Sue Monk Kidd is the author of the widely acclaimed nonfiction books “The Dance of the Dissident Daughter” (1996) and “When the Heart Waits” (1990). Her first published novel, the best-seller “The Secret Life of Bees” (2002), has sold more than 5 million copies, spent more than two years on the New York Times best-seller list and was made into a motion picture. She has recently collaborated with her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor, on “Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story” (2009). Ann Kidd Taylor has co-written with her mother “a spiritual memoir” about a series of pilgrimages the two made together through Greece, France, Turkey and Switzerland beginning the summer that Ann graduated from college in 1998 and her mother turned 50.

Judy Blume has sold more than 80 million copies of such young-adult best-sellers as Blubber: Just as Long as We’re Together and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret as well as the adult titles Summer Sisters, Smart Women and Wifey. Her books have been translated into 31 languages, and she has won numerous awards for her writing, such as the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Library Association and the Living Legends award from the Library of Congress. Blume is the founder and trustee of The Kids Fund, a charitable and educational foundation. Her newest book is Friend or Fiend? With the Pain & the Great One (2009). She lives on islands along the East Coast.

Although Julia Alvarez was born in New York City, her family moved to the Dominican Republic shortly after her birth, where she spent the majority of her childhood. In 1960, when Alvarez was 10, her family returned to the United States, fleeing the Dominican Republic because of her father’s involvement in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Alvarez calls herself an American, yet her writing bridges the realms of Latina and American culture. Alvarez’s latest books include Return to Sender (2009) and Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA (2007).

After he read the books of Raymond Chandler, Michael Connelly decided to become a writer. After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., specializing in the crime beat. He eventually landed a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, bringing him to the city that his literary hero, Chandler, had written of. After three years on the crime beat, Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed up with many more Bosch books and other novels. The Overlook, Connelly’s 18th novel, was originally serialized in The New York Times Magazine. His 20th novel, The Scarecrow, was released in May 2009. He lives in Florida.

Walter Mosley is the author of the critically acclaimed Easy Rawlins mystery series (Devil in a Blue Dress, A Red Death, White Butterfly, Black Betty and A Little Yellow Dog). Mosley’s other books include the novels Blue Light and RL’s Dream (1995), which won the 1996 Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s Literary Award. He has also written two collections of stories featuring Socrates Fortlow: Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned and Walkin’ the Dog. Mosley’s latest book is The Long Fall: The First Leonid McGill Mystery (2009). McGill is a New York City private investigator. Mosley lives in New York.

Jodi Picoult studied creative writing in college and had two short stories published in Seventeen magazine while still a student. Realism -- and a profound desire to be able to pay the rent -- led Picoult to a series of different jobs following her graduation: as a technical writer for a Wall Street brokerage firm, as a copywriter at an ad agency, as an editor at a textbook publisher, and as an eighth-grade English teacher before pursuing a master’s in education. She wrote her first novel, “Songs of the Humpback Whale,” in 1992, while she was pregnant with her first child. She is now the author of 15 best-sellers, including her latest, “Handle with Care” (2009).

Gwen Ifill says she always knew she wanted to be a journalist. The moderator and managing editor of Public Broadcasting’s “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” Ifill is the best-selling author of “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” (2009). She also moderated the vice presidential debates during the presidential elections in 2004 and 2008. Before coming to PBS, she was chief congressional and political correspondent for NBC News, White House correspondent for The New York Times and a local and national political reporter for the Washington Post. She also reported for the Baltimore Evening Sun and the Boston Herald American.

John Irving is the best-selling author of “The World According to Garp” (1973), “The Hotel New Hampshire” (1981), “The Cider House Rules” (1985) and “A Prayer for Owen Meany” (1989), among other novels. Irving’s fourth novel, “The World According to Garp,” became an international best-seller and later a film starring Robin Williams and Glenn Close. It was also a finalist for the American Book Award for hardcover fiction in 1979. Irving wrote the screenplay for the 1999 film adaptation of “The Cider House Rules” and won an Oscar for his work. His most recent novels include “The Fourth Hand” (2001), “Until I Find You” (2005) and “Last Night in Twisted River” (2009).

Jon Scieszka is the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature , a program sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Children's Book Council. He is the author of some of the best known and funniest books written for children, including The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, the Time Warp Trio chapter book series, the Caldecott Honor Book The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales and the Trucktown series. Among several books that Scieszka will soon publish is Robot Zot! (2009), illustrated by David Shannon. Scieszka is the founder of Guys Read , a nonprofit literacy organization. He lives in New York.

Lois Lowry describes herself as "a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination." A two-time recipient of the Newbery Medal for her novels Number the Stars (1990) and The Giver (1994), Lowry conveys through her writing her passionate awareness of caring for one another in a very complex world. In her first picture book, Crow Call (2009), Lowry pairs with acclaimed artist Bagram Ibatoulline to deliver a timeless story about the power of a very special relationship. Set in post-World War II America and based upon events in Lowry's own childhood, Crow Call is a tender glimpse at 9-year-old Liz as she begins the journey of becoming reacquainted with her long-absent father after his return from the war. Lowry lives in Massachusetts.