Jerry Apps, born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of more than 25 books, many of them on rural history and country life. Jerry is a former publications editor for UW-Extension, an acquisitions editor for the McGraw-Hill Book Company, and editor of a national professional journal.

Michael Black is the author of a dozen crime novels including his Ron Shade series, I Am Not A Cop and I Am Not A Psychic co-written with Law & Order SVU star Richard Belzer, and Dead Ringer co-written with fellow Chicago crime writer Julie Hyzy.

James Campbell is author of The Final Frontiersman: Heimo Korth and His Family, Alone in Alaska’s Arctic Wilderness and The Ghost Mountain Boys: Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea--The Forgotten War of the South Pacific. James has written for Outside magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Men's Journal, Audubon. He lives in Wisconsin.

Gennifer Choldenko’'s first novel, Notes from a Liar and Her Dog, was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and a California Book Award winner. Her second novel, Al Capone Does My Shirts, was a Newbery Honor Book and a School Library Journal, Kirkus, and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. It was short-listed for the Carnegie in the United Kingdom and has been on the New York Times, Booksense, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists.

Cathryn Cofell of Appleton is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Kamikaze Commotion (Parallel Press, 2008) and Sweet Curdle (Marsh River Editions).  She’s received over 40 awards for her poetry and essays which have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies.

Chris Crutcher - Author, educator and family therapist known for his realistic fiction. Crutcher's fast-paced fiction, heavily influenced by his work as a therapist and child protection advocate, is known for its expert balance of comedy and tragedy, as well as its unflinching honesty and authentic voice. He has been honored with dozens of awards and honors and is a popular columnist and public speaker. He lives in Spokane, Washington.

James is the resident playwright for First Stage Children’s Theater, Milwaukee, WI. He has won The Distinguished Play Award from The American Alliance of Theater and Education, and The Intellectual Freedom Award.  His body of work was honored by the AATE with the 2007 Charlotte B. Chorpenning Award, and he is a recipient of the  National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship for Fiction.

Lynda Drews, a Wisconsin native and dedicated runner, recently gave the commencement speech at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, her college Alma mater. One lesson she shared with the graduates was: “to journal your life.” When Lynda, a marketing executive, made the decision to retire after her thirty-year career, she returned to an earlier passion. Run at Destruction is the outcome.

Michael Edmonds has published several books and articles on literary and intellectual history. He joined the staff of the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1982 and helped lead its effort to mount rare books and manuscripts on the Web, stumbling on the mystery of Paul Bunyan's origin while looking for lumberjack memoirs to share online.

John Eisenberg grew up with books in his hands – his first summer job was at his mother’s bookstore in his hometown of Dallas, Texas. He wrote for newspapers for almost three decades and has authored seven books of sports-themed nonfiction, most recently That First Season: How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL
and Set It on the Path to Glory.

Henry Golde spent five years in nine different Nazi concentration camps; today he lives to tell his remarkable story of survival. His book, Ragdolls, tells the story of experiencing the horror of the murder factories and slave-labor camps throughout Nazi Europe.

David Graham has taught writing and literature at Ripon College in Ripon WI since 1987.  He is the author of six collections of poems, most recently Stutter Monk (Flume Press), and an essay anthology co-edited with Kate Sontag: After Confession: Poetry as Autobiography (Graywolf Press).

Libby Fischer Hellmann is the author of two mystery series. Doubleback is her most recent novel, published by Bleak House Books last year. She also edited Chicago Blues, a crime anthology that Bleak House published in 2007.

Lesley Kagen was born in Milwaukee and spent her early years in a great working class neighborhood, much like the one where Whistling in the Dark is set. Whistling in the Dark received the Honor Book Award from the Midwest Booksellers Association, was a finalist for the Great Lakes Book Award, a Midwest Connections Pick and has been on the Book Sense National Bestseller list and The Heartland Bestseller List.

Beth Kephart is the author of eleven books, including the National Book Award finalist, A Slant of Sun; the BookSense pick, Ghosts in the Garden; the autobiography of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River, Flow; and the critically acclaimed novels for young adults, Undercover, House of Dance, Nothing But Ghosts, and The Heart Is Not a Size. 

Kathleen Kline, co-author of People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin's Love Affair With an Ancient Fish, traces the 100-year-history of sturgeon management in Wisconsin's Lake Winnebago region and the unique cultures that surround a very special, ancient fish. Kline is Science Writer for the Aquatic Sciences Center, UW-Madison.

Ellen Kort was Wisconsin's first Poet Laureate, serving from 2000-2004.
She is the author of 11 books and 8 collections of poetry. Ellen's work
has been featured in a variety of anthologies and incorporated
architecturally in downtown Milwaukee's Midwest Express Center, the
Green Bay Botanical Gardens and the Fox River Mall. 

Rebecca Meacham is the author of the story collection, Let's Do, named a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers pick.  Her fiction has appeared in numerous journals, and in 2002, was awarded the Chelsea Award for Short Fiction and the Indiana Review Fiction Prize.

Laurie Notaro, New York Times bestselling humor writer, is known and
loved for her brilliant, self-deprecating true stories of everyday
mishaps and mayhem. Author of The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal.

Jerry Peterson is the author of Early’s Fall, a crime novel set in 1949 Kansas, that the Gale-Cengage imprint Five Star published last year. He’s also the author of Iced, an online thumb novel – a thriller – posted on both Textnovel.com and Peterson’s website.

Eva Augustin Rumpf is the author of the satiric novel Prot U and co-author of Till Divorce Do Us Part, a self-help book for women in troubled marriages. She has been a free-lance writer for 30 years, publishing hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles. Several of her essays and articles have been syndicated nationally.

Daniel San Souci  is the author and illustrator of the popular picture book series "The Clubhouse Books," that chronicles his growing up in Berkeley, California.  These books have won numerous awards and honors, including a Children's Choice Award.   Daniel has also illustrated ten books written by his brother Robert San Souci.

Marilyn Taylor’s award-winning poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Poetry, The American Scholar, Measure, and The Formalist. Marilyn is also serving as Poet Laureate of Wisconsin for 2009 and 2010, and is happy to report that she's enjoying every minute of it.

David Wroblewski was born in 1959 in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. When he was 3 years old, his parents bought a small and somewhat ramshackle farm in rural central Wisconsin. In time, that barn and that land, transported 100 miles to the north, would become the setting for The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.