Growing up Tonya Jewel Blessing spent numerous vacations and holidays in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia. Most of her adult life has been spent in full-time ministry with a focus on helping women. She has traveled nationally and internationally as a conference speaker.

An award-winning novelist, poet, magazine editor, and freelance writer for Architecture & Design of the West and Colorado Expression, among others, Corinne is a past-president of the Denver Woman’s Press Club, and a charter member of Women Writing the West. She focuses on design, history and transformation.

Steven is the author of the bestselling novel, Waiting for Today, and the highly successful weekly column, TRUTH: In 1000 Words or Less.  He has been published in numerous highly respected publications.  Inspired by his love for the written word, Steven spent fifteen years teaching literature before turning his attention to writing full-time

Author, radio host, columnist, blogger, retired English teacher; thought provocateur with an impudent, iconoclastic sense of humor; literary spelunker; skier, hiker and runner that enjoys gasping for oxygen at 8500 feet and sluicing through Mary Jane’s bumps and powder; and snob who considers imbibing beer not micro-brewed in Colorado sacrilegious.

Marc Graham is an actor, singer, bard, engineer, Freemason, and whisky aficionado (Macallan 18, one ice cube). When not on stage, in a pub, or bound to his computer, he can be found traipsing about Colorado’s Front Range with his wife and their Greater Swiss Mountain Dog.

Kate Jonuska studied creative writing at the University of Denver, but afterward spent years writing food, fitness and general features for top-notch regional media. She returned to her passion for fiction first in short stories, earning a Pushcart Prize nomination in 2015, and her first novel, Transference, published in 2017.

“Raising Timber” is Joy’s first published novel and draws upon her family’s experience with fetal exposure to alcohol. She’s a graduate of Englewood High and Goshen College. Following many years living in Mexico Joy has returned to call Bailey, Colorado home.

Gail Mencini is the award-winning author of the fiction Best Seller “To Tuscany with Love”, an adult coming-of-age novel. The second novel in Gail’s Tuscany Series will be released in 2018 with new, intriguing characters who take readers on another touching Tuscan adventure.

Marsha Anderson Smith is a Colorado author with roots in northern Wisconsin.  She has worked as an editor, grant writer, artist, and educator.  Marsha has traveled throughout the world, drawing inspiration from travel, the north woods lakes and western lands.

Award-winning Storyteller and writer John Stansfield loves sharing stories any way he can. He recounts stories from the American West and the world live and in book form. His folkloric fiction collection, Rocky Mountain Stories To Read Aloud or Alone, will appear in 2018.

The biography I wrote, Passion For Life: Ruth Marie Colville, gave me the courage, fifteen years later, to entertain the idea of writing stories based on authentic love letters. Those stories eventually melded into a novel, My Darling Dorothy. My current passion is writing memoirs and biographies through my business, Tell Me Your Story.

LAURIE MARR WASMUND is the author of My Heart Lies Here, a novel of the Ludlow Massacre; Clean Cut, A Romance of the Western Heart; and To Do Justice and To Love Kindness, the first two books of the White Winter Trilogy, set during World War I.

J. L. ABRAMO, born in Brooklyn on Raymond Chandler's fifty-ninth birthday, is the author of the Jake Diamond novels—Catching Water in a Net, Clutching at Straws, Counting to Infinity, Circling the Runway (Shamus Award Winner) and Chasing Charlie Chan—and the thrillersGravesend, Brooklyn Justice and Coney Island Avenue.

Mario Acevedo is a national bestselling author and has won a Colorado Book Award and an International Latino Book Award. He serves on the faculty of the Regis Mile-High MFA program and Lighthouse Writers. He contributed to the anthologies, Nightmares Unhinged, CyberWorld, and Blood Business from Hex Publishers.

Author J.v.L. Bell is a Colorado native who grew up listening to stories from Colorado’s vibrant past. Her first novel, The Lucky Hat Mine, is an entertaining historical mystery that weaves together a strong female character, a cozy mystery, and colorful historical Colorado characters and tales.

Jodi Bowersox writes romance novels that span genres from faith fiction to suspense to time-travel with small town to big city settings. In addition, she has children's picture books to her credit and a non-fiction Bible commentary. Jodi is also a watercolor artist, living with her husband in Colorado Springs.

With intent to bring credibility to her stories, Peg graduated from the Aurora Citizens’ Police Academy, participated in the Writers’ Police Academy, interviewed crime scene investigators, FBI agents, human trafficking experts, obtained her Concealed Carry, studied arson dogs to Santeria, and hunted down locations that show up in her books.

