Mary Winn Heider writes for kids, but has also worked as a public radio reporter, a high school teacher, and a bartender on a train in Alaska. She teaches writing to kids in Chicago Public Schools with the theater company...  read

Jonathan Winston Jones has struggled more to come out as a writer than he did when coming out as gay. Whenever he hits his stride with his writing, he hears the voice of his deceased grandfather who raised him saying,...  read

In 2000, Edward Moses's diverse musical upbringing began to suddenly make a lot of sense, as the whirlwinds of albums his parents had at home merged with his sudden discovery of Hip-Hop and Slam Poetry, all in a single summer....  read

Alicia Swiz is a professor, performer, and professional feminist. Drawing from her personal experience and her academic training, Alicia Swiz facilitates conversations about gender, sex and pop culture. She is the host of the monthly showcase, Feminist Happy Hour, and...  read

Tiffany Gholar is a lifelong Chicago resident. She is the author of three art books: Post-Consumerism, Imperfect Things, and The Doll Project. A Bitter Pill to Swallow is her first novel, which started out as a short story she wrote...  read

Hannah Gamble is a poet, essayist, editor, performer,and educator. Her first book, Your Invitation to a Modest Breakfast, won the National Poetry Series in 2011. In 2014 she received a Ruth Lilly/Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg fellowship from The Poetry Foundation. You...  read

Scott Whitehair is an international storyteller, producer, and instructor. He is the producer of long running personal narrative series This Much Is True, creator of Story Lab Chicago, which has put 450+ new tellers on stage since 2011, and director...  read

Lori Rader-Day, author of The Day I Died, The Black Hour, and Little Pretty Things, is the recipient of the 2016 Mary Higgins Clark Award and the 2015 Anthony Award for Best First Novel. Lori's short fiction has appeared in...  read

Elizabeth Gomez is a comedian, writer, and a free bleeder. She performs all over the city, but you may have seen her on Check Please, which means she is Chicago famous now. She is the founding writer of Drinkers with...  read

Nadine Kenney Johnstone is the author of the memoir, Of This Much I'm Sure, about her IVF challenges and the healing power of hope. Her infertility story has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Today's Parent, and Chicago Health Magazine, among others. She...  read