Winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award in short fiction, Leigh Allison Wilson has published two collections of short stories—Wind: Stories was published by William Morrow and Plume, and From the Bottom Up was published by the University of Georgia Press and Penguin Books. Her short fiction and nonfiction has appeared in Harper’s, Mademoiselle, Grand Street, The Georgia Review, The Southern Review, The Kenyon Review, The Washington Post, and other magazines and newspapers. Leigh’s work has been nominated for a Pulitzer and has been widely anthologized.

With an MFA from the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Katie Riegel coordinates The Writing Institute. Her poetry and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including The Gettysburg Review, Crazyhorse, the Bellevue Literary Review, the Cimarron Review, and The Chicago Tribune. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she is a recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize.

Named one of the best writers under 40 by Granta Magazine, Robert O’Connor has won many awards for his novel writing. His book, Buffalo Soldiers, received a Pulitzer nomination and was named a Notable Book by the New York Times. J. G. Ballard called the book “One of the best novels I’ve read in a long time… O’Connor skillfully blends the hilarious satire of Catch-22 with the hard-knuckle realism of From Here to Eternity.” The novel was made into a feature film by Gregor Jordan, and stars Joaquin Phoenix and Ed Harris. Bob received his MFA from Syracuse University, where he worked with writers Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff.

Brad Korbesmeyer’sone-act play Incident at San Bajo won the Heideman Award from Actors Theatre of Louisville. The dark comedy has been published by Samuel French, Inc., was adapted into an opera by Riverside Opera Company, New York, and has received over 75 productions. Brad’s theatrical credits include the award-winning play, Open Window, Piaf in Vienna, and the screenplay, Peace and Quiet. He has twice been selected to attend the New Harmony Project. He received his MFA in playwriting from Carnegie Mellon University. He has been awarded numerous teaching awards, including the prestigious Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from the State University of New York.

Poet JoEllen Kwiatek has published dozens of poems in magazines such as The Antioch Review, The Indiana Review, and she was featured poet on the cover of The American Poetry Review. JoEllen’s poems have been included in the Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her book, Eleven Days Before Spring, was published by HarperCollins, and she is the recipient of the Constance Saltonstall Award.

Christine R. Motto received her MFA from George Mason University, where she won the Dan Rudy Award for fiction. Her short fiction has appeared in So-To-Speak: A Feminist Journal of Language & Art. Currently, her agent is looking for a home for her first novel, A Knit of Identity.

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