Brian Oberman is a Minnesota memoirist whose work explores love, devotion, resilience, and the unexpected ways adversity can deepen human connection. His debut memoir, The Woman at the Sunshine Factory, chronicles the real-life story of falling in love, navigating immigration detention, and holding onto hope during a season of profound uncertainty.

Meghana Karanjkar is a short story writer as well as a non-fiction essayist. She has recently published her first book, First Generation, through Atmosphere Press. A few of her stories and essays have been published in The Adelaide Journal, The Blue Mountain Review, In Parentheses, and Prosetrics, and poetry in Linen Press, UK.

Ellen van Schoten is a Dutch author, artist and music enthusiast with a lifelong fascination for history, architecture, and the arts. She is the author of The Boy Who Lost His Voice, published in English by Atmosphere Press on 27 October 2026.

William B. Stickle is professor emeritus since 2015 in the Department of Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University. Bill earned a PhD in Biology from the University of Saskatchewan, Regina. He taught at LSU from 1972 until 2015. Bill conducted the summer LSU Marine Biology in Alaska program from 2008-2024 with 325 alumni.

Katrina started her physiotherapy training at St Thomas Hospital in September 1986; she had a unique NHS career working across community and acute care, in mental and physical health. She taught antenatal classes and nursed patients in the last days of their life, spanning patients from birth to death.

Townsend Walker has written two short story collections: No One Sleeps and Three Women, Four Towns, Five Bodies & other stories, and one novella, La Ronde. In addition, his stories have appeared in over one hundred literary journals and anthologies. He received two nominations for the PEN/O. Henry Award.

Amy Smyth Miller is a nationally recognized educator with a bachelor’s degree in special education and a master’s in counseling. She recently retired after a thirty-year career in public education and lives in northern Washington State with her husband, “Captain Crusty,” her adult son with special needs, and her rescue dachshund, Oscar.

Stephanie Simpson is a retired psychotherapist living in southern Maine with her husband and ornery cat. She worked with military veterans and adult survivors of trauma for two decades in outpatient mental health clinics and in private practice. Later she trained as a master gardener in Maryland and Massachusetts, specializing in native plants and medicinal herbs. She owns a garden consultation business, Lake Gardengirl. Her happy places are The Scottish Borders and Northumberland, England, where her ancestors roamed with the Fraser clan as Border Reivers. The Alchemy From Antiquity is her first novel. She is currently working on the sequel.

E.L. Ambrico is a writing warrior inspired by the written word and she delights in mentoring aspiring novelists. Her thriving blog, wordytips.com, is devoted to budding authors and writers and spans over thirty-six countries on five continents. She is a chocolate lover and exercise enthusiast, and has a soft spot for fantasy, romance, and sci-fi. She is the mom of two sons, works as an editorial assistant at Newsday, and lives on Long Island with her husband, their four beautiful cats, and their sweet dog.

Writer and filmmaker Sophie Sartain is the co-director and producer of the documentary Seeing Allred, which premiered at Sundance and is on Netflix. Among Sartain’s credits is her ITVS-funded film Mimi and Dona, named one of the best TV shows of the year by The New York Times. Her documentary Buried Under Years of Dust is currently playing in film festivals and will be broadcast on PBS in early 2027. Sartain is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and New Day Films. She’s Next is her first book.