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Benita (Bonnie) Garvin is an award-winning film and television writer and producer. Her original film The Killing Yard, starring Alan Alda, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was nominated for a host of awards. Bonnie was nominated for an Edgar Award and won a special media award from the American Bar Association for the film. In addition to her many projects in the United States, Bonnie also has credits in European film and television. She is part of the faculty of the nation’s most prestigious film school, the University of Southern California, where she teaches screenwriting. Bonnie teaches screenwriting privately as well, and hosts weekend writing workshops around the country.
Sherry Glaser-Love is the author and performer of Family Secrets, Off-Broadway’s longest running one-woman show. She received the L.A. Outer Critics Circle Award, South Florida’s Carbonell Award for Best Actress, the NY Theater World Award for Best Debut, a nomination for a Drama Desk Award, and L.A.’s Ovation Award. Her autobiography is Family Secrets: One Woman’s Look at a Relatively Painful Subject. Her newest stage works are Oh My Goddess! and The Adventures of Super Activist Mother. She is a founding member of the peace activist group Breasts Not Bombs.
Kathi Kamen Goldmark is the author of And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You, a novel; coauthor of The Great Rock & Roll Joke Book, Mid-Life Confidential: The Rock Bottom Remainders Tour America with Three Chords and an Attitude, and Write That Book Already! The Tough Love You Need to Get Published Now; and has contributed essays to several anthologies. With her husband, Sam Barry, she coauthors “The Author Enablers” column in BookPage. Kathi is founder of the all-author rock band the Rock Bottom Remainders and “Don’t Quit Your Day Job” Records, author liaison for high-profile literary events, and was a longtime producer of the radio show West Coast Live. A 2007 San Francisco Library Laureate and winner of the 2008 National Women’s Book Association Award, she likes to think she is ready for anything. Visit Kathi online at www.KathiandSam.net.
Barbara Graham is an essayist, playwright, and author who has written for Time; O, The Oprah Magazine; Glamour; More; National Geographic Traveler; Redbook; Utne Reader; Vogue; and many other publications. She is the author of Women Who Run with the Poodles and editor of the best-selling anthology Eye of My Heart: 27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother. Her plays have been produced Off-Broadway and at theaters around the United States.
Carrie Kabak is the author of Cover the Butter, a 2005 Independent Booksellers pick. She has received commendation as an illustrator by Writer’s Digest, was named illustrator of the month by the Society of Children’s Writers and Artists, and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer (DaVinci Eye) Award for superior cover design. Her second novel, Deviled Egg, is in progress. Visit Carrie online at www.carriekabak.com.
Aviva Layton is the author of the novel Nobody’s Daughter and several children’s books. She has taught literature at universities, colleges, and art schools and has reviewed plays, books, and film for newspapers, journals, and radio arts programs in the United States and Canada. She has had essays published in two anthologies, The Other Woman and The Face in the Mirror. Born in Sydney, Australia, Aviva lived for many years in Montreal, Toronto, and London. She currently resides in Los Angeles, where she works as a literary editor. Aviva is married to author and architect Leon Whiteson.
Barbara Lodge’s essays have appeared in the Sun, Whole Life Times, Amarillo Bay, Clever Magazine, and the upcoming anthology It’s All in Her Head. An essay written under her pen name, Leigh Stuart, was published by Seal Press in the anthology Dear John, I Love Jane, which was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. She holds a BA in English and a Juris Doctor and lives in Los Angeles with her two teenage children.
Malachy McCourt is a Brooklyn-born, Limerick-reared author and raconteur who has been a longshoreman, radio personality, film and theater actor, playwright, and, in 2006, a Green Party gubernatorial candidate in New York. He is the author of A Monk Swimming, which earned best seller status in the United States and abroad; Singing My Him Song; Bush Lies in State; Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland; The Claddagh Ring: Ireland’s Cherished Symbol of Friendship, Loyalty, and Love; Harold Be Thy Name: Light-hearted Daily Reflections for People in Recovery; and Danny Boy: The Legend of the Beloved Irish Ballad.
Richard McKenzie began to write after his Air Force service, at his father’s newspaper in Blountville, Tennessee. This was interrupted by nearly five decades of acting. His theater work includes leading roles at Arena Stage, Washington, DC (The Iceman Cometh), Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis (Of Mice and Men), Westport Playhouse (Uncle Vanya), and Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles (Lost Highway). Off-Broadway performances include Nobody Hears a Broken Drum and A Whistle in the Dark, and Broadway plays include leads in That Championship Season, The National Health, Uncle Vanya, and Indians. Film credits include Doc, Being There, Some Kind of Hero, Man on a Swing, In Love and War, and television work in Roots, It Takes Two (series regular), All in the Family, Archie Bunker’s Place, Love of Life (daytime series, fifty to sixty episodes), and In the Heat of the Night.
Jacquelyn Mitchard’s first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was named by USA Today as one of the ten most influential books of the past twenty-five years, second only to the Harry Potter series, and was the first novel Oprah Winfrey chose for her book club. The novel was transformed into a feature film produced by and starring Michelle Pfeiffer. Other novels include The Most Wanted, A Theory of Relativity, Twelve Times Blessed, The Breakdown Lane, and Cage of Stars. She has published five novels for young adults, including Now You See Her, All We Know of Heaven, The Midnight Twins, Look Both Ways, and Watch for Me by Moonlight. For mature young adults, she has written The Things We Saw at Night and The Things We Saw in the Dark. She is a contributing editor for the Disney parenting magazine Wondertime, and writes for More, Parade, and Real Simple, among other magazines.