Rohret Buchner is a nurse by day and writer by night. Her pen name honors grandmothers whose courage and determination are the inspiration for intrepid heroines. Length of Days and Poetry of Days are the first two books in the science fiction/fantasy Shalemar Trilogy.

Rex Burns, author of books, articles, reviews, and short stories, won an Edgar for The Alvarez Journal. The Avenging Angel became a Charles Bronson film. His twenty- plus mysteries are in E-format, audio, and print from Mysterious Press; his dark comedy, The Better Part of Valour, can be found wherever E-books are sold, and Into Enemy Arms --a novel of the Civil War home front--is his latest work.

I am a retired middle school science teacher, working part-time as an educator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I wrote The Brin Archives as a challenge to learn something new. I have been married for forty years to the love of my life. We raised two incredible sons, and now have three amazing grandchildren to spoil rotten.

John’s early writing work included newspaper editorials and film reviews. He later became drawn toward political and cultural issues, and currently writes national commentary for multiple publications. His first novel, From a Dead Sleep, was published in 2013. He has since released two more books in the Sean Coleman series.

Avery Daniels is a Colorado native with a degree in business administration and has worked in fortune 500 companies or Department of Defense. She lives with two brother black cats as her spirited companions. She volunteers for a cat shelter, enjoys card making, photography, and painting in watercolor and acrylic.

TODD FAHNESTOCK won the New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age Award for one of his short stories, and is the author of the bestselling fantasy novels Fairmist and The Wishing World. Stories are his passion, but Todd's greatest accomplishment is his quirky, fun-loving family.

Sheldon Friedman practiced law as a litigation attorney in Denver, Colorado. He has written for the Denver Business Journal, numerous legal publications, and authored a legal treatise on electronic evidence and trial.    Two of his books have been published, The Velvet Prison and The Satin Sash. He is presently working on the third book in the trilogy, The Silk Swan. The Velvet Prison was a finalist in the 2016 Colorado Author’s League Book Award for best fiction.

Darin Gibby, a noted patent attorney, is the author of four books: Why Has America Stopped Inventing?, The Vintage Club, Gil, and Chasing Hindy. An avid traveler and accomplished triathlete, Darin also enjoys back country fly-fishing trips and skiing in the Rocky Mountains.

Jennifer Kincheloe is a research scientist turned writer of historical fiction. Her books are set in 1900s Los Angeles among the police matrons of the LAPD. Currently, Dr. Kincheloe studies the jails in Denver, Colorado.

Cynthia Kuhn writes the Lila Maclean Academic Mystery Series, which includes The Semester of Our Discontent, an Agatha Award recipient, and The Art of Vanishing. She is professor of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver and current president of Sisters in Crime-Colorado.

Chris writes science fiction/fantasy and nonfiction for writers. She’s the Conference Director for Superstars Writing Seminars, served as Pikes Peak Writers’ president, and has taught writing workshops for 10+ years. Her books include Seeds: a post-apocalyptic adventure and 52 Ways to Get Unstuck: Exercises to Break Through Writer’s Block.

Art Elser is a poet and writer whose poetry has been published in many journals and anthologies. His books include a memoir, What's It All About, Alfie?, and three poetry books, We Leave the Safety of the Sea, A Death at Tollgate Creek, and As The Crow Flies. He believes that in troubled times like this, people should have the beauty and calm of poetry in their lives. Especially to start the day.

Stephanie Harper received her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Fairfield University with an emphasis in fiction. Her debut poetry collection, Sermon Series, was published in September 2017 with Finishing Line Press. Her work can be found in The Huffington Post, HelloGiggles, HerStories, Feminine Collective, Matador Review, Poetry Quarterly, Midwest Literary Magazine, Haiku Journal, and Spry Literary Journal. She lives in Littleton, CO.

Lois Beebe Hayna spoke the language of metaphor in ways readers understood. Her work appears in hundreds of literary journals and eight books of collected works. Lois received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Regis University and the Colorado Authors League presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Lois died in 2017 at the age of 104.

Joseph Murphy has been published in a number of journals, including The Ann Arbor Review, Northwind and The Sugar House Review. He recently had collection of poems published, Crafting Wings (Scars Publications, 2017); and a second collection, Having Lived, is forthcoming from Kelsay Books (2018). He is senior poetry editor for an online literary publication, Halfway Down the Stairs, established 2006.