Valerie Fioravanti is the author of the linked collection Garbage Night at the Opera, which received the Chandra Prize for Short Fiction. She founded Stories on Stage Sacramento, and was named a "Best Friend to Fiction Writers" for her community building efforts.

Naomi J. Williams is the author of the novel Landfalls and of short stories that have appeared in publications such as Zoetrope, One Story, A Public Space, Ninth Letter, and Gettysburg Review. A five-time Pushcart nominee and one-time winner, she has an MA in creative writing from UC Davis.

Renée Thompson is the author of The Plume Hunter and The Bridge at Valentine, which was selected as the 2014 Community Book for Woodland Reads. Her stories have appeared in Western Press Books' anthology series, and elsewhere.

Sue Staats’s fiction and poetry have been published in the Los Angeles Review, Graze Magazine, Farallon Review, Tule Review, r.kv.r.y, A Cappella Zoo, and others. She earned her MFA at Pacific University, and directs the literary reading series Stories on Stage Sacramento.

Elise Winn has received fellowships and grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation, Hedgebrook, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. Her fiction has been published in Granta Online, Fairy Tale Review, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere.