A World Without Books

Sara B. Larson is the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of the YA fantasy Defy trilogy and the Dark Breaks the Dawn duology. She can’t remember a time when she didn’t write books—although she now uses a computer instead of a Little Mermaid notebook. Sara lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband, their four children, and their Maltese, Loki.

Forest B. Dunning is a retired rancher living in Sheridan, Wyoming. Raised in Birney, Montana, near the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, he has been a student, cowboy, soldier, financial advisor, purebred cattle rancher, cattle buyer, and author. He is a graduate from New Mexico State University with a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Economics and from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College with a master's degree in Military Science. After successful careers as a U.S. Army officer (retired lieutenant colonel) and a civilian financial advisor, Forest returned to his roots and bought a cattle ranch near Sheridan. He has long had a love for Montana and Wyoming history and historical fiction. Noting that much of local history has been overlooked, he has devoted his writing skills to the preservation of history in southeastern Montana, northern Wyoming, and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe.

Mark Oshiro is the Hugo-nominated writer of the online Mark Does Stuff universe (Mark Reads and Mark Watches), where they analyze books and TV series. Their debut novel, Anger is a Gift won the 2019 Schneider Family Book Award and was nominated for a 2019 Lammy Award. Their forthcoming novel Each of Us a Desert will be published in September 2020. When they are not working they engage in social activism online and offline. Their life long goal is to pet every dog in the world.

Vanessa Garcia is a playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. Her novel White Light was one of NPRs Best Books of 2015 and won an International Latino Book Award. Her most recent play is the immersive hit, The Amparo Experience which Broadway World called “mad genius," and just won a Ruth Foreman (Carbonell) Award this week. Vanessa has also written for Sesame Street among other shows.

Sara Schaff is the author of two story collections: The Invention of Love (Split/Lip Press 2020) and Say Something Nice About Me (Augury Books 2016), a 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist for short fiction. Her writing has appeared in Kenyon Review Online, Yale Review Online, LitHub, and elsewhere.

Kelly Fordon is the author of an award-winning short story collection, Garden for the Blind (Wayne State University Press, 2015); a poetry chapbook, The Witness, which won the Eric Hoffer Award for the Chapbook; and a poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House.

Tea Krulos is the author of Heroes in the Night, Monster Hunters, Apocalypse Any Day Now and his new title American Madness. He writes a weekly column on his website (teakrulos.com) titled "Tea's Weird Week" and lives in Milwaukee.

Sharon Harrigan’s new novel Half has been called “riveting and inventive” by Publisher’s Weekly and “suspenseful, lyrical, and consuming” in a starred review by Booklist. She is also the author of the memoir Playing with Dynamite and teaches writing at WriterHouse in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Jody A. Forrester grew up in Los Angeles during the conflicted fifties and tumultuous sixties. She went to San Jose State College, but left after the first semester to participate full time in the anti-war movement. A graduate from the MFA Bennington Writing Seminars, her essays and short stories have appeared in multiple publications.

Jennifer Hull is a writer and a teacher. She grew up in New York, graduated cum laude from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in history, and has a master’s degree in education. She has taught K-12 students as well as college freshmen at the Taos campus of the University of New Mexico. She lives in New Mexico, with her husband, twin sons, and cocker spaniel.