Jean Kwok is the New York Times and international bestselling author of the award-winning novels Girl in Translation and Mambo in Chinatown. Her work has been published in eighteen countries and is taught in schools across the world. She has spoken at Harvard, Columbia and many other schools and venues.

Mira Jacob is the author of the novel, The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing, which was shortlisted for India’s Tata First Literature Award, honored by the APALA, and named one of the best books of 2014 by Kirkus Reviews, the Boston Globe, Goodreads, Bustle, and The Millions.

Mitchell S. Jackson’s debut novel The Residue Years won a Whiting Award and the Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. It was also a finalist for the PEN / Hemingway Award, The Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel prize, and the Hurston Wright Legacy award.

Irina Reyn is the author of the novels The Imperial Wife and What Happened to Anna K, as well as the anthology Living on the Edge of the World: New Jersey Writers Take on the Garden State. She teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.

Devi S. Laskar has worked as a newspaper reporter covering crime and politics in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Illinois and Hawaii. She holds an MFA from Columbia University, and an MA in South Asian Studies from UIUC, is a published poet and will publish her debut novel in February 2019.