Christine Kehl O’Hagan is the author of Benediction at the Savoia, a novel, and the memoir The Book of Kehls. Both books received starred Kirkus reviews, the latter a Kirkus Best Book of 2005 selection. Her essays have appeared in Between Friends, The Day My Father Died, Lives through Literature, The Facts On File Companion to the American Novel, Exploring Literature, For Keeps, The Face in the Mirror, and He Said What? She received the Jerry Lewis Writing Award and has contributed to the New York Times, Newsday, and several Long Island publications. O’Hagan lives on Long Island with her husband and is working on a second memoir.
Karen Quinn began writing in her mid-forties after she was laid off from a corporate job, started a Manhattan consultancy helping families get their children into the city’s best schools, sold the business, and decided to try to write about it. Her first novel was the best seller The Ivy Chronicles. She has written four other books, including Wife in the Fast Lane, Holly Would Dream, The Sister Diaries, and Testing for Kindergarten. Movie rights were optioned for The Ivy Chronicles and Holly Would Dream. Karen recently developed a game called IQ Fun Park to help parents get their children reading for kindergarten testing. Karen also runs a website helping parents with admissions and school placement at www.TestingMom.com.
Dianne Rinehart has worked in Moscow, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver as an editor, reporter, and columnist for some of the largest newspapers and magazines in Canada and the United States. She is a senior editor at the Toronto Star. Her work has appeared in the anthology He Said What? But her most important achievement to date is colaunching the organization Give Girls a Chance (www.givegirlsachance.org), to educate girls around the world. Their motto is: Educate a girl. Change the world.
Jenny Rough is a lawyer who switched jobs to launch a career as a freelance writer. She has written articles for the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, More, Whole Living, Yoga Journal, USA Weekend, AARP, and Writer’s Digest, among other publications. Her work has also appeared as commentaries on public radio. She is currently working on a memoir about healing from infertility.
Starhawk is the author of twel
ve books on Goddess religion, earth-based spirituality, and activism, including The Spiral Dance; The Earth Path; her children’s picture book, The Last Wild Witch; and her latest, The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups. She consulted on the Women in Spirituality series of documentaries for the National Film Board of Canada, and together with director Donna Read founded Belili Productions, making documentaries on issues concerning women and the earth. Their first, Signs Out of Time, explores the life and work of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas and was released in 2004. In November 2010 they released Permaculture: The Growing Edge, about the worldwide movement in regenerative ecological design. Her novel, The Fifth Sacred Thing, is in preproduction with Yerba Buena Films to become a feature-length movie. She works with the Reclaiming extended network of teachers and ritual makers. A committed activist for global justice and the environment, Starhawk also teaches Earth Activist Trainings: courses in permaculture and regenerative design with a focus on organizing and activism and a grounding in earth-based spirituality.
Ellen Sussman is the author of French Lessons and On a Night Like This, both San Francisco Chronicle best sellers. She is also the editor of two anthologies, Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex and Bad Girls: Twenty-six Writers Misbehave, the latter of which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a San Francisco Chronicle best seller. She has published numerous essays in anthologies, including The Other Woman, and a dozen of her short stories have appeared in literary and commercial magazines.
Michael Tucker is a veteran actor and recipient of three Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations for his role on L.A. Law. His theater credits are extensive, including plays throughout the United States, such as Moonchildren, Mother Courage, Trelawney of the Wells, and I’m Not Rappaport. Film credits include Radio Days, The Purple Rose of Cairo, An Unmarried Woman, The Eyes of Laura Mars, Network, and more. His first book was I Never Forget a Meal: An Indulgent Reminiscence, part cookbook, part memoir; Living in a Foreign Language: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Love in Italy was published in 2008 and is now available in paperback. He received the Good Guys Award from the National Women’s Political Caucus for his work on women’s health issues. His debut novel will be published next spring by The Overlook Press.
Leon Whiteson is a Southern Rhodesian–born (now Zimbabwe) architecture critic and writer. He is the author of A Place Called Waco: A Survivor’s Story; Dreams of a Weeping Woman; A Garden Story; A Terrible Beauty: The Positive Role of Violence in Culture, Life, and Society; and an impressive collection of books and articles on architecture. He has an essay in the anthology The Face in the Mirror. Leon lived in England, Spain, Greece, and Canada before settling in Los Angeles. He is married to author Aviva Layton.
Victoria Zackheim (editor) is the author of the novel The Bone Weaver and editor of four anthologies: The Other Woman: Twenty-one Wives, Lovers, and Others Talk Openly about Sex, Deception, Love, and Betrayal; For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth about Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance; The Face in the Mirror: Writers Reflect on Their Dreams of Youth and the Reality of Age; and He Said What? Women Write about Moments When Everything Changed. Victoria adapted five essays from The Other Woman and created a play, produced by Jonathan and Hillary Reinis Productions. She is story developer and writer of the documentary film Tracing Thalidomide: The Frances Kelsey Story and writer for Where Birds Never Sang: The Story of Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camps, both with On the Road Productions. Her screenplay about the Maidstone prison escape has been optioned by Identity Films. A 2010 San Francisco Library Laureate, she teaches personal essay writing in the University of California, Los Angeles Extension Writers’ Program.