NINA ALLAN has been the recipient of the British Science Fiction Award, the Liverpool John Moores Novella Award, and the Grand Prix de L'Imaginaire. Her short fiction has appeared in many venues including Best Horror of the Year #6, The Year's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction 2014 and The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women. Her debut novel The Race was shortlisted for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Kitschies Red Tentacle. She lives and works in North Devon, England.

N(ora). K. JEMISIN is an author of speculative fiction short stories and novels who lives and writes in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has won the Hugo Award and been nominated for the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards; shortlisted for the Crawford, the Gemmell Morningstar, and the Tiptree. She has won a Locus Award for Best First Novel as well as multiple Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Awards.

KIJ JOHNSON is an American fantasy writer noted for her adaptations of Japanese myths and folklore. Her Tor.com story ""Ponies"" won the 2011 Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Her story ""Fox Magic"" won the 1994 Theodore Sturgeon Award, her novel The Fox Woman won the Crawford Award for best debut fantasy novel, and her subsequent novel Fudoki was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and was cited by Publishers Weekly as one of the best fantasy novels of its year. She is also an associate director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas.

SEANAN McGUIRE is the author of the October Daye urban fantasy series, the InCryptid series, the Wayward Children series, and other works. She also writes darker fiction as Mira Grant. Seanan lives in Seattle with her cats, a vast collection of creepy dolls, and horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She was the winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 she became the first person ever to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot.

VICTOR LaVALLE is the author of the short story collection Slapboxing with Jesus, several novels, including The Ecstatic, Big Machine, and The Devil in Silver, and an ebook-only novella, Lucretia and the Kroons. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Whiting Writers' Award, a United States Artists Ford Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the key to Southeast Queens. He was raised in Queens, New York. He now lives in Washington Heights with his wife and son. He teaches at Columbia University.

CARRIE VAUGHN is the author of the New York Times bestselling series of novels about a werewolf named Kitty. She also wrote the young adult novels Voices of Dragons and Steel (which was named to the ALA's 2012 Amelia Bloomer list of the best books for young readers with strong feminist content), and the novels Discord's Apple and After the Golden Age. She's a contributor to the Wild Cards series of shared world superhero books edited by George R. R. Martin, and her short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. She's a graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop, and in 2011, she was nominated for a Hugo Award for best short story. An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado.

FRAN WILDE is an author and technology consultant. In 2015, her first novel, Updraft, accomplished the rare feat of winning the Andre Norton Award for Best Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy while also being nominated for the Best Novel Nebula Award. Her short stories have appeared in Asimov's, Nature, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Wilde also blogs about food and genre at Cooking the Books, the popular social-parenting website GeekMom, and at The Washington Post.

KAI ASHANTE WILSON was the 2010 Octavia Butler scholar at Clarion writing workshop in San Diego. He won the Crawford award for best first novel of 2016, and his works have been shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula, Shirley Jackson, Locus, and World Fantasy awards. Most of his stories can be read at Tor.com, and the rest at Fantasy-magazine.com or in the anthology Stories for Chip. His novellas The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps and A Taste of Honey are available from all fine e-book purveyors. Kai Ashante Wilson lives in New York City.

ALYSSA WONG is a Nebula-, Shirley Jackson-, and World Fantasy Award-nominated author, shark aficionado, and 2013 graduate of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop. Her work has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy&Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Tor.com, Uncanny Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, and Black Static, among others. She is an MFA candidate at North Carolina State University and a member of the Manhattan-based writing group Altered Fluid.

Nina Allan has been the recipient of the British Science Fiction Award, the Liverpool John Moores Novella Award, and the Grand Prix de L'Imaginaire. Her short fiction has appeared in many venues including Best Horror of the Year #6, The Year's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction 2014 and The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women. Her debut novel The Race was shortlisted for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Kitschies Red Tentacle. She lives and works in North Devon, England.

