Carmen T. Bernier-Grand

Carmen T. Bernier-Grand was born and grew up in Puerto Rico, but haslived in Portland, Oregon for thirty-two years. She is the author of sevenbooks for children and young adults. Her César: ¡Sí, se puede! Yes, We Can and her Frida: ¡Viva la vida! Long Live Life!  won Pura Belpré honor awards.Her next book, Diego: Bigger Than Life will be released in March 2009.Carmen teaches for Community of Writers, Writers in the Schools, and at the Whidbey Island MFA program. She just returned from Cuba researching for a book on Prima Ballerina Alicia Alonso.

Marian Blue

Marian Blue's award-winning journalism, essays, fiction, and poetry appear in publications such as: The Christian Science Monitor, Colorado Review, Snowy Egret, ACM (Another Chicago Magazine), Raven Chronicles, Tiller and the Pen (anthology/Eighth Moon Press), and A Hundred White Daffodils (Graywolf Press). She is an editor/writer for One World Journeys (www.oneworldjourneys.com), an online production combining wilderness expeditions and environmental education. Marian teaches creative writing and literature for Skagit Valley College and Writers Digest Schools; she is partner of Blue & Ude Writers' Services (www.blueudewritersservices.com).

Molly Dwyer

Molly Dwyer has been a transformational educator for more than fifteen years, facilitating workshops and teaching English composition, creative writing, and literature in community college. Requiem for the Author of Frankenstein, Molly's debut novel, is the fruit of over a decade of research and writing. She's also co-author of Divine Duality: The Power of Reconciliation between Women and Men with William Keepin and Cynthia Brix. Molly has studied fiction writing with Seamus Heaney, at Ireland's Galway University, and with England's Arvon Project. She's trained with the National Writing Project and studied literature in an Oxford University summer program. Molly earned her Masters in at Sonoma State University and completed a PhD at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.  www.mollydwyer.com

Karen Fisher

Karen Fisher's debut novel, A Sudden Country, was named a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award and winner of the Mountains and Plains Booksellers' Award, The Virginia Commonwealth Award for First Fiction, the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award, and the Washington State Book Award for Fiction. She taught a winter course in fiction writing for the University of Washington Extension program, and is currently completing her second novel for Random House. Before establishing her career as a writer, she worked as a wrangler, a high school teacher, a farmer, and carpenter, and now raises and trains Nez Perce horses. She lives with her husband and three children on Lopez Island.  www.asuddencountry,com

Lisa Hendrix

Lisa Hendrix has published six novels and is currently writing a multi-book paranormal/historical romance series for Berkley Books. She has been presenting workshops for over ten years at regional and national writers conferences and is a regular judge in contests for both published and unpublished manuscripts, including the Romance Writers of America RITA contest. A former resident of the Seattle area, Lisa now lives in Southern Oregon with her husband, two kids, and a passel of animals both warm- and cold-blooded.

Nancy Horan

A writer and journalist,Nancy's work has appeared in numerous publications. Loving Frank is her first novel. She lived most of her life in Oak Park, IL, until her recent move to Whidbey Island. www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/lovingfrank

Phillip Margolin

A retired attorney specializing in criminal defense, Phillip Margolin began writing full time in 1996. All of his novels have been New York Times bestsellers. Heartstone, his first novel, was nominated for an Edgar for best original paperback mystery of 1978 by the Mystery Writers of America. The Last Innocent Man, was made into an HBO movie. Gone, But Not Forgotten  has been sold to more than 25 foreign publishers and debuted as a miniseries in 2004. Executive Privilege, released in 2008, is a powerful tale of murder that snakes its way through Washington, D.C.'s halls of power, leading straight to the White House. Phil has also published short stories and nonfiction articles in magazines and law journals. His short story, The Jailhouse Lawyer , was selected for the anthology 1999, The Best American Mystery Stories. Since 1996, Phil has been the President and Chairman of the Board of Chess for Success, a nonprofit charity that uses chess to teach study skills to elementary and middle school children in Title I schools.  www.phillipmargolin.com

Wayne Ude

Wayne Ude, M.F.A. is the author of Becoming Coyote, Buffalo and other stories, Maybe I Will Do Something:  Seven Tales of Coyote (for ages ten and up), and the fine press limited edition Three Coyote Tales. His stories have appeared in Ploughshares, North American Review, and The Last Good Place, among others. After receiving an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts, he taught creative writing and directed writing programs at universities for 17 years. Since 1993 he's lived, written, and taught on Whidbey Island, in addition to teaching writing through correspondence and online courses. He is partner of Blue & Ude Writers’ Services and the Director of the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA Program.