M. Molly Backes is the author of The Princesses of Iowa. She teaches creative writing to adults and teenagers in Chicago and across the Midwest.

Roxane Gay is the author of three books: Ayiti, An Untamed State, and Bad Feminist. Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2012, Oxford American, Virginia Quarterly Review, and New York TImes Book Review. She is the co-editor of [PANK] and teaches at Purdue University. 

Megan Stielstra is the author of Once I Was Cool, an essay collection. Her work appears in Best American Essays 2013, the Rumpus, [PANK], and elsewhere. She is the literary director of the critically-acclaimed 2nd Story storytelling series and teaches creative writing at Columbia College Chicago.

Dean Bakopoulos is the author of Please Don't Come Back from the Moon, My American Unhappiness, and the forthcoming novel Summerlong. The recipient of NEA and Guggenheim fellowships, he teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and is writer-in-residence at Grinnell College.

Rebecca Makkai is the author of two novels, The Hundred-Year House and The Borrower. Her work was chosen for The Best American Short Stories in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 and appears in places like Harper's, Tin House, and Ploughshares. She is the recipient of a 2014 NEA fellowship.