Alan Watt is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and publisher. The 90-Day Novel, Watt’s nonfiction guide to writing, was published in 2010. His novel Diamond Dogs (Little, Brown) was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and was recognized in the New York Times list of “New and Notable Books.” Diamond Dogs has won numerous awards, including France’s 2004 Prix Printemps. Watt recently adapted Diamond Dogs for the French film company Quad. In 2002, Watt founded LA Writers’ Lab to help writers of all levels unlock the story within. His 90-Day Novel workshops in Los Angeles are now taught online to writers worldwide. Writers Tribe Books, his publishing venture, will release four works of literary fiction in the winter of 2012.

Samantha Dunn is the author of Failing Paris (Toby Press), a finalist for the PEN Center USA Literary Fiction Award in 2000; and the memoirs Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life (Henry Holt & Co.), a BookSense 76 pick; and Faith in Carlos Gomez: A Memoir of Salsa, Sex and Salvation (Henry Holt & Co.). Samantha’s work is anthologized in several places, including the short story anthology Women on the Edge: Writing from Los Angeles (Toby Press), which Dunn co-edited with writer Julianne Ortale. Dunn’s essays have appeared in numerous national publications including the Los Angeles Times; O, The Oprah Magazine; Ms.; Redbook; and Shape. In 2000, Dunn received the Maggie Award for Best Personal Essay in a Consumer Publication. A widely published journalist, Dunn’s bylines are regularly featured in InStyle, Glamour, SELF, Men’s Health, and a variety of other consumer magazines. A writer-in-residence at the New York State Summer Writers Institute for many years, Dunn currently teaches at the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. Dunn lives in Southern California with her husband, musician/politico Jimmy Camp, and their son Ben.

 

Anna Journey is the author of the collection, If Birds Gather Your Hair for Nesting (University of Georgia Press, 2009), selected by Thomas Lux for the National Poetry Series. Her poems are published in American Poetry Review, FIELD, Kenyon Review, and Shenandoah, and her essays appear in At Length, Blackbird, Notes on Contemporary Literature, Parnassus, and Plath Profiles. Journey holds a PhD in creative writing and literature from the University of Houston, and she currently teaches creative writing at the University of Southern California. She recently received a fellowship in poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Gabrielle Calvocoressi is the author of The Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart (Persea 2005) and Apocalyptic Swing (Persea 2009), which was
a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Award. She is the recipient
 of numerous awards and fellowships including a Stegner Fellowship and
 Jones Lectureship from Stanford University, a Rona Jaffe Woman
Writer's Award and a fellowship to Civitella di Ranieri in Umbria. Her 
poems have been featured in the Washington Post and on Garrison 
Keillor's Poet's Almanac and in numerous journals. She is the poetry editor for The Los Angeles Review of Books and is on the advisory 
board of The Rumpus' Poetry Book Club. Along with gallerist Heather 
Taylor she curates the acclaimed reading series, Eating Our Words
 (eatingrwords.com). She lives in Los Angeles.
 

Diana Wagman is a novelist and screenwriter. Her first book, Skin Deep, was heralded by the New York Times as a “brilliant debut.” Her second novel, Spontaneous, won the 2001 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Fiction. Bump, her last novel, was short-listed for the Dublin Literary Prize. Most recently, she has published short stories in Los Angeles Noir, Black Clock, and the premiere issue of Electric Literature alongside Michael Cunningham and Jim Shepard. As a screenwriter, Wagman wrote DELIVERING MILO (2001) starring Albert Finney and Bridget Fonda. Her reviews and essays have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The LA Weekly, and Poets & Writers. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

 

Mary Otis is an award winning writer whose short story collection Yes, Yes, Cherries was published in 2007 by Tin House Books. She has had stories and essays published in Best New American Voices, Los Angeles Times, Tin House, Berkeley Literary Journal, Alaska Quarterly Review, Cincinnati Review, and Santa Monica Review. Her writing has recently been anthologized in Woof: Fiction Writers on Dogs (Viking) and Tales of Sex and Love (Tin House). Her story "Pilgrim Girl" received an honorable mention for a Pushcart Prize, and her story "Unstruck" was cited in 100 Distinguished Stories in the Best American Short Stories 2006. She is a Walter Dakin Fellow, and in 2009 was invited by the NEA in collaboration with la Fil to attend the Guadalajara Book Festival as a fiction writer. Originally from the Boston area, Mary is a fiction professor in the UC Riverside Low-Residency MFA Program where she is part of the core faculty.