Daemond is a poet and educator who believes in the power of the word to transform lives. He has coached the Seattle National Poetry Slam team for seven years, is co-executive director of Youth Speaks Seattle and facilitates residencies at Monroe Correctional Complex and Echo Glen Children's Center.

Emily writes poetry, fiction, and collaborative screenplays with her sister. She has an M.F.A. from the University of Montana and has taught students from preschool to college age. Her freelance work is in print and online, and her poems have appeared in Indiana Review, Swivel, and elsewhere.

As an educator and counselor, Aaron has seen the transformative power of words. He has written, read, and taught with professors, prisoners, high school dropouts, and National Book Award winners. He is the co-author of Reclaiming Black Manhood and is the founding editor of Unblind Communications.

Kevin Emerson has published seven novels for teen readers. His next novel, THE LOST CODE, will be published by HarperCollins in May 2012. Kevin also performs in his bands Central Services, and their kids' music counterpart, The Board of Education. A former elementary school science teacher, Kevin also teaches at Richard Hugo House and 826 Seattle

Karen Finneyfrock’s young adult novel, Celia, the Dark and Weird, is due from Viking Children’s Books, a division of Penguin, in 2012. Her book of poems, Ceremony for the Choking Ghost, is out on Write Bloody press.

Kathleen’s first book, Famous, won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize and was an ALA Notable Book. Her second collection, Plume, about the Hanford nuclear site, will appear in 2012. 

Poet and educator, Laura has published work online; on the air; on buses, tee shirts, bikinis, and bookmarks; in journals, anthologies, and her chapbook, nothing to hold onto. Currently, she is at work on a book about teaching creative writing in a rural school.

Tara founded Bent, a writing institute for LGBTIQ people in Seattle, WA and is the author of “Bring Down the Chandeliers" (2011). Tara has performed on seven final stages during various National Poetry Slam competitions and has been the Seattle Grand Slam Champion three times.

Irene Keliher’s work has appeared in the New Ohio Review, Bellingham Review, for the Houston Grand Opera, and elsewhere. A recipient of the Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction and the Potomac Review Fiction Prize, she holds an MFA from the University of Houston and is at work on a novel.

Rachel is a writer, educator, and performance artist. She is a founding member of the literary performance art groups The Typing Explosion and the Vis-à-Vis Society. Collaborative poems have appeared in Tin House, TATE, and USA Today. She is working on her own versions of favorite fairy tales. 

Erin Malone’s poems have appeared in journals such as Field, Beloit Poetry Journal, POOL and online at Verse Daily. Her chapbook, What Sound Does It Make, won the Concrete Wolf Award in 2007. The recipient of grants from Washington’s Artist Trust, 4Culture and the Colorado Council of the Arts, she has taught writing at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs, Richard Hugo House in Seattle, and at the University of Washington Rome Center in Italy.

Corinne Manning received her MFA from UNC Wilmington. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Arts & Letters, Drunken Boat, and online at The Oxford American. She was the Hub City Writer's Project Writer-in-Residence in 2010/2011. She co-coordinates The Furnace Reading Series, a long form prose reading series in Seattle.

Peter Mountford’s debut novel, A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism, won the 2012 Washington State Book Award. His stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Granta, Best New American Voices 2008, Boston Review, Salon, and ZYZZYVA.

Sierra is a poet, cephalopod appreciator, and co-founder of performance art groups The Typing Explosion and Vis-à-Vis Society. Her lyrical choose-your-own-adventure with artist Loren Erdrich debuted from Rose Metal Press in Spring 2012 and chapbook “In Case of Loss” from Toadlily Press in Fall 2012.

Katharine Ogle writes poetry and is a recent graduate of the MFA program at the University of Washington. She is the recipient of a 2010 AWP Intro Journal Award and is working on her first book of poems, The Smallest Gun I Could Find. 

Michael Overa is a Seattle native and holds an MFA from Hollins University. A steadfast believer that clear communication opens doors, Michael has taught writing throughout the Seattle area. His work has appeared in the Portland Review, Quiet, Pindeldyboz and the Denver Syntax, among others.

Greg Stump has been a regular contributor to The Stranger for more than a decade. He is the co-creator of the comic book series Urban Hipster, a former writer and editor for The Comics Journal, and the creator of the weekly alternative-newspaper comic Dwarf Attack. He teaches comics through a variety of schools and organizations in the Seattle area and recently completed his first graphic novel, Disillusioned Illusions.

Ann is a poet, playwright, and prose writer with an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. For eighteen years she’s been a Teaching Artist in schools; Richard Hugo House; Coyote Central; and with Pongo Teen Writing at King Co. juvenile detention and the state psychiatric hospital.

Tracy’s work as a playwright has been seen in Seattle and Minneapolis including her newest play First Born. She’s a graduate of the Teaching Artist Training Lab, has her MFA from Goddard College and teaches with ACT Theatre’s Young Playwrights Program.