magazine, The Blue Nib, Youth Imagination Magazine, Red Fez, The Red Penguin Review, Sand Canyon Review, and Every Day Fiction, to name a few. She loves sharing her writing with others who feel different, misunderstood, or alone. Katie lives with her husband and two very demanding cats in San Jose, CA.
Kyomi O’Connor
Kyomi O’Connor is actively working to address her past emotional abuse, she moved to the States in 1990 to work as a researcher. There she met her husband-to-be, Patrick, an English researcher with Irish heritage. Her life journey led to a career change when the couple moved to San Diego for his job, and when together they entered into Buddhist practice. As Patrick became ill in 2013, Kyomi took care of him for three years until his death. Writing her memoir has been part of her journey to find the wholeness of herself.
Stacy Nockowitz
Stacy Nockowitz is a middle school librarian and former language arts teacher with more than 25 years of experience in middle school education. Stacy received her BA from Brandeis University and holds Master's Degrees from Columbia University Teachers College and Kent State University. She is also an MFA candidate in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Stacy received a PJ Library Writer’s Incentive Award in 2020 for her debut novel THE PRINCE OF STEEL PIER, coming in September 2022 from Kar-Ben Publishing. An unrepentant Jersey Girl, Stacy still teases her hair and uses plenty of spray. When she’s not writing or matching great kids with great books, Stacy can most likely be found reading or rooting on her beloved Philadelphia Eagles. Her kids have flown the coop, so Stacy lives in central Ohio with her husband and their cat, Queen Esther.
May-lee Chai
May-lee Chai is the author of the American Book Award–winning story collection Useful Phrases for Immigrants and ten other books. Her prize-winning short prose has been published widely, including in the New England Review, Missouri Review, Seventeen, The Rumpus, ZYZZYVA, the Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, and the San Francisco Chronicle. The recipient of an NEA fellowship in prose, Chai is an associate professor in the Creative Writing Department at San Francisco State University.
Brian Rush McDonald
Brian Rush McDonald, a native of Mobile, Alabama resides in Alexandria, Virginia just outside of Washington, DC where he is psychotherapist in private practice. He treats individuals who are experiencing depression, anxiety, or life adjustment issues. He also provides couples counseling. He has served as an adjunct professor of counseling at area universities. He holds a Ph.D in counseling from the College of William and Mary. He enjoys playing trombone in several community groups and loves jigsaw puzzles and crosswords. He and his wife Kathy love sailing on the Chesapeake Bay. They have three adult children and three grandchildren.
Jonathan Woods
Jonathan Woods is an award-winning author of absurdist pulp noir. He holds degrees from McGill University, New England School of Law and New York University School of Law and worked for many years for a multinational high-tech company. He studied writing at Bread Loaf, Sewanee, Zoetrope: All-Story and Sirenland writers conferences and at Southern Methodist University.
Roselle Lim
Roselle Lim is the critically acclaimed author of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune, Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop and the upcoming Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club. She lives on the north shore of Lake Erie and always has an artistic project on the go.
Arlene Mark
Arlene Mark grew up in western Pa. steel country before making her way to NYC to begin her career. After working in fashion, marrying, and committing to her family, she lived in London, Caracas, and Toronto with husband and three children before settling in CT. She has an MA in special education, a certification in school psychology and interned at NY State Psychiatric Institute. Her work has appeared in Highlights for Children, Spider, Skipping Stones, Adolescence, Their World, and Greenwich Magazine. She is the author of To the Tower, A Greenwich Adventure, coauthor of Paraverbal Communication with Children: Not Through Words Alone and has served as a Greenwich Time contributing editor writing articles about children’s emotional lives. Her eight grandchildren are enthusiastic fans. When not writing, Arlene can be found lobstering with her husband, Reuben, visiting schools in Asia and Latin America, reading (mostly books for kids), and screening new films.
Renee Linnell
Renee Linnell is a serial entrepreneur who has founded or cofounded five companies and has an MBA from New York University; before that she was a model and professional dancer. Her mission is to remind people Who They Truly Are and to reignite their passion for being alive. What began as writing for catharsis in 2013—as she struggled to regain her sanity after being brainwashed in a Buddhist cult—turned into her first memoir, The Burn Zone: A Memoir (She Writes Press, 2018). Still on Fire is the sequel.
Mike Trigg
Mike Trigg was born in Kentucky and raised in Wisconsin. He earned a BA from Northwestern University and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley. Over his twenty-five-year career in Silicon Valley, he has been a founder, executive, and investor in dozens of venture-funded technology start-ups, as well as a contributor to TechCrunch, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. He lives in Menlo Park, California, with his wife and two sons. Bit Flip is his first novel.
L.B. Wells
L.B. Wells is the pseudonym of a very successful Board-Certified Surgeon, an ambitious physician who overcame the resistance of the male-dominated world of surgery to become successful. The pseudonym gives her the freedom to explore the raw truths of her life, including the male prejudices that made her life so difficult. Wells has written a novel entitled, “The White Coat Effect,” that unleashes the ambition necessary for a woman to push through the long road to becoming an esteemed surgeon while discovering sexuality and forbidden love for the first time.
Sarah Adlakha
Sarah Adlakha is a native of Chicago who now lives along the Mississippi Gulf Coast with her husband, three daughters, two horses, and one dog. She started writing fiction shortly after retiring from her psychiatry practice. Her debut novel, She Wouldn’t Change a Thing, was a CNN most anticipated book of 2021. Midnight on the Marne is her second novel.
Joanne Tubbs Kelly
As a kid, Joanne Tubbs Kelly moved around a lot, but she always felt at home when she had her nose stuck in a book. As an adult, she provided marketing communications services to high-tech companies. Now that she’s retired, she lives in Boulder in the home she and her husband, now deceased, remodeled from top to bottom. She delights in puttering in her garden and walking and hiking where she can wallow in the beauty of Boulder’s Flatirons and Colorado’s high peaks. Whenever she’s not in her garden or out walking, you can usually find her up to her old tricks: hiding out somewhere with her nose stuck in a book.
Laura Vosika
Laura Vosika is a writer, poet, musician, podcast host, and mother of 10. Her time travel series, The Blue Bells Chronicles, which ranges across modern and medieval Scotland, has garnered praise for its historical accuracy and the very real personalities inhabiting its pages, along with comparisons to writers as diverse as Diana Gabaldon and Dostoevsky. Her poetry has been published in The Moccasin and The Martin Lake Journal 2017.
Laura has been featured in newspapers, on radio, and TV, has spoken for regional book events, and hosts the popular podcast Books and Brews. As a musician, Laura has performed as on trombone, flute, and harp, in orchestras, and big bands. She lives in the north woods of Minnesota with her husband and their small and dainty Irish Wolfhound.
Kate Stollenwerck
Kate Stollenwerck, a fifth-generation Texan, was born and raised in Dallas. She graduated from Northwestern University and the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. She practiced law for several years in Chicago before deciding to stay home with her kids. Once her youngest went to school full-time, she dusted off some old manuscripts and pursued her long-held dream of being a writer.
Kate now lives in Florida with her husband, three children, and their crazy cat. Hello, Goodbye is her first novel.
Penny Goetjen
National award-winning author Penny Goetjen writes murder mysteries where the milieus play as prominent a role as the engaging characters. A self-proclaimed eccentric known for writing late into the night, transfixed by the allure of flickering candlelight, Ms. Goetjen embraces the writing process, unaware what will confront her at the next turn. She rides the journey with her characters, often as surprised as her readers to see how the story unfolds. Fascinated with the paranormal, she usually weaves a subtle, unexpected twist into her stories.