Alan DeNiro lives in Minnesota. He's the author of two short story collections--Skinny Dipping in the Lake of the Dead, and Tyrannia, both from Small Beer Press; and the novel Total Oblivion, More or Less, from Ballantine. He's recently completed...  read

H. Melt is a poet and artist who was born in Chicago. Their work proudly documents Chicago's queer and trans communities. Their writing has been published by Chicago Artist Writers, Lambda Literary, and THEM, the first trans literary journal in...  read

Cameron McGill is a Chicago-based musician and writer. He recently released his sixth album, Gallows Etiquette. His work has appeared in Poetry East, Measure, and Split Lip Magazine. Please join Cameron and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, February 3,...  read

Christa Desir writes contemporary fiction for young adults. Her novels include Fault Line and Bleed Like Me and the forthcoming Other Broken Things. She lives with her husband, three children, and overly-enthusiastic dog outside of Chicago. She has volunteered as...  read

Patty Templeton is roughly 25 apples tall and 11,000 cups of coffee into her life. She wears red sequins and stomping boots while writing, then hits up back-alley dance bars and honky tonks. Her stories are full of ghosts, freaks,...  read

Erin Shea is a writer and editor. Her work has been noted in a number of publications, including Good Morning America, The Wall Street Journal, Self, the New York Times, O, The Oprah Magazine, and she's published in the Huffington...  read

Kelly Swails is a writer and editor who pays the bills by editing an online scientific journal. Her short fiction has appeared in several anthologies including Coins of Chaos and Boondocks Fantasy. She relocated to Chicago this past summer and...  read

John Rich is a writer, performer, teacher, and arts administrator. He is currently the Director of the Guild Literary Complex, a cross-cultural presenting organization in Chicago, and was the founder of the Chicago Book Expo. He earned an MFA in...  read

James Kennedy is the author of The Order of Odd-Fish, a young adult fantasy that was named one of the Smithsonian's Notable Books for Children. Booklist praised Odd-Fish as "hilarious" and Time Out Chicago described it as "a work of...  read

Christopher Sweet spent virtually his entire working life cunningly disguised as a high school English teacher in the Chicago suburbs. He blogs irregularly at Chicago Now, "Truth and Absurdity Spotting in Chicago," under his boyhood nickname, Kit. Please join Christopher...  read