Molly Cochran mollycochran.com
is the author of 30 novels and nonfiction books, including the
bestsellers GRANDMASTER, THE FOREVER KING, and DRESSING THIN. The
recipient of numerous awards including the Mystery Writers of
America "Edgar" for Best Novel of the Year (GRANDMASTER),
Molly has taught writing classes for university students and prison
inmates (whose behavior she finds to be remarkably similar), and has
lectured extensively at writers' workshops throughout the eastern
U.S. She has recently completed two new novels, WONDERLAND and THE
PAGAN TRAILER PARK, and is at work on another, tentatively titled
SEDUCTION.
James N. Frey jamesnfrey.com
is one of America's leading creative writing teachers. For over ten
years, he conducted the popular Open Workshop at the Squaw Valley
Community of Writers annual conference. He's taught and lectured at
dozens of other schools and conferences, including the Oregon
Writers Colony, the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, the Heartland
Writers, the University of California Extension novel writing
workshop, the California Writers Club conference, and others, both
in America and in Europe. Frey is the author of the widely read HOW
TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD NOVEL; HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD NOVEL II:
ADVANCED TECHNIQUES; THE KEY: WRITING DAMN GOOD FICTION USING THE
POWER OF MYTH; and HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD MYSTERY: A PRACTICAL
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FROM INSPIRATION TO FINISHED MANUSCRIPT. His
newest book, HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD THRILLER, is forthcoming. He
is an award-winning playwright and the author of nine novels,
including THE LONG WAY TO DIE, which was nominated for an Edgar
Award by the Mystery Writers of America, and WINTER OF THE WOLVES, a
Literary Guild Selection.
Bill Kent is
a writer, journalist, teacher, critic and author of seven novels and
two non-fiction books. He was born in New Jersey and went to Oberlin
College, where he majored in English and Religion. Along the way, he
found time to fly a kite off the Great Wall of China, apprentice
himself to a novelist, and study archaeology at Tell el Hesi in
Israel. Returning to New Jersey, he quickly established himself as
an Atlantic City correspondent. He chronicled the rebirth of the
casino city for several newspapers and magazines, including the New
York Times, which featured his weekly Atlantic City column in
its New Jersey section. He included those experiences in series of
novels about the city, beginning with UNDER THE BOARDWALK, a New
York Times notable book. He also wrote a hardcover, illustrated
history commissioned by the Atlantic City Historical Society, as
well as a guidebook for Fodor's. Bill's journalism and book reviews
have appeared in more than 40 regional and national publications,
including the New York Times
Book Review, the Washington
Post, the Philadelphia
Inquirer and Philadelphia
Magazine. He teaches novel writing at the University of
Pennsylvania, and also lectures in history and biography. His most
recent novel, STREET LEGAL, a mystery set in Philadelphia, Atlantic
City and Chadds Ford, was published in June 2006 by St. Martin's
Press. Bill lives in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, with his wife and
his son.
Kitty
Keswick
has been an Anglophile since age four when she saw Robin Hood and
fell head over heels in love. As she grew up on her grandfather’s
California vineyard, Kitty’s imagination was her best friend. At a
very tender age, she started writing her stories and reading them to
the grapes. Kitty now lives with a bossy tabby cat and maybe even a
few ghosts. She spends her days with werewolves, Valkyries, vamps
and other creatures that go bump in the night. Kitty’s debut
novel, FREAKSVILLE,
with Leap Books, is the first in a series. Her next book, FURRY AND
FREAKED, will be coming out in 2011. She is co-president of the Class
of 2k10, a group of debut MG and YA authors who have banded
together to do national promotions for their books, following in the
footsteps of other previous 2k Classes. You can find out more about
her at kittykeswick.com.
Tracy MacNish tracymacnish.wordpress.com
is the author of four darkly romantic historical novels with
Kensington Publishing. Her most recent release, STEALING MIDNIGHT,
was given a Top Pick by Romantic Times Magazine, and has received
excellent reviews. Her previous novel, VEILED PASSIONS, was
also awarded a Top Pick and went on to be nominated for Best British
Isles Set Novel of 2008. Tracy has a short story soon to be
published in The Mad Poet's Review, a strange tale titled "Never Mind What
Sheep Say." Tracy is happy to participate in The Write Stuff in
order to give back to the writing community and to share her passion
for storytelling and the craft of writing. She lives in Montgomery
County, Pennsylvania with her husband, son, and far too many
animals.
Maureen Sangiorgio is
an award-winning writer based in Macungie, PA. Maureen started her
career in the publishing industry as a General Assignment Reporter
for the Times-Leader Newspaper in Wilkes-Barre, PA. She then
accepted a position as Research Associate at Prevention
Magazine (Rodale, Emmaus, PA). While at Rodale, she did
freelance writing for Prevention
and Rodale’s Healthy Woman
magazine where she won an Exceptional Merit Media Award, and a
National Consumer Health Information Gold Award. After she left Prevention,
she was a contributing writer for ten Rodale books, in addition to
several Meredith books such as, SMART CHOICES IN ALTERNATIVE
MEDICINE and FOOD FOR HEALTH AND HEALING. She was also the Project
Editor for seven Rodale booklets including, PREVENTION'S GUIDE TO 50
SUPER HEALING FOODS. Following Rodale, Maureen ghost-wrote seven
consumer health booklets for five physicians. She then went on to
write booklets for the National Women’s Health Resource Center, in
addition to feature articles for the following magazines: Woman’s Day, Reader’s Digest, Fit, Eternelle, Preemie, Child,
Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall’s, Parents and Shape.
At Child magazine, she
was nominated for a National Magazine Award for her work on the
feature, “Top Ten Best Children’s Hospitals.” Locally, Maureen
has written articles for The Morning Call, Lehigh Valley Magazine, Pocono Business Journal,
and Lehigh Valley Marketplace.
Jordan Sonnenblick jordansonnenblick.com
always
wanted to be a writer, so one day in 2003 he sat down and started
his first young adult novel, DRUMS, GIRLS & DANGEROUS PIE. DRUMS
was published in 2004. Jordan was as surprised as anybody when the
book took off: on publication, it received several starred reviews,
and was eventually named to the American Library Association’s
Teens’ Top Ten List. Since then, the book has sold over 300,000
copies and been translated into eleven foreign languages. Jordan’s
second novel, NOTES FROM THE MIDNIGHT DRIVER, was published in 2006,
and was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. The Italian translation
of NOTES won the prestigious Premio Cento prize. Jordan’s third
book, ZEN AND THE ART OF FAKING IT, was a BookSense Pick and a
Family Circle Book of the Month. Jordan has also written several
funny fantasy books for middle-grade readers, including DODGER AND
ME, DODGER FOR PRESIDENT, and the forthcoming DODGER FOR SALE.
Jordan’s next book, AFTER EVER AFTER, is the sequel to DRUMS, and
will be published in February by Scholastic. Jordan lives in
Bethlehem, PA with his supportive wife and lovable children. Plus a
lot of drums and guitars in the basement.
Spencer
Soper mcall.com/onthecheap
is a business reporter and columnist for The
Morning Call in Allentown, PA. He writes "On The
Cheap," a weekly column that features money-saving ideas and
demonstration videos featured on the Morning Call website. He has a newspaper background, having worked
for several newspapers in New York, California and Pennsylvania in
the past 15 years. In that time, he was worked various beats,
covering such topics as the environment, politics, education, crime
and social issues. But he has also adapted to the online world of
publishing, and is building his presence on other popular social
media platforms such as Facebook. Spencer lives in Bethlehem with
his wife, Susan, and three sons Harry, Spencer and Matthew. (photo
credit: April Bartholomew)
David Wilk booktrix.com
is a publishing veteran with broad experience in book publishing,
sales, distribution, marketing and online communities. He has helped
to create social initiatives and many businesses, and is currently
active in movements for social and political change. He operates
Creative Management Partners, providing content creators and owners
with a full suite of publishing services, from editorial to sales
and marketing consultation and execution. Ongoing projects include
booktrix.com (book marketing and consulting), livewriters.com (video
sharing for authors and books), writerscast.com (author and book
industry interview podcast), chptr1.com (book browsing),
readiac.com
(curating enthusiastic book reviews) and rvive.com (republishing
lost American classics). He writes about book industry matters
regularly, and is the Director of Marketing for Good Business
International (good-b.com). He has published or been involved with
publishing hundreds of books, including a number of best sellers. He
is experienced in all aspects of print and electronic publishing and
today specializes in creating digital strategies and tactics for
clients, including publishers of all sizes, authors, business
experts, corporations and nonprofit organizations. Working with
writers and publishers to help them connect with readers is his
primary work. Writing and editing words in any media remains his
primary passion. He lives in southern Connecticut with his family.
