Rita Arens lives in Kansas City with her husband and daughter. She is a managing editor for SheKnows Media and the author of the popular blog Surrender, Dorothy. Rita is a SheSource expert on anorexia and a frequent speaker on the topics of body image, publishing and writing. Arens is the author of the contemporary realistic young adult novel, The Obvious Game; a co-editor of ROOTS: Where Food Comes From and Where It Takes Us; and the editor of the award-winning parenting anthology Sleep Is for the Weak.

Marie Rutkoski is the author of several novels for children and young adults, including The Winner’s Curse trilogy. After attending the University of Iowa and living in Moscow and Prague, she studied Shakespeare at Harvard University. In addition to her work as a novelist, Marie is a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance drama, children’s literature, and fiction writing.

Meg Leder is the author of The Museum of Heartbreak. A former bookseller and teacher, Meg Leder currently works as a book editor in New York City. Her role models are Harriet the Spy and Anne Shirley. She is the coauthor of The Happy Book, and spends her free time reading, looking for street art, and people watching. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Laura Lippman is the New York Times bestselling author of acclaimed stand-alones and the award-winning Tess Monaghan series. Laura was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working full-time and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards.

Michael Northrop is the author of Book of the Dead, which spent three weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list and was named one of the best children’s books of the year by the Los Angeles Public Library. He is also the author of four young adult novels: Gentlemen, which earned a Publishers Weekly Flying Start citation; Trapped, an Indie Next List selection; Rotten, one of the Bank Street College of Education’s Best Books of the Year; and Surrounded By Sharks, one of E! Online’s Best Summer Reads. His first middle grade novel, Plunked, was named one of the best children’s books of the year by both the New York Public Library and Bank Street and was selected by NPR for its Backseat Book Club.

Beth Hahn’s debut novel, The Singing Bone is a spring 2016 title from Regan Arts. Beth studied art and writing at The University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and earned an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. She attended The Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference and the Ragdale Foundation. Her short stories have appeared in Necessary Fiction, The Hawai’i Review, The South Carolina Review, and The Emrys Journal.

Emmy Laybourne is a novelist, screenwriter and former character actress. She is the author of the Monument 14 trilogy (“Frighteningly real… riveting” – NYT Book Review, Editor’s Choice) and the novel Sweet (“A gripping action-adventure survival story” – VOYA, rated Perfect Ten). Before her life as an author, Emmy performed original comedy on Comedy Central, MTV and VH1; and acted in the movies Superstar, The In-Laws and Nancy Drew, among others.