Kaylie Jones’s newest endeavor is the launch of her imprint with Akashic Books. Her novels include A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, and The Anger Meridian; and a memoir, Lies My Mother Never Told Me. She is the chair of the $10,000-yearly James Jones First Novel Fellowship.

Patricia Smith is the author of the novel The Year of Needy Girls. Her nonfiction has appeared in Salon, Broad Street, Prime Number, and various anthologies. She teaches writing and American Literature at the Appomattox Regional Governor's School in Petersburg, VA.

J. Patrick Redmond is a contributing blogger for the Huffington Post—Queer Voices. His writing has appeared in the NOH8 Campaign blog, the Southampton Review, and in the Barnes & Noble Review’s Grin & Tonic. Some Go Hungry is his first novel.

Barbara J. Taylor lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania, home of the 2nd-largest St. Patrick’s Day parade in the US. She has an MFA from Wilkes University and teaches high school. All Waiting Is Long is the sequel to her debut novel, Sing in the Morning, Cry at Night, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of Summer 2014.

Laurie Loewenstein is the author of Unmentionables, a novel. She is the online writing tutor for the Writing Resource Center of the Wilkes University Creative Writing Program.