Jane Ciabattari is author of the short story collection Stealing the Fire. Her stories have been honored with three Pushcart Prize special mentions. She is a National Book Critics Circle VP (NBCC President 2008-2011) and contributes to NPR.org, The Daily Beast, Boston Globe, The New York Times Book Review, among others.

Amy Tan‘s novels are The Joy Luck Club, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, and Saving Fish from Drowning, all New York Times bestsellers. She is also the author of a memoir, The Opposite of Fate, two children’s books, The Moon Lady and Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat, and numerous articles for magazines. Her work has been translated into thirty-five languages. Her most recent novel is The Valley of Amazement.

Ben Fountain is the author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Fiction, and it was a finalist for the National Book Award. His story collection Brief Encounters with Che Guevara received the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, and a Whiting Writers’ Award. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Harper's, and the Paris Review, and his nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere.