Sean Beaudoin is the author of the novels Going Nowhere Faster, Fade to Blue, You Killed Wesley Payne and the forthcoming, The Insects (September, 2012). His short stories and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Narrative, The Onion, The San Francisco Chronicle, Opium, Glimmer Train, The New Orleans Review, and perhaps most dauntingly, Spirit – the inflight magazine of Southwest Airlines. www.seanbeaudoin.com

Bonny Becker is the author of the best-selling Mouse and Bear books, including A Visitor for Bear, winner of the E.B. White Read Aloud Award and Amazon’s Picture Book of the Year. Her latest book, The Sniffles for Bear, is the fourth in a planned series of six. Her middle-grade novel, The Magical Ms. Plum, won the 2010 Washington State Children’s Book Award. In all, she has published 12 books for children. She has degrees in Psychology and English/Creative Writing and teaches children’s writing at the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts. www.bonnybecker.com

After a lengthy career as a Washington sports columnist, Dave Boling’s first attempt at fiction resulted in the novel, Guernica. Translated into 15 languages, it landed on international best-seller lists while earning honors from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, Barnes & Noble and Waterstones in the UK. Described by The Times of London, the book is a “…rich stew of a novel…a multilayered saga about love, family loyalty and the fierce patriotism of this indomitable region.” www.daveboling.com

Ryan Boudinot is the author of the novel Misconception, a finalist for the PEN/USA Literary Award, and The Littlest Hitler, a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year. Blueprints of the Afterlife is his highly acclaimed new book. His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Monkeybicycle, Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy, Opium, Hobart, Los Angeles Review, Black Book, Don’t You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes, Torpedo, The Lifted Brow, and other publications. He is on the faculty of Goddard College’s MFA program in Port Townsend and he leads writing retreats at Richard Hugo House. He has a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Bennington College. www.blueprintsoftheafterlife.com

Carol Cassella is a practicing physician and author of the bestselling novels Oxygen and Healer – both mysteries of medicine and modern love. She lives with her family on Bainbridge Island and is working on her third novel.
www.carolcassella.com

Megan Chance  is the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of several novels. The Best Reviews has said she writes “fascinating historical fiction.” A former television news photographer with a BA from Western Washington University, Megan’s new book is City of Ash.  
www.meganchance.com

Valerie Easton started gardening to bring nature into the house and she hasn’t stopped planning, picking and arranging flowers and foliage for the last 40 years. Petal and Twig, published in January 2012, shares her love of fashioning fresh garden flowers into simple bouquets. For 18 years, she was the horticultural librarian at the University of Washington and for the past 15 years she has written the Plant Life column which appears weekly in the Pacific Northwest Magazine of The Seattle Times. She is the author for four books, including The New Low Maintenance Garden (chosen by amazon.com as one of the Ten Best Home and Garden Books for 2009), Artists in Their Gardens, Plant Life, and A Pattern Garden: The Essential Elements of Garden Making.
www.valeaston.com

Willi Galloway is an award-winning radio commentator, writer and former West Coast Editor at Organic Gardening magazine. She writes about kitchen gardening and seasonal cooking on her blog, DigginFood.com, and pens the weekly column, “The Gardener,” on Apartment Therapy’s Re-Nest blog. She also offers weekly vegetable gardening advice on Seattle’s NPR show, “Greendays.”  Grow. Cook. Eat. is a full circle gardening handbook designed to take you from sinking a seed into the soil to sitting down to a healthy, delicious meal prepared with vegetables harvested from your kitchen garden. www.digginfood.com

Elizabeth George is an award-winning and best-selling author, whose new book, Believing the Lie, was released January 10. She is the author of 14 novels of psychological suspense, one book of nonfiction, and two short-story collections. Her work has been honored with the Anthony and Agatha awards, the Grand Prix de Literature Policiere for her novel, A Great Deliverance, for which she was also nominated for the Edgar and the Macavity Awards. She has also received Germany’s MIMI, for her novel, Well-Schooled in Murder.
www.elizabethgeorgeonline.com

Cecilia Grant knew she wanted to be a writer from a young age and put her English degree to good use in her debut Regency romance novel, A Lady Awakened.  Reviewers call it emotionally rich, deeply passionate and a marvelous gem of a book. “Grant details Regency country beautifully, with a firm and respected hand, and the subtle yet engrossing courtship is enchanting and gratifying as it transforms these two strong-minded and very unlikely lovers” (Publishers Weekly). Her new book, A Gentleman Undone, will be out in May. www.ceciliagrant.com 

Biologist and author Thor Hanson’s new book Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle won the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for excellence in science books and a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award.  Dr. Hanson is a conservation biologist, Switzer Environmental Fellow and member of the Human Ecosystems Study Group. His first book, The Impenetrable Forest: My Gorilla Years in Uganda, won the 2008 USA Book News Award for nature writing. His articles and essays have appeared in a wide range of popular and scientific publications, including Bioscience, Molecular Ecology, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Neotropical Ornithology, The Journal of African Ecology, Biotropica, Canoe & Kayak Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Miami Herald, The Huffington Post and The Los Angeles Times. www.thorhanson.net

Amy Hatvany published her first book at age seven:  Amy’s Animal Stories, a collection of short and twisted tales, bound into a book by her teacher. Years later, with a degree in Sociology, she switched careers and soon found a publisher for The Kind of Love That Saves You, followed by The Language of Sisters. These novels were followed by Best Kept Secret, and most recently, Outside the Lines (release date: February 2012).
www.amyhatvany.com

Sarah Jio is a veteran magazine writer and the health and fitness blogger for Glamour magazine. She has written hundreds of articles for magazines and newspapers, and appeared as a commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition. She has a degree in journalism and writes on a variety of topics, and frequently tests and develops recipes for major magazines. Her first novel, The Violets of March, was published earlier this year and was recently named as 2011 Best Book in Library Journal and praised by Redbook, Glamour, Woman’s Day and other publications.  Her new book, The Bungalow, was released in December and Blackberry Winter and The Last Camelia will be published soon.
www.sarahjio.com

A graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, Bronze Star, two Navy commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts and ten air medals. He is the author of the highly acclaimed and bestselling book, Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War. He received the W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for this military novel that honors the service of American veterans during a time of war. His new book, What It Is Like to Go to War, is praised as “a courageous, noble and intelligent grapple with myth, history, and spirituality that beautifully elevates the cultural conversation on the role of the military in today’s world.”  Both Matterhorn and What it Is Like to Go to War were bestsellers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marlantes

John M. Marzluff is a highly regarded scientist known for his work on the ecology and behavioral biology of jays, crows, ravens and their relatives. He is Professor of Wildlife Science, College of the Environment, University of Washington, and the author of four books, including In the Company of Crows and Ravens. Colleen Marzluff is a biologist who studies squirrels and birds, and is an expert in the raising and training of sled dogs and herding dogs. Dog Days, Raven Nights is a fascinating, behind the scenes look at the adventures of field science and an insightful exploration of the nature of relationships, both animal and human.

Peter Mountford’s debut novel A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism, was published in 2011. Currently in his fourth year as a writer in residence for Seattle Arts and Lectures, his award-winning short fiction has appeared in Best new American Voices 2008, Boston Review, The Normal School and Conjunctions.  A graduate of the UW’s Master of Fine Arts program, his short fiction has appeared in numerous reviews and has won or been shortlisted in contests. His original screenplay, I Am Not Werner Erhard, co-written with Steven Schardt, was selected for the 2009 Film Independent Screenwriter’s Lab.
www.petermountford.com

Before his thrillers landed him on the New York Times Bestseller list, Kevin O’Brien was a railroad inspector who worked all day and wrote novels at night.   The author of 13 internationally-published thrillers, he has won the Spotted Owl Award for Best Pacific Northwest Mystery for The Last Victim.  In 2011, he released Disturbed. His new nail-biter is Terrified (release date: April 2012).  A Hitchcock fan, Kevin is hard at work on his 13th book.
www.kevinobrienbooks.com

