Eric Sasson writes Ctrl-Alt, a column about LGBT culture for the Wall Street Journal. He's the author of the story collection Margins of Tolerance and the novel Admissions. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in numerous publications.

Anna North is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and her fiction has appeared in the Atlantic and Glimmer Train. She is the author of the novels America Pacifica and The Life and Death of Sophie Stark, and she is a writer and editor at the New York Times.

Julia Fierro is the author of the novels Cutting Teeth and The Gypsy Moth Summer. A graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, she founded The Sackett Street Writers' Workshop in 2002, now a creative home to over 2,500 NYC writers.

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.

J. Ryan Stradal