Bay Area
Laird Harrison writes about science, health and culture. His work has appeared in magazines (TIME, Audubon, Discover, Health) and newspapers (San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune), and on Web sites (Salon, Reuters, MSNBC, CNN.com). He has produced video for Web sites including Smithsonianmag.com and audio for KQED and WUNC public media stations. His novel, Fallen Lake, tells the story of a powerful attraction between two couples and how it affected their children. Harrison has taught writing at San Francisco State University, UC Berkeley Extension and the San Francisco Writers Grotto, where he is a member. He grew up in Berkeley, California, and studied creative writing and politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He lives in Oakland, California.
Detroit
Weam Namou is the author of 12 books, a journalist, filmmaker, vice president of Detroit Working Writers (DWW), a 118-year-old professional writing association, and founder of The Path of Consciousness, a spiritual and writing conference and retreat. Her book, The Great American Family: A Story of Political Disenchantment, won a 2017 Eric Hoffer Book Award and three of her memoir series received acclaimed reviews by Publishers Weekly. Earlier this year, Namou completed her first feature documentary The Great American Family (based on the book with the same title) and Francis Coppola and the staff of Zoetrope selected her script “Pomegranate” as one of quarter-finalists out of 1600 scripts. Currently, she is working on her 13th book, titled Mesopotamian Goddesses: Unveiling Your Feminine Power. Namou received her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Wayne State University, studied fiction and memoir through various correspondence courses, poetry in Prague and screenwriting at MPI (Motion Picture Institute of Michigan). She has given readings, lectures, and workshops at numerous cultural and educational institutions, including colleges and universities. Her poetry, essays, and articles have appeared in national and international journals. In 2012, she received an Outstanding Contributions to the Arts Award from Erootha, a local arts organization.
Violet St. Karl recently moved back to the Detroit area after over a decade in New York where she was also a member of the Authors Guild. She is the first Albanian-American science-fiction and fantasy writer, and soon-to-be author, currently working on publishing her debut novel, Collection of The Negatives, the first in her book series, which is set to be released Fall 2018. She believes the universe began silently beckoning her to start writing in 2012 when, unbeknownst to her her she moved into the Upper West Side apartment where Edgar Allen Poe fcompleted writing The Raven. She then began outlining her science fiction series. When not writing, dreaming up new stories in her head, or spending her weekdays working in the advertising and marketing industry, she enjoys connecting with other writers, traveling the world and learning about different cultures.
Las Vegas
Teri Emory is living proof that liberal arts majors are not necessarily unemployable. As evidence: She has taught writing and literature at the University of North Florida, Hunter College, Yeshiva University, and Fordham University. She lived in Rome, where she taught English to Soviet immigrants awaiting visas to the U.S. She survived an extended tour of duty as a corporate writer. Her articles and poems have appeared in print and online publications. She has edited essays and book-length manuscripts on absurdly esoteric topics. Her novel, Second Acts, was published in 2017, and she is currently at work on a sequel. Teri was born in the Bronx and grew up in and around New York City. She is proud to have been educated entirely in public schools, from kindergarten at P.S. 77 through grad school at U.C. Berkeley. She has lived and worked in several cities, some more fun than others, and has traveled widely. A devoted mother and besotted grandmother, she now resides in Las Vegas.
New York City
Marina Aris is the Director of Bookstore Relations for DartFrog Books. She works closely with booksellers across the U.S. to distribute the best in self-publishing. Marina is also an indie author, the founder of the Brooklyn Writers Project and the Brooklyn Writers Press. Since 2016 she has hosted an annual Indie Author Day in North Brooklyn and enjoys encouraging and supporting indie authors as they learn the business side of bringing a book to market. Marina is also the co-host of The Life Lines Books Podcast and a Board member of Pen Parentis, an organization supporting parent writers. She is a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and the Authors Guild.
