Joe O'Sullivan is a retired cop and former blogger. He has one published essay, and the former ChicagoNow blog Arresting Tales to his credit. He enjoys making stuff up for family and friends, and is fascinated by oddballs, alligators, and...  read

Laura Adamczyk was born and raised and still lives in Illinois. Her writing has won awards from the Union League Civic & Arts Foundation of Chicago and has appeared in the Chicago Reader, Ninth Letter, PANK, Passages North, The Rumpus,...  read

Wendy McClure is the author of several books, including The Wilder Life: My Adventures of the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie. The first novel in her kids' series, Wanderville, came out in January and the second book...  read

Naomi Buck Palagi grew up in the woods of Kentucky. She works and lives in NW Indiana with her husband and two lively little kids, but once upon a time lived down the street from Hopleaf. She has work published...  read

Amelia Beamer writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels & stories and has spent the past few years in the UK, Australia, Japan, Germany, Ireland, and Iceland. She is the author of The Loving Dead, the number two zombie novel...  read

Born and raised on Chicago's Northwest side, Chuck Sudo has called Bridgeport home for nearly 15 years and has written for the popular local website Chicagoist for nearly nine years--the last three-plus as editor-in-chief. His writing has appeared in the...  read

Tom Underberg writes speculative fiction and raises children. He can often be found photographing bricks, sidewalks and manhole covers for a blog on overlooked infrastructure. Before Tom's children were born he worked at less demanding jobs in software and consulting....  read

Cameron McGill is a Chicago-based singer and songwriter. He recently released his sixth album, Gallows Etiquette. The album was funded via a PledgeMusic.com campaign; a percentage of funds raised will support Rock For Kids, a charity which provides instruments and...  read

Mare Swallow is the founder and Executive Director of the Chicago Writers Conference, an organization that exists to connect writers to publishing professionals...and each other! CWC will feature a Self-Publishing Workshop in March. She is also a professional speaker and...  read

Ryan Bartelmay graduated from the University of Iowa in 1998, where he was a member of the Undergraduate Writer's Workshop, and then went on to Columbia University to receive an MFA in fiction writing in 2005. His debut novel, Onward...  read