Bernice L. McFadden is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Tulane University and the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including Sugar, The Warmest December, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, Glorious, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors' Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012), The Book of Harlan (winner of a 2017 American Book Award and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Fiction), and Praise Song for the Butterflies (long-listed for the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction). She is a five-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

Kate Russo, author of Until Alison and Super Host, grew up in Maine but now divides her time between Maine and the UK. She has an MFA in painting from the Slade School of Fine Art, and while living in London, she worked with the theatre group, Love Bites, who presented two of her short plays (“The Blind” and “Bernie's Night Off”) at the Calder Bookshop Theatre. She exhibits widely in the United States and England. Learn more at KateRusso.com and connect on Instagram @RussoKate.

Wendy is a seasoned memoir-writing coach whose clients have come from Entertainment Weekly, the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Simon & Schuster, Seal Press, Wiley, NBC, National Geographic Wild, and Nickelodeon.

The author of the memoir Avoiding Prison and Other Noble Vacation Goals (Three Rivers Press/Penguin Random House), Wendy lives with her husband and two bunnies in Cusco, Peru.

Ashley Ream is a former journalist and the author of two previous novels. Losing Clementine, was a Barnes & Noble debut pick, a Sutter Home Book Club pick, and is being made into a major motion picture. Her second book, The 100 Year Miracle, was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month and selected as the Whidbey Island All-Island Read. Her most recent book is The Peculiar Gift of July.

Megan Abbott is the Edgar-winning author of the novels Beware the Woman, The Turnout, Give Me Your Hand, You Will Know Me, The Fever, Dare Me, The End of Everything, Bury Me Deep, Queenpin, The Song Is You and Die a Little. Her most recent is El Dorado Drive.

Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Salon, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, and The Believer. Her stories have appeared in multiple collections, including the Best American Mystery Stories of 2014 and 2016.

Jeffrey Konvitz is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Sentinel (Simon and Schuster- Random House/Ballantine Books). He also wrote its bestselling sequel, The Guardian (1979, Bantam), and a third bestselling novel Monster: A Tale of Loch Ness (1982, Random House/Ballantine). Konvitz is an entertainment attorney, screenwriter and producer. In the 1980s and 90s, he became one of the top independent production executives in Hollywood, where he still resides to this day. His latest novel is Circus of Satan.

LINDA DAHL began writing as a freelancer about two passions, jazz and Latin America, before turning to fiction. She has written ten published books, including the novels Tiny Vices, An Upside-Down Sky, Gringa in a Strange Land, and The Bad Dream Notebook, and the nonfiction works Stormy Weather and Morning Glory. Her books have consistently garnered awards and praise, including a Notable Book of the Year nod from The New York Times Book Review for Morning Glory in 2000. She lives in Riverdale, New York. Find her online at lindadahlbooks.com

NELL JOSLIN is a native of Raleigh, North Carolina and received her MFA from North Carolina State University. Besides a fiction writer, she has been a public school teacher, medical librarian, copy editor, freelance journalist, stay-at-home mom, and attorney (although not all at the same time). She currently lives in Raleigh. Find her online at measureofdevotion.com