K.L. Cook is the author of six books, including the forthcoming Marrying Kind (stories), Lost Soliloquies (poetry), and The Art of Disobedience (essays on form and fiction). He teaches in the MFA Program for Creative Writing & Environment at Iowa State and the low-res MFA Program at Spalding.

Margot Livesey is the author of a collection of stories and eight novels, including Eva Moves the Furniture, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, and most recently Mercury. The Hidden Machinery is her book about the craft of writing. She has taught in numerous writing programs including Emerson College, Boston University, and the Warren Wilson low-residency MFA program, and has been the recipient of grants from the NEA, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Radcliffe Institute. She is on the faculty of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Sven Birkerts is the author of ten books, most recently Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age. He edits the journal AGNI and until recently served as Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars.

Christopher Castellani is the author of four novels--most recently, Leading Men--and a book of essays, The Art of Perspective. A 2014 Guggenheim fellow, he is on the faculty of the Warren Wilson MFA program and Bread Loaf, and he is artistic director of GrubStreet.