Greg Bills is the author of the novels Consider This Home (Simon & Schuster) and Fearful Symmetry (Dutton/Penguin). His fiction has appeared recently in Santa Monica Review, and in 2007, his essay “Jack and the Giant” was published in the anthology Brothers and Beasts: An Anthology of Men on Fairy Tales (Wayne State University Press). He is a graduate of the MFA program in writing at UC Irvine, an alumnus of the Community of Writers Screenwriting Program, and is currently Director of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Redlands in Southern California.

Max Byrd is the author of a number of detective novels including California Thriller, which won the Shamus Award and, more recently, the historical novels Jefferson, Jackson, and Grant. Bantam published his most recent novel, Shooting the Sun. His essay is included in the anthology, Writers Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction.

Mark Childress is the author of the novels A World Made of Fire, V for Victor, Tender, Crazy in Alabama, Gone for Good, and One Mississippi, published by Little, Brown in 2006. He wrote the screenplay for the 1999 Columbia Pictures film of Crazy in Alabama. He has also published three books for children. His essay is included in the anthology, Writers Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction. www.markchildress.com

John Daniel is the author of three memoirs and two books of personal essays, as well as two collections of poems. His most recent work, Rogue River Journal: A Winter Alone, won a 2006 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and is now in its third paperback printing. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, he has been awarded an NEA fellowship, the John Burroughs Nature Essay Award, and a Pushcart Prize, among other honors. He has taught as writer-in-residence at colleges and universities around the country. www.johndaniel-author.net

Gill Dennis, with Tom Rickman, was a founding Director of the Community of Writers Screenwriting Program. He wrote the movie Walk the Line with James Mangold and currently is adapting Den Fesperman’s The Small Boat of Great Sorrows, Hector Tobar’s The Tattooed Soldier and, with the author, A.L. Kennedy’s Day for the screen. Forever, which he wrote with the director Tatia Pilieva, will be produced in 2008. He won the L.A. Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Distinguished Direction in Theatre.

Cai Emmons is the author of the novels His Mother’s Son (Harcourt 2003, paperback 2004), and The Stylist (HarperCollins, October 2007). His Mother’s Son was translated into French and German, was a Booksense and Literary Guild selection, and it won the Ken Kesey Award for the Novel in 2003. Her second novel, The Stylist, was published in Fall 2007 by Perennial, an imprint of Harper Collins. Her short work has appeared in Arts and Letters, Narrative Magazine, and Portland Monthly, among others, and she has a selection in Now Write: Writing Exercises from Today’s Best Writers and Teachers (Tarcher Publications, 2006). Before turning to fiction Emmons wrote for film and theater. She received her B.A. from Yale University, an M.F.A in Film from New York University, and an M.F.A. in Fiction from the University of Oregon. www.caiemmons.com

Janet Fitch’s new novel Paint It Black, published in 2006 by Little, Brown is now in paperback. Her novel White Oleander, translated into 26 languages, appeared as a Warner Bros. film adaptation in 2002. Currently, her short stories can be seen in Black Clock 7 and Los Angeles Noir and her essay is included in the anthology, Writers Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction. She teaches fiction writing at the Masters of Professional Writing program at USC. www.literati.net/Fitch

Lynn Freed is the author of seven books: Reading, Writing & Leaving Home: Life on the Page (essays); The Curse of the Appropriate Man (stories); and the novels, House of Women, The Mirror, The Bungalow, Home Ground and Friends of the Family. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in Harper’s, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and in the anthology, Writers Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction. She is the recipient of the inaugural Katherine Anne Porter Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and has received fellowships, grants and support from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Guggenheim Foundation, among others. www.lynnfreed.com

Molly Giles is the author of two prize-winning collections of short stories: Rough Translations and Creek Walk. She is also the author of the novel Iron Shoes. She taught Creative Writing at San Francisco State for 17 years, and presently teaches at the University of Arkansas.

Sands Hall is the author of the novel, Catching Heaven (Ballantine), a Random House Reader’s Circle selection and a Willa Award Finalist for Best Contemporary Fiction; her stage adaptation of Alcott’s Little Women recently enjoyed its tenth production; she is also the author of the comic drama Fair Use. Her book of writing essays and exercises, Tools of the Writer’s Craft was published in 2005. Her essay appears in the anthology, Writers Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction. She teaches for the UC Davis Extension Programs and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. www.sandshall.com

Louis B. Jones is the author of the novels Ordinary Money, Particles and Luck, and California’s Over, all three New York Times Notable Books. A story recently appeared in The Threepenny Review. His essay appears in the anthology, Writers Workshop in a Book: The Squaw Valley Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction. He is co-director of the Community of Writers Fiction Program. www.louisbjones.com

Michelle Latiolais is professor of English at the University of California at Irvine. She is the author of the novel Even Now, which received the Gold Medal for Fiction from the Commonwealth Club of California. Bellevue Literary Press will publish her second novel, A Proper Knowledge, in spring 2008. She has published stories and essays in several literary journals.

Jake Morrissey is the author of a historical mystery, A Weekend at Blenheim, and a non-fiction narrative history, The Genius in the Design. He is also Executive Editor of Riverhead Books. (See editors).

Janis Cooke Newman is the author of Mary (published in hardcover by MacAdam/Cage, and in paperback by Harcourt), a historical novel about Mary Todd Lincoln. Mary was chosen as USA Today's Best Historical Fiction of 2006 and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times First Fiction Book Prize. Newman is also the author of the 2001 memoir, The Russian Word for Snow (St. Martin's Press), a memoir about adopting her son from a Moscow orphanage. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Secret Lives of Lawfully Wedded Wives (Inner Ocean, 2006) and four Travelers' Tales editions. Newman's travel writing has been published in newspapers and magazines, including the LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Backpacker. www.janiscookenewman.com

Elissa Schappell is unable to attend.

Martin J. Smith is a veteran journalist and magazine editor who has won more than 40 newspaper and magazine writing awards. A former senior editor at the Los Angeles Times Magazine, he currently is Editor- in-Chief of Orange Coast Magazine in Newport Beach, and is the author of three "Memory Series" novels -- Time Release, Shadow Image, and Edgar Award-finalist Straw Men. His nonfiction books, co-authored with Patrick J. Kiger, are POPLORICA: A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore That Shaped Modern America, and the new OOPS: 20 Life Lessons From the Fiascoes That Shaped America, both published by HarperCollins. www.mysite.verizon.net/res7ynax

Michael V. Carlisle, a founder of InkWell Management, began his career at William Morris Agency. His authors have won Pulitzer Prizes, the Man Booker Prize, the National Book Award, the British Book Award, LA Times Book Award, and the PEN Award for first nonfiction; one even has an asteroid named for her. He is a former director of the AAR, a not-for-profit organization of independent literary and dramatic agents, and a member of PEN.

Reagan Arthur is an Executive Editor at Little, Brown, where she has worked since 2001 after starting her publishing career at St. Martin’s Press, where she helped launch the Picador imprint. Writers she has worked with include Kate Atkinson, Judy Budnitz, Tony Earley, Joshua Ferris, Tim Gautreaux, Elizabeth Kostova, George Pelecanos, Ian Rankin, and Joanna Scott.

Trena Keating is Editor-in-Chief of Dutton. Her specialties include mainstream and literary fiction as well as nonfiction. She began her career as an assistant at Stanford University Press, moving to Harper Collins in 1994. In 2001, she moved to the Penguin Group to be the Editor-in-Chief and then Associate Publisher of Plume. She moved to Dutton in 2006.

Martin J. Smith is a veteran journalist and magazine editor who has won more than 40 newspaper and magazine writing awards. A former senior editor at the Los Angeles Times Magazine, he currently is Editor- in-Chief of Orange Coast Magazine in Newport Beach, and is the author of three "Memory Series" novels -- Time Release, Shadow Image, and Edgar Award-finalist Straw Men. His nonfiction books, co-authored with Patrick J. Kiger, are POPLORICA: A Popular History of the Fads, Mavericks, Inventions, and Lore That Shaped Modern America, and the new OOPS: 20 Life Lessons From the Fiascoes That Shaped America, both published by HarperCollins.

Andrew Tonkovich is the editor of the Santa Monica Review. His short stories, essays and commentaries have appeared in Faultline, OC Weekly, the Los Angeles Times and an anthology, Geography of Fear. An excerpt from his novel-in-progress, Being Mr. Right, appeared in Green Mountains Review. He has taught at UC Irvine, UC Irvine Extension, Santa Monica College, Irvine Valley College and University of Redlands. He hosts a weekly book culture program on Pacifica Radio affiliate KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles. “Bibliocracy” focuses on literary fiction and nonfiction.

Diane Johnsonis the author of many works of fiction and nonfiction including the trilogy, Le Mariage, Le Divorce, and L’Affaire. Her essay appears in the anthology, Writers Workshop in a Book. She is a two-time finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award

David Lukas is a naturalist and writer whose writings have appeared in Audubon, Orion, Sunset, Wild Bird and in a weekly column in the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of Watchable Birds of the Great Basin and Wild Birds of California. He revised the classic guidebook Sierra Nevada Natural History (UC Press).

Joshua Ferris's first novel, Then We Came to the End, was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award. A national bestseller, the New York Times named it one of the ten best books of 2007. His short fiction has been published or is forthcoming from Tin House, The Iowa Review, Best New American Voices, Prairie Schooner, New Stories from the South, The Guardian, and Granta. He attended the Community of Writers on a UC Irvine MFA Program Scholarship in 2003. www.thenwecametotheend.com

Nora Pierce is the author of the novel The Insufficiency of Maps, a Barnes and Noble "Discover Great New Writers" title. She was a Wallace Stegner fellow in fiction at Stanford University, and went on to lecture in the program. She is currently in residence at Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. She attended the Community of Writers in 2003. www.norapierce.com