Cat Patrick is an author of books for teens, beginning with her debut novel, Forgotten, in 2011. Reviews call it a page-turning mystery and a heartrending story of love, loss and memories and New York Times bestselling author Jay Asher dubbed it a “mind-bending experience that I devoured in one sitting.” Available in 21 countries and soon to be a major motion picture with Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld attached to star, Forgotten is the story of a teen girl who remembers the future instead of the past. Her second novel for young adults, Revived, hits stores in May 2012.
www.catpatrick.com

Leslie Rule is the author of eight books, including chronicles of paranormal tales in four nonfiction books of ghost stories. Rule builds on her successful series of mystical works with Where Angels Tread. These startling cases of angelic intervention, carefully documented with research and interviews, are presented along with sidebar articles where actual news accounts of angels and miracles are spotlighted. Her two novels written in the mid-90s, Whispers from the Grave and Kill Me Again, are being relaunched as ebooks.
www.angels2012.com

Paul Schmid is a fourth-generation artist. He has been honored by the Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts magazine and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. In 2010, he spent a month in Connecticut with Maurice Sendak and three other emerging picture book artists. He is the illustrator of The Wonder Book and is the author/illustrator of A Pet for Petunia, Petunia Goes Wild and his new book, Hugs from Pearl.
www.paulschmidbooks.com 

Alexis M. Smith grew up in Soldotna, Alaska, and Seattle, Washington. She attended Mount Holyoke College, Portland State University, and Goddard College, where she earned an MFA in Creative Writing. Her writing has appeared in Tarpaulin Sky and on Powells.com. Her debut novel, Glaciers, is lauded as “lyrical and luminous” by Publishers Weekly. www.alexismsmith.com

Neal Stephenson is the author of Anathem; the three-volume historical epic The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion and The System of the World); Cryptonomicon; The Diamond Age; Snow Crash, which was named one of Time Magazine’s top 100 all-time best English-language novels; and Zodiac. His new book is REAMDE, a high-intensity, high-stakes, action-packed adventure thriller in which a tech entrepreneur gets caught in the very real crossfire of his own online war game. www.nealstephenson.com

Harold Taw is an attorney who graduated from Yale Law School and was a Fulbright Scholar who studied the spread of aids in rural Thailand.  His debut novel is Adventures of the Karaoke King. He researched his second novel, Saturday’s Child, in cities and villages in Thailand and Burma. His first screenplay, Dog Park, has received recognition in domestic and international film festivals and competitions. He is a fellow in the 2011 Jack Straw Writers Program. www.haroldtaw.com

Samantha R. Vamos is a children’s picture book author: The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred  (2011, illustrations by Rafael López) – 2012 Pura Belpré Honor, ALSC 2012 Notable Children’s Book, New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing; Before You Were Here, Mi Amor (2009) – 2010 Washington State Book Award; and Alphabet Trucks (2013). www.samanthavamos.com

Former Seattle P-I staff artist, Wendy Wahman is the author/illustrator of Don’t Lick the Dog: Making Friends with Dogs,  A Cat Like That and the upcoming Count on Snowboy 1, 2, 3 (winter 2012).  Her clients include Amazon.com, Algonquin Books, Boston Globe, Experience Music Project, Harper’s Magazine, Harvard Business Review, Henry Holt and Co. and the Los Angeles Aids Project. The majority of her work is editorial and children’s book illustrations. She holds awards from the Society of illustrators, Best of the West, Society of Publication Designers and Society of Professional Journalists.
www.wendywahman.com

Urban Waite’s debut novel, The Terror of Living, is hailed by Stephen King as “A hell of a good novel, relentlessly paced and beautifully narrated. There’s just no let-up. An auspicious debut.”  His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and for The Best American Mystery Stories and The Best New American Voices. His short fiction can be found in The Best in the West Anthology, The Southern Review, Gulf Coast, West Branch and many other publications.
 www.urbanwaite.com

Daniel H. Wilson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and earned a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Tulsa. After earning a Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, he moved to Portland, Oregon where he has authored seven books. Robopocalypse received rave reviews and appeared on numerous 2011 best books lists including GoodReads Choice Awards and Barnes & Noble Best Books. DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox will co-produce the film of this bestselling novel, which will be released in the summer of 2013. www.danielhwilson.blogspot.com