Luanne Smith is codirector of creative writing at West Chester University near Philadelphia. She has taught every form of literary creative writing over the years, and she is a fiction writer who has published in various literary journals.

Pam Houston is the author of five books of fiction and nonfiction including Cowboys Are My Weakness and Contents May Have Shifted. She teaches in the creative writing programs at the Institute for American Indian Art and UC Davis and directs the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers.

Kim Addonizio's latest books are a collection of poems, Mortal Trash, and a memoir, Bukowski in a Sundress. She is the author of six other poetry collections, two novels, and two books on writing poetry: The Poet's Companion (with Dorianne Laux) and Ordinary Genius.

Ann Hood is the author of thirteen books, including most recently the novels The Obituary Writer and The Knitting Circle, and the memoir, Comfort: A Journey Through Grief. She has been the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes and Best American Spiritual, Travel and Food Writing Awards.

Bonnie Jo Campbell is author of Mothers Tell Your Daughters: Stories, American Salvage, a finalist for 2011 National Book Award and NBCC Award, as well as the bestselling novel Once Upon a River. She is a  winner of AWP award in short fiction, the Eudora Welty Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellow. She teaches at Pacific University's low residency MFA.