Meet the Authors
Meg Anderson is an American novelist who writes stories for life's hardest chapters. She lives with multiple sclerosis, a part of her life but never the whole story. Writing has always been her outlet, and along the way, she discovered that putting words on the page helped her make sense of the world around her—sparking her love for telling stories and helping others feel seen. Meg lives in Indiana with her husband, three children, and four very opinionated cats.
Rowan Beaird's fiction has appeared in The Southern Review, Ploughshares, and Gulf Coast. She lives in Chicago with her husband and daughter. The Divorcées is her first novel.
Abby Geni is the author of The Body Farm, longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize and the Story Prize; The Lightkeepers, winner of the inaugural Chicago Review of Books Award of Best Fiction; The Wildlands, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; and The Last Animal, a finalist for the Orion Book Award. Geni is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a recipient of the Iowa Fellowship.
Kate Hannigan writes fiction and nonfiction for young readers. Her picture books, graphic novels, and middle-grade novels have won awards, been named to state lists, earned starred reviews, and been optioned for film. Kate especially loves diving into history and sharing little-known figures with a new generation, and she's always ready to discuss the Great Chicago Fire or World War II with fellow history lovers. She lives in Chicago with her husband, kids, and much-too-clever border collie.
Leigh Hellman is a queer and non-binary writer, originally from the western suburbs of Chicago, and a graduate of the MA Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago. After gaining the ever-lucrative BA in English, they spent five years living and teaching in South Korea before returning to their native Midwest. Leigh’s short fiction and creative nonfiction work has been featured in Hippocampus Magazine, VIDA Review, and Fulbright Korea Infusion Magazine. Their critical and journalistic work has been featured in the American Book Review, the Gwangju News magazine, the Windy City Times, and Bellingham Alive!.
Their debut novel, Orbit, is a new adult speculative fiction story available through Snowy Wings Publishing. They also have a historical fantasy piece included in the SWP anthology Magic at Midnight, a cyberpunk sci-fi piece included in the SWP anthology Sing, Goddess!, and Midwest gothic horror pieces included in the SWP anthologies Magic Under the Big Top and Once Upon a Rhyme. They have been writing erotica for over 20 years and have participated in both fan and original spaces for erotic and romance work. Leigh is a strong advocate for full-day breakfast menus, all varieties of dark chocolate, building a wardrobe based primarily on bad puns, and bathing in the tears of their enemies.
Nicole M. Hewitt is a middle grade author living in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, three grown kids, and two overly enthusiastic pups. She first flexed her creative muscles as a theatre major at the University of Illinois and later taught theatre, writing, and ELA at a large homeschool co-op. More recently, she worked as the Kids’ Specialist at her local Barnes & Noble. Nicole loves singing and can often be heard spontaneously composing incredibly profound songs about the fluffiest members of her family (the dogs, in case you weren’t sure). Nicole’s debut middle grade fantasy novel-in-verse, The Song of Orphan's Garden released in January of 2025 and was chosen as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.
Ashley Hintermeyer is a higher education professional and fantasy writer. Her first novel is titled The Light Devoured and released March 2026. She has a master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University and completed two yearlong writing workshops in 2024 and 2025 through the Madison Writers’ Studio. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two dogs, cat, and son. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading in the same genre, drinking coffee or vacationing in Disney.
Brianna Jett is a former professional journalist and recent graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts’ Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. Under a Carnivore Sky is her debut novel in verse.
Thomas M. Nelson is the author of Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy (with Jerald Podair) and One Day Stronger: How Union Local Saved a Mill and Changed an Industry (starred Kirkus Review). He is the Outagamie County Executive (Wisconsin) and a former Wisconsin assembly majority leader. Thomas resides in Appleton with his wife, Maria; children, Mary and George; and four-legged kids, Barb (collie) and Charley (terrier).
Award winning author Tracey S. Phillips considers herself a serial artist. She is an avid gardener, a pianist, she loves to draw, and she writes in multiple genres. Tracey founded Blackbird Writers, a community of Mystery authors willing to help promote each other and share their collective love of stories with readers. She lives near Madison, Wisconsin with two kitties, and you can find her blog, Music, Musings and the Muse, on Substack.
Janasha Prabhu is a graduate of the University of Illinois with degrees in chemistry and computer science and is a fellow of the 2024 LitUp cycle through Reese’s Book Club. She has adored horror ever since picking up her first Goosebumps book as a kid and enjoys in-corporating her experiences as a queer woman of color, her love for animals, and her interests in cooking into dark and twisted stories. Janasha currently lives in Chicago with her two cats, Grimm and James, and loves catching the latest horror movie with her partner when she’s not writing.
E.C. Quinn is a lifelong animal lover, avid reader, and author of multiple stories for both kids and adults, with 25 stories published in Guide magazine and two stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Premonition: The Gift, Quinn’s debut novel, is book one in her middle-grade adventure series. Stay tuned for her upcoming debut adult novel, a psychological thriller. She currently serves as the Writer Relations Director in The Book Incubator, a comprehensive, 12-month writing program founded by author and writing coach Mary Adkins. A Wisconsin native, Quinn lives in a tiny town near Madison, and when not writing or working with writers, she enjoys reading, running, traveling to Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio to spend time with her kids, and hanging out with her furry friends: one energetic rescue dog and three cats (two sweet as pie, one naughty as can be!)
Renée Rosen is the USA Today bestselling author of Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl, The Social Graces, Park Avenue Summer, Windy City Blues, White Collar Girl, What the Lady Wants, and Dollface. Renée lives in Chicago.
A former university professor, Jeannée Sacken is now a photojournalist who travels to the ends of the earth, documenting the lives of women and children. She also photographs wildlife and is deeply committed to the conservation of endangered species. Described by MKE Lifestyle
magazine as “Indiana Jones with a camera,” Jeannée has summitted Mt. Kilimanjaro, canoed the Zambezi River, kayaked the North Pacific, and driven through far-western Mongolia in a
blizzard. Many of her adventures have been fictionalized into her novels. Her debut novel, Behind the Lens, the first book in the Annie Hawkins Series, has won numerous awards, including the 2021 American Writing Awards Novel of the Year and the Hawthorne Prize. Double Exposure was a finalist for the Firebird Awards for Best Suspense, Romantic Suspense, and Women’s Fiction. The Rule of Thirds won the Killer Nashville 2024 Silver Falchion Award for Best Suspense and the 2023 Literary Global Award for Novel of the year, among other prizes.
Jo Salazar grew up in the river bottoms of west central Illinois. Today, she lives in Chicago with her husband, Uli and their dog, Data. Her fascination with zombies started after she watched Night of the Living Dead at a friend’s house as a little girl, then refused to sleep alone for weeks.