David Grand’s first novel, Louse (1998), was selected as a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. His second novel, The Disappearing Body (2002), is described by Salon.com as “A nifty update on the classic noir [which] plumbs an urban underworld of dames, dope rings, double-crossing heavies and poor saps set up to take a fall.” His third novel, Mount Terminus, will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the winter of 2014. Grand’s writing has appeared in anthologies as well as The New York Times Magazine, Travel and Leisure, BlackBook, and elsewhere.

René Steinke is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow. Her most recent novel is Friendswood, which was shortlisted for the St. Francis Literary Prize, and was named one of National Public Radio’s “Great Reads.” She is also the author of The Fires and Holy Skirts, which was a 2005 finalist for the National Book Award. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, Salon, Redbook, TriQuarterly, Bookforum, and in various anthologies. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of The Literary Review, and now serves as Editor-at-Large. Steinke directs the low-residency MFA program.

 

Walter Cummins has published more than 100 stories in such magazines as Kansas Quarterly, New Letters, Other Voices, Crosscurrents, Florida Review, South Carolina Review, Green Hills Literary Lantern, Virginia Quarterly Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Arabesques, and Confrontation. His story collections are titled Witness, Where We Live, Local Music, The End of the Circle, The Lost Ones, and Habitat: Stories of Bent Realism. Early in his career, two novels, A Stranger to the Deed and Into Temptation, came out as paperback originals. He also has published memoirs, essays, articles, and reviews. His nonfiction books include The Literary Explorer, co-written with Thomas E. Kennedy: a study of the impact of TV on life in the U.S., Programming Our Lives: Television and American Identity, co-written with George Gordon: and a photo history of the estate that became the College at Florham campus, Florham: The Lives of an American Estate, co-written with Carol Bere and Samuel Convissor. With Thomas E. Kennedy, he is co-publisher of Serving House Books.

 

Rachel Sherman holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Her short stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, Fence, Open City, Conjunctions, and n+1, among other publications. Her first book, The First Hurt, was short-listed for the Story Prize and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and was named one of the 25 Books to Remember in 2006 by the New York Public Library. Her first novel, Living Room (2009), was called “…edgy, moving, smart, funny, and altogether human,” by author Dani Shapiro, and was commended for its “…perfect pacing…” by The New York Times Book Review.

Rebecca Chace is the author of Leaving Rock Harbor (Scribner), an Editor’s Choice in the New York Times Book Review, also a June Notable book/Indie Pick by the American Booksellers Association, and a finalist for the 2010 New England Book Award. Her first book, a memoir, Chatauqua Summer, was a New York Times Book Review Notable book as well as an Editor’s Choice and a Pick for Summer. Chace is also the author of the novel, Capture the Flag, adapted for the screen by Chace and the director, Lisanne Skyler. The film received the Showtime Tony Cox Screenwriting Award at the 2010 Nantucket Film Festival. The film was screened at national and international film festivals in 2010-2011. Also a playwright, Chace’s plays include: Colette (Theatre for the New City) and an adaptation of Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, produced by Book-It Repertory Theatre at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. She has received fellowships and has been a guest artist with New York Theatre Workshop, the MacDowell Colony, and the Foundation of Yaddo. “Looking for Robinson Crusoe,” an excerpt of her current work-in-progress, was published in the Summer 2013 issue of The Literary Review. Chace has recently been awarded a Grace Paley Fiction Fellowship for the summer of 2014 at the Vermont Studio Center. She is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she teaches Fiction writing and Nonfiction writing in the graduate and undergraduate programs.