Ms. Skolkin-Smith was born in Manhattan in 1952, and spent her childhood between Pound Ridge, New York, and Israel. She earned her BA and MFA and was awarded a teaching fellowship for graduate work, all at Sarah Lawrence. Her first published novel, EDGES was edited and published by the late Grace Paley for Ms. Paley's own imprint at Glad Day books. EDGES was nominated for the 2006 PEN/Faulkner Award by Grace Paley. Recently, her work has been chosen by Princeton University and the Department of the Humanities for their series: "Fertile Crescent Moon: Stories from the Middle East Diaspora." Her 2012 novel, HYSTERA was the winner of the 2012 Global E-Books Award and the 2012 USA Book Awards. Hystera is published by Fiction Studio Books. It was a Finalist in Literary Fiction in the 2012 International Book Awards, and the National Indie Excellence Awards. Solkin-Smith was panelist at MAINE READS, The Haitian Cultural International Book Festival, The Miami International Book Fair, The Virginia Festival of the Book, and The National Women's Association. She was a contributing editor to readysteadbook.com and her critical essays have been published in The Washington Post, The National Book Critic's Circle's Critical Mass, Conversational Reading, the Quarterly Review, and elsewhere.

Abigail Stewart is a fiction writer from Berkeley, California. Originally from Houston, Texas, she studied Literature and Art History at Sam Houston State University, before going on to earn an M.Ed at Lamar University. She is the author of a novel, The Drowned Woman (Whiskey Tit Books), and a short story collection, Assemblage (Alien Buddha Press). Her third book, Foundations, will be released in spring of 2023.

Kwame Sound Daniels is an artist based out of Maryland, USA. Xe are an Anaphora Arts Residency Fellow and are pursuing an MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Xir first book, Light Spun, was out with Perennial Press August of 2022. Xir second book, the pause and the breath, was out January of 2023 and on Lambda Literary's list for Most Anticipated of January. Xe enjoy reading, learning plant medicine, and sitting in the sun in xir spare time.

Alison Schaffir is a social media strategist and young adult author living in New York City. A lover of contemporary fiction, Alison developed her debut novel, Your Dream for Me, fusing two of her favorite interests, fashion and theater, together. She graduated from University of Richmond with a major in business marketing and a minor in psychology. When she’s not making up stories in her head, she loves indulging in Trader Joe’s lava cakes, belting early 2000s pop hits, and spending time with her friends and family.

Carmen Peone is an award-winning author of Young Adult and Contemporary Western Romantic Suspense and lives with her husband in Northeast Washington and on the Colville Confederated Indian Reservation. She weaves threads of healing, hope, and horses into her stories. With a thread of romance.

Roxana Arama is a Romanian American author with a master of fine arts in creative writing from Goddard College. She studied computer science in Bucharest, Romania, and moved to the United States to work in software development. Her short stories and essays have been published in several literary magazines. Extreme Vetting is her first novel. She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her family.

Neville Frankel is an Emmy award-winning writer of literary and historical fiction.

A native of Johannesburg, South Africa, Neville Frankel immigrated to the US with his family at the age of 14. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and did his doctoral work in English literature at the University of Toronto.

Before becoming Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer of the nation’s largest military shipbuilder, Chad Boudreaux served as Deputy Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he advised Secretary Michael Chertoff on almost all significant matters facing the newly established department. Before working for Homeland Security, Boudreaux served in several high-ranking positions at the U.S. Justice Department, where he was hired the night before the September 11, 2001 attacks. During his time at the Justice Department, Boudreaux focused most of his time on matters relating to terrorism and homeland security. Boudreaux graduated from Baylor University in Texas in 1995 and from the University of Memphis School of Law in 1998, where he was Managing Editor of the law review.

Chad lives in Hampton Roads, Virginia, with his wife and four children.