N(ora). K. Jemisin is an author of speculative fiction short stories and novels who lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York. Her work has won the Hugo Award for best novel (The Fifth Season); been shortlisted for the Crawford, Gemmell Morningstar, and Tiptree Awards; and been nominated for the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards. She also won a Locus Award for Best First Novel (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms) as well as multiple Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Awards.

Jemisin's short fiction has been published in pro markets such as Clarkesworld, Postscripts, Strange Horizons, and Baen’s Universe; semipro markets such as Ideomancer and Abyss&Apex; and podcast markets and print anthologies. Her first six novels, a novella, and a short story collection are available from Orbit Books.

Jemisin is a member of the Altered Fluid writing group. In addition to writing, she is a counseling psychologist and educator (specializing in career counseling and student development), a sometime hiker and biker, and a political/feminist/anti-racist blogger.

N. K.'s stories include The City Born Great and The Fifth Season.

KIJ JOHNSON is an American fantasy writer noted for her adaptations of Japanese myths and folklore. Her Tor.com story "Ponies" won the 2011 Nebula Award for Best Short Story. Her story "Fox Magic" won the 1994 Theodore Sturgeon Award, her novel The Fox Woman won the Crawford Award for best debut fantasy novel, and her subsequent novel Fudoki was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and was cited by Publishers Weekly as one of the best fantasy novels of its year. She is also an associate director of the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas.
SEANAN McGUIRE is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, Alex and Locus Award-winning Wayward Children series, the October Daye series, the InCryptid series, and other works. She also writes darker fiction as Mira Grant. Seanan lives in Seattle with her cats, a vast collection of creepy dolls, horror movies, and sufficient books to qualify her as a fire hazard. She won the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2013 became the first person to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot. In 2022 she managed the same feat, again!
Victor LaValle is the author of more than ten works of fiction and graphic novels, including the multi-award-winning novel, The Changeling. His books have won the World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Bram Stoker Award, Dragon Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award, among many others. He has been a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Whiting Writers Award, and the Key to Southeast Queens. He teaches writing at Columbia University and lives with his wife and kids in the Bronx.
Carrie Vaughn is best known for her New York Times bestselling Kitty Norville series of novels about a werewolf who hosts a talk radio show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. Her novels include a near-Earth space opera, Martians Abroad, from Tor Books, and the post-apocalyptic murder mysteries Bannerless and The Wild Dead. She's written several other contemporary fantasy and young adult novels, as well as upwards of 80 short stories, two of which have been finalists for the Hugo Award. She's a contributor to the Wild Cards series of shared world superhero books edited by George R. R. Martin and a graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop. An Air Force brat, she survived her nomadic childhood and managed to put down roots in Boulder, Colorado.

Two-time Nebula Award-winner Fran Wilde’s novels and short stories have been finalists for six Nebula Awards, a World Fantasy Award, four Hugo Awards, three Locus Awards, and a Lodestar. They include her Nebula- and Compton Crook Award-winning debut novel Updraft, and her Nebula award-winning, Best of NPR 2019, debut Middle Grade novel Riverland. Her short stories appear in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, Nature, Uncanny Magazine, and multiple years' best anthologies.

Fran teaches for the Genre Fiction MFA concentration at Western Colorado University and the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She also writes nonfiction for publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Tor.com. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and at franwilde.net.

KAI ASHANTE WILSON was the 2010 Octavia Butler scholar at Clarion writing workshop in San Diego. He won the Crawford award for best first novel of 2016, and his works have been shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, Locus, and World Fantasy awards. Most of his stories can be read at Tor.com, and the rest at Fantasy-magazine.com or in the anthology Stories for Chip. His novellas The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps and A Taste of Honey are available from all fine e-book purveyors. Kai Ashante Wilson lives in New York City.
Alyssa Wong is a Nebula-winning, Shirley Jackson-,Campbell-, and World Fantasy Award-nominated author, shark aficionado, and 2013 graduate of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop. Her work has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy&Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Tor.com, Uncanny Magazine, Lightspeed Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, and Black Static, among others. She is an MFA candidate at North Carolina State University and a member of the Manhattan-based writing group Altered Fluid.