Emily Fridlund’s first novel, History of Wolves, was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. Her debut collection of stories, Catapult, won the Mary McCarthy Prize. She teaches writing at Cornell University.

Karen Russell’s novel, Swamplandia!, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She is also the author of the celebrated short story collections, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. 

Luis Alberto Urrea is the author of 16 books, including Pulitzer Prize finalist The Devil's Highway. A member of the Latino Literary Hall of Fame, he has also won an Edgar, American Book Award, Lannan Literary Prize & Pacific Rim Prize. He is a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago.