Kim Barnes is the author of two memoirs and three novels, most recently, In the Kingdom of Men. Her work has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, has won the PNBA Award for Nonfiction, and has been awarded the PEN USA Award for Literary Fiction. She teaches writing at the University of Idaho.

Bharti Kirchner is the author of five critically acclaimed novels and four cookbooks and hundreds of articles and essays for magazines and newspapers. Her latest novel is Tulip Season. Her short story has been selected for the upcoming mystery anthology The Best of Akashic Noir USA.

Joe Wilkins is the author of a memoir, The Mountain and The Fathers: Growing up on the Big Dry, a 2013 finalist for the Orion Book Award, and two collections of poems, Notes from the Journey Westward and Killing the Murnion Dogs.

William Dietrich is the author of seventeen books and a contributor to several others. His Ethan Gage series of Napoleonic adventures have sold into twenty-eight languages. As a career journalist, he shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He has taught at the university level.

Claire Davis has two novels, Winter Range and Season of the Snake, and a story collection, Labors of the Heart. She co-edited the anthology Kiss Tomorrow Hello. Her stories have appeared in the Pushcart Prize Anthology and Best American Stories. She teaches for Pacific University's low residency MFA.