Philadelphia
Janet Benton is the author of Lilli de Jong, published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday in May 2017. Kirkus Reviews called it a “monumental accomplishment.” Library Journal and NPR named it a Best Book of 2017, Bustle called it one of 2017’s best debut novels, and Amazon picked it as a Best Book of May. Her writings have also appeared in The New York Times Modern Love column, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and many other publications. She has edited and co-written TV documentaries for The Great Experiment, a series on Philadelphia history. Janet holds an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a B. A. in religious studies from Oberlin College. She has taught writing at universities and in private workshops for over two decades. Through her business, The Word Studio, she mentors writers and teaches workshops, helping people learn the craft and find the stories only they can tell. Her Word Studio website is www.thewordstudio.us, and her author website is www.janetbentonauthor.com.
Sally Wiener Grotta (www.SallyWienerGrotta.com) is a full-time award-winning freelance writer, photographer and speaker. Among her numerous books are the novels The Winter Boy (a 2015 Locus Award nominee) and Jo Joe (selected as a Jewish Book Council Network book). Her hundreds of stories, columns, essays and reviews have appeared in scores of magazines, newspapers and journals, such as American Heritage, Popular Science, North Atlantic Review, Islands, PC Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Woman’s Day, Parade and many others. Sally has traveled on assignment throughout the world, covering a wide diversity of cultures and traditions. Her far-ranging experiences flavor her stories and presentations with a sense of wonder and otherliness, plus a healthy dose of common sense. A popular speaker who has appeared in venues large and small throughout North America, plus on radio and TV, Sally uses creativity and storytelling to help build bridges in our increasingly divisive society.
Phoenix
Shaweta “Shay” Vasudeva, MA (Pyschology), MS (Kinesiology, Pending), NFPT-CPT, NASM-CPT-CES, THSA-CNT, and Black Belt Karate Instructor is an author, teaching professional, speaker, coach, and cat lover! Her passion is to help people become the best version of themselves by using an interdisciplinary and holistic approach, bringing 10+ years of experience in Psychology, Personal Fitness Training, Corrective Exercise, Nutritional Coaching, Cranial Sacral Work and teaching Karate & Tai Chi classes to her business, ShayTheCoach. Shay teaches classes at Maricopa Community College District as an Adjunct Professor. Her published works are academic in nature, with four peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles. She has authored and developed course curricula at the college level in Kinesiology and Psychology. She is currently working on writing and developing Cultural Psychology, a three-credit academic course.
Portland
Cai Emmons is the author of five books of fiction: the novels His Mother’s Son, The Stylist, Weather Woman,and the forthcoming Sinking Islands, as well as a collection of short stories called Vanishing, to be published in early 2020\. Cai’s short work has appeared in such publications as TriQuarterly, Narrative, Arts and Culture, LitHub, and Electric Literature, among others. Before turning to fiction, Cai was a dramatist. Her early plays were staged in New York at Playwrights Horizons, Theatre Genesis, and The American Place Theater. She studied film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where her ‘thesis film’ won a Student Academy Award. In New York she wrote, directed, and edited independent and documentary films; in Los Angeles she wrote feature-length screenplays and teleplays, including episodes of the CBS drama “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill.” In addition to a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, Cai holds two MFAs, one in film from New York University, one in fiction from the University of Oregon. She has taught fiction, screenwriting, and filmmaking at various colleges and universities including the University of Southern California and the University of Oregon. She is now a full-time writer. (Photo credit: Paul Calandrino)
Gillian Klucas is a freelance journalist and the author of Leadville: The Struggle to Revive an American Town(Island Press/Shearwater Books, 2004), a narrative nonfiction book that tells the story of the federal clash with local residents over cleaning up the environmental and public health legacy of a historic Colorado mining town. Gillian lived in Leadville, high up in the Rocky Mountains, for a year to better understand the town's remarkable story. Her second book was a ghostwritten memoir of the inventor of a medical device that revolutionized modern heart care. Gillian has a background in the natural sciences and global public health. She's written extensively about the environment, food and water insecurity, communities in transition and, rather unexpectedly, nanomaterials engineering. Gillian has been a contributing editor at Preservation magazine and has written for OnEarth, High Country News, National Wildlife, among other publications. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Raleigh-Durham
Judy Allen Dodson is the librarian and archivist at the Olivia Raney Local History Library with the Wake County Public Libraries. She has extensive experience working with special collections and local history research. As a children’s book writer, Judy, is the recipient of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) On-the-Verge Emerging Voices Award for her manuscript, Fast Friends. She attended the Rutgers University Council on Children's Literature for her manuscript, Fast Friends, and received the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County Professional Development grant for her manuscript, Micah’s Magic. Judy's other works include community service and engagement with the African American Cultural Celebration (AACC) event in Raleigh, NC as a board member and committee member/co-host with the Literature and Spoken Word section. Her mission is to help foster a growing community of North Carolina writers. She holds a B.A. in Communications from Western Michigan University and the M.L.S. from North Carolina Central University.
Kelly Starling Lyons is a children’s book author, teaching artist and founding member of The Brown Bookshelf (www.thebrownbookshelf.com). Her books include CCBC Choices-honored picture book, One Million Men and Me; a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor book and Junior Library Guild selection; Tea Cakes for Tosh, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People, an IRA/CBC Children's Choices selection and One More Dino on the Floor, a Scholastic Reading Club pick. Her Jada Jones chapter book series debuted last year with two titles: Rock Star and Class Act. Book 3, Jada Jones: Sleepover Scientist, will be released in January. She regularly presents at schools, libraries and conferences around the country. As an active member of the North Carolina creative community, Kelly has a heart for guiding emerging writers and a passion for celebrating diverse children’s literature. She is a member of the advisory board for the African American Cultural Celebration and chair of its Literature & Spoken Word committee, mentor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators – Carolinas chapter, Authors’ Circle member of Book Harvest and founder of a book club for boys. Learn more about Kelly at www.kellystarlinglyons.com
Seattle
Larry Zuckerman has been a member of the Authors Guild since 1997, when he received a contract for The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World, the book to which he owes his fifteen minutes of fame. Potato explains how a vegetable gradually triumphed over deep prejudice to become a bulwark of life, an idea that has granted him a passport to unexpected locales and audiences, including the Seventh World Potato Congress in Christchurch, New Zealand. His next book was The Rape of Belgium (2004), which shows how the German invasion and occupation of Belgium in the First World War presaged Nazi Europe and defined the war legally and morally. For the past fourteen years, Larry has written historical fiction, with the 1914-1918 war and the 1930s as favorite subjects. He reviews regularly for Historical Novels Review and on his blog, Novelhistorian. A New York native, he has lived in Seattle since 1989 and is pleased to represent his adopted city for the Authors Guild. Among the issues that matter most to him are the rights of authors in the digital age, censorship and First Amendment, and the crucial place of literary artists in modern culture.
St. Petersburg/Tampa
Kate Sullivan, journalist, editor, broadcast and podcast producer, began a neighborhood newspaper when she was seven (hand-printed pages, all caps) and worked on the Daily Bruin as an undergrad at UCLA. For more than two years, she published a literary magazine that featured interviews with, among others, ZZ Packer, Connie May Fowler, and the late Frank McCourt. As host and producer, her radio interviews include Pulitzer Prize-winning authors (Jane Smiley, Paul Harding, Elizabeth Strout, Geraldine Brooks, Gilbert King) and features two Seattle-area authors (Tom Robbins and Timothy Egan). Executive editor of WordSmitten Media, Inc., she is married, lives with two literary cats, Dylan and Twain, who believe they own all the claw-back rights to her work. She disabuses them of that notion with weekly cans of albacore tuna. For the WordSmitten Book and Wine Club, Kate travels to the farmed hills of North Florida (historic Quincy) from St. Petersburg, Florida.