George Raymond Richard Martin, also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, which were adapted into the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and its prequel series House of the Dragon (2022–present). He also helped create the Wild Cards anthology series, and contributed worldbuilding for the 2022 video game Elden Ring.
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis, commonly known as Connie Willis, is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than any other writer—most recently the "Best Novel" Hugo and Nebula Awards for Blackout/All Clear (2010). She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 28th SFWA Grand Master in 2011.
Pagan Kennedy is an American columnist and author, and pioneer of the 1990s zine movement.
George Saunders is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's, and GQ. He also contributed a weekly column, American Psyche, to The Guardian's weekend magazine between 2006 and 2008.
Eileen Myles is a LAMBDA Literary Award-winning American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. Novelist Dennis Cooper has described Myles as "one of the savviest and most restless intellects in contemporary literature." The Boston Globe described them as "that rare creature, a rock star of poetry." In 2012, Myles received a Guggenheim Fellowship to complete Afterglow, which gives both a real and fantastic account of a dog's life. Myles uses they/them pronouns.
Jack Warner Schaefer was an American writer known for his Westerns. His best-known works are the 1949 novel Shane, considered the greatest western novel by the Western Writers of America, and the 1964 children's book Stubby Pringle's Christmas.
Eaton Hamilton is a Canadian short story writer, novelist, essayist and poet, who goes by "Hamilton", 2021 legal name “Eaton Hamilton" and uses they/their pronouns.
Ann Cummins is an American fiction writer. She was born in Durango, Colorado, and grew up in New Mexico. She is a graduate of writing programs at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Arizona. She is the author of a short story collection, Red Ant House (2003), and a novel, Yellowcake. Cummins lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she teaches creative writing at Northern Arizona University, and in Oakland, California, with her husband, the musician S. E. Willis.
Alan Stuart Cheuse was an American writer, editor, professor of literature, and radio commentator. A longtime NPR book commentator, he was also the author of five novels, five collections of short stories and novellas, a memoir and a collection of travel essays. In addition, Cheuse was a regular contributor to All Things Considered. His short fiction appeared in respected publications like The New Yorker, Ploughshares, The Antioch Review, Prairie Schooner, among other places. He taught in the Writing Program at George Mason University and the Community of Writers.
Emily Rapp Black is an American memoirist. When she was six years old, she was chosen as the poster child for the non-profit organization March of Dimes, due to a congenital birth defect that resulted in the amputation of her left leg. She has written two memoirs, one that presents her life as an amputee and the other that tells the story of the birth of her son Ronan Christopher Louis and his diagnosis of Tay–Sachs disease. She is a former Fulbright scholar and recipient of the James A. Michener Fellowship. She is a professor at the University of California, Riverside, School of Medicine.
Tara Ison is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist.
Helen Thorpe is an American author and freelance journalist who was the First Lady of Colorado following her husband's inauguration until their divorce in 2015. She has written for major American newspapers and magazines, and has authored four books.
Wendy C. Ortiz is an American essayist, creative nonfiction writer, fiction writer, psychotherapist, and poet.
Erika Dawn Krouse is an American novelist and short story writer. She is the author of two books of fiction, and her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Literary magazines, including Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, and Story.
Mary L. Tabor is an American author of literary fiction, professor, radio show host, and columnist.
Kali Fajardo-Anstine is an American novelist and short story writer from Denver, Colorado. Her short stories have appeared in Electric Literature, The American Scholar, and the Boston Review. In 2020, she was the American Book Award winner for Sabrina & Corina: Stories. Her first novel, Woman of Light: A Novel (2022), is a national bestseller.
Kanza Javed is a Pakistani author and poet, best known for her novel, Ashes, Wine and Dust and other short stories.
The Santa Fe Writers Project (SFWP) was founded in 1998 by Andrew Gifford. It began as a small effort supported by writers and arts advocates, and has since grown into a well-known independent press. SFWP hosts a literary awards program which has been judged by Deesha Philyaw, and an online journal.
Andrew Nash Gifford is an American publisher born in Washington, D.C. He is most known for founding Santa Fe Writers Project, an independent press. Gifford is also the author of the memoir We All Scream which details his family story; Gifford is the grandson of John Nash Gifford, the founder of Gifford's Ice Cream & Candy Co.
Deesha Philyaw is an American author, columnist, and public speaker. Her debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in fiction and won The Story Prize. Her personal essay writing topics include race, sex, gender, and pop culture.
