Allison Deegan, MFA, EdD, is Associate Director of WriteGirl (WriteGirl.org), a Los Angeles creative writing and mentoring program for teens. She has deep expertise in writing program leadership, creative coaching and curriculum development, and served as an editor on all 30+ WriteGirl books.

Keren Taylor is the founder and Executive Director of WriteGirl, a creative writing and mentoring organization serving Los Angeles teen girls since 2001. She has published articles, essays, and creative writing and is the editor and art director of more than two dozen award-winning WriteGirl anthologies.

Toni Jensen is the author of the story collection From the Hilltop. Her stories and essays have been published in journals and anthologies, including Catapult, Ecotone, and Denver Quarterly. She teaches creative writing at the University of Arkansas. She is Métis.

Ashaki M. Jackson is an applied social psychologist, program evaluator and poet. She is a Cave Canem and VONA alumna who serves on the VIDA: Women In Literary Arts board. A cofounder of Women Who Submit, Jackson is the author of Surveillance and Language Lesson.

Christina Lynch is a New York Times bestselling novelist and television writer who teaches at College of the Sequoias. She is the co-author of two novels published under the pen name Magnus Flyte. Her latest novel is The Italian Party, published under her own name.