A. Manette Ansay is an award-winning author of novels, including Vinegar Hill, an Oprah Book Club selection. Ansay spent her childhood in Port Washington, Wis. Ansay has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, a Friends of American Writers Prize, and two Great Lakes Book Awards. Her fifth novel, Midnight Champagne (1999), was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Samantha Chang, born in Appleton, Wis., is an author of novels and short stories. Her works include Hunger, a novella plus four short stories, and Inheritance, a novel. Chang is the daughter of Chinese parents who survived the World War II occupation of China. An award-winning author, she is currently director of the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop. In 2008, Chang received a Guggenheim Fellowship and is one of the most respected literary minds in America today.

Mary Relindes Ellis, her first novel, The Turtle Warrior, exhibits a depth and range rare in contemporary fiction. Set in rural northern Wisconsin, the story ranges over the Vietnam War, World War II and the vast and unsettled terrain of the human heart. It has received numerous awards and recognition including the 2005 Banta Award for Literary Achievement and named to The Heartland Independent Best Seller List.

Maggi Gordon is an author, editor, collector and quilt maker with a special interest in the history of quilts and quilt making. She worked as an editor specializing in craft subjects. This experience and life long passion led to her writing a collection of books on sewing and quilting including The Ultimate Sewing Book and American Folk Art Quilts.

C.J. Hribal, a teacher at Marquette University, wrote the novels The Company Car and American Beauty. He's also a short fiction writer and has written the award-winning collections Matty's Heart and The Clouds in Memphis. He's twice won the Sternig Award for Short Fiction and is a member of the fiction faculty at the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers.

W. Nikola-Lisa is a children’s author, an educator and a storyteller. His interest in writing children’s books began as he taught at an elementary school in the 1970’s. His first book, Night IS Coming, was published in 1988. Since then he’s published twenty children’s book and many articles for teachers about the writing process. He now enjoys presenting at schools as both a teacher and an author.

David McGlynn, professor at Lawrence University, is a fiction and creative nonfiction writer. His works have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Image, Mid-American Review, Shenandoah, and other literary journals. His collection of connected stories, The End of the Straight and Narrow, has received rave reviews and the highest praise from his peers.

Michael Perry is a humorist, Wisconsin native and author of the best-selling memoir Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time, the essay collection Off Main Street and recent hit Truck: A Love Story. Perry is one of the most sought-after authors for book festivals in the country because of his entertaining and humorous presentations. Perry appeared in the first Fox Cities Book Festival in 2008 as well, reading to a packed house at the Chilton Public Library.

William Sleator is an American science fiction writer. His books are primarily targeted towards young adults, and he has published over 30 novels since 1970. From his first book, The Angry Moon, to his most recent, Test, Sleator has captivated a large audience with his reluctant-teenage-hero characters.