Angela Woodward is the author of the novel Ink (2023), part of the University Press of Kentucky New Poetry and Prose series. Her other books include the novels Natural Wonders (winner of the Fiction Collective Two Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize) and End of the Fire Cult, and the collections Origins and Other Stories and The Human Mind. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in many literary journals including Kenyon Review, Agni, Conjunctions, Ninth Letter, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. She’s won a Pushcart Prize for short fiction and grants and awards from the Illinois Arts Council, the Council for Wisconsin Writers, The Writers Center, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and others. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Chelsea Stickle’s debut flash fiction chapbook Breaking Points was the Editor’s Choice in the Spring 2020 Black River Chapbook Competition and was released by Black Lawrence Press on October 2021. A second flash fiction chapbook is forthcoming from Thirty West Publishing in January 2023. It contains stories of strangeness.

Derek Dwight Anderson is an independent high school history teacher and librarian with 35 years of teaching experience. He is also a dedicated world traveler who loves museums, large and small. Improbable Voices is Anderson's first book and represents the cumulative integration of his professional and personal interests.

Cara Reinard is an author of women’s fiction and novels of domestic suspense, including Into the Sound and Sweet Water (hit #1 on the Amazon Kindle bestseller list). She has been employed in the pharmaceutical industry for eighteen years, and while Cara loves science, writing is her passion. She currently lives in the Pittsburgh area with her husband, two children, and Bernese Mountain dogs. 

Eyad Awwadawnan, formerly a law student from Damascus, Syria, is a writer and poet currently living as a refugee in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is the co-author with Helen Benedict of Map of Hope and Sorrow: Stories of Refugees Trapped in Greece. During his four years in Greece, he worked as a cultural mediator, translator and interpreter for various NGOs. He published a featured article in Slate Magazine detailing his escape from Syria, which now makes the Preface of Map of Hope and Sorrow.

Helen Benedict, a professor at Columbia University, is the author of seven novels, six books of nonfiction, and a play.

Her newest nonfiction book is, Map of Hope and Sorrow, while her eighth and related novel, The Good Deed, will be out in 2024.

Benedict's previous novel, Wolf Season, was called "required reading" by Elissa Schappell and received a starred review in Library Journal, which wrote, “In a book that deserves the widest attention, Benedict ‘follows the war home,’ engaging readers with an insightful story right up until the gut-wrenching conclusion.”

Benedict's 2011 novel, Sand Queen, which features some of the same characters as Wolf Season, was named a “Best Contemporary War Novel” by Publishers Weekly.

Mary Allen is the author of The Deep Limitless Air:  A Memoir in Pieces, published in May 2022 by Blue Light Press. Her literary memoir, The Rooms of Heaven, was published by Alfred A. Knopf and Vintage Books.  She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship and has published short work on the Psychology Today website and in Poets and Writers, Tiferet, Real Simple, Library Journal, The Chaos, CNN Online, and in the anthology If I Don’t Make It, I Love You: Survivors in the Aftermath of School Shootings.  She has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has taught in the University of Iowa’s nonfiction writing MFA program and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival at the University of Iowa.  She currently makes a living as a writing coach and lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

Former stringer for the New York Times, John Yearwood taught in high schools and universities for 30 years, and was an award-winning journalist for 15 years. He has published hundreds of editorials and columns and thousands of news stories, as well as academic works on the First Amendment and the extra-Constitutional powers of the Presidency during times of crisis. After retiring in 2012, he now volunteers helping elementary students improve their reading skills, and assisting refugee immigrants when he is not writing. 

Molly Fader is the author of The McAvoy Sister’s Book Of Secrets. As Molly O’Keefe she is the USA Today Bestselling author of over 50 contemporary romances. She lives in Toronto Ontario with her husband, two kids and rescue dog.

Sarah Fawn Montgomery is the author of Halfway from Home (Split/Lip Press), Quite Mad: An American Pharma Memoir (The Ohio State University Press), and three poetry chapbooks. She is an Assistant Professor at Bridgewater State University.

Kaira Rouda is a multiple award–winning, Amazon Charts and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction that explores what goes on beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. Her novels of domestic suspense include Somebody’s Home, The Next Wife, The Favorite Daughter, Best Day Ever, and All the Difference. To date, Kaira’s work has been translated into more than ten languages. She lives in Southern California with her family.

Martin Bodek was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children. He is a technologist by day, and a writer by night. He has been writing freelance for over two decades, mostly on Jewish interest topics. His work has been published and his books have been covered in dozens of newspapers, journals, magazines, blogs, podcasts, and social media channels. This is his eleventh book, and it might be his most important.