Emerson (Chip) Blake has served as editor in chief of Orion since 2005. Previously he was editor in chief of Milkweed Editions, a nonprofit book publisher. Work he has edited has been nominated for or won the Pushcart Prize, the PEN Literary Award, the John Oakes Award, and the John Burroughs Medal.

Pam Houston is the author of five books of fiction and nonfiction including Cowboys Are My Weakness and Contents May Have Shifted. She teaches in the creative writing programs at the Institute for American Indian Arts and the University of California, Davis, and directs the literary nonprofit Writing by Writers. 

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of three books of poetry, most recently, Lucky Fish. Honors include the Pushcart Prize and a poetry fellowship from the NEA. She serves as poetry editor for Orion and is the Grisham Writer-in-Residence in the University of Mississippi's MFA program.

Dorianne Laux’s fifth collection, The Book of Men won the Paterson Prize. Her fourth book, Facts About the Moon, won the Oregon Book Award. She teaches for the program in creative writing at North Carolina State University and she is founding faculty of Pacific University's low-residency MFA program.

Beth Ann Fennelly