Linda D. Addison grew up in Philadelphia and began weaving stories at an early age. Ms Addison is the first African-American recipient of the world renowned HWA Bram Stoker Awardu00ae and has received five awards for collections: The Place of Broken Things written with Alessandro Manzetti; Four Elements written with Charlee Jacob, Marge Simon and Rain Graves; How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend short stories and poetry; Being Full of Light, Insubstantial; Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes. In 2018, she received the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, Addison was designated SFPA Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry.She co-edited Sycorax's Daughters anthology of horror fiction & poetry by African-American women with Kinitra Brooks PhD and Susana Morris PhD, which was a HWA Bram Stoker finalist in the Anthology category. She currently lives in Arizona and has published over 400 poems, stories and articles. Look for her story in the Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda anthology (Titan/Marvel).

Casey Aimer is a cyberpunk poet and editor who holds master’s degrees in both poetry and publishing. He works for an open-access scientific publisher and is founder of Radon Journal, an anarchist science fiction publisher. His poetry has been featured in Strange Horizons, Small Wonders, Worlds of IF, Space & Time, Star*Line, and many more. An SFWA and SFPA member, his work has been a Rhysling Award finalist and Soft Star Magazine contest winner. He can be found on Bluesky and CaseyAimer.com

David Anaxagoras is the author of The Tower (Recorded Books, 2025), a middle-grade horror audiobook about kids who wake in a mysterious penthouse with no memories, no adults, and no way out. His short fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Worlds of Possibility, Translunar Travelers Lounge, and elsewhere. He created and co-executive produced Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, Amazon Prime Video’s award-winning coming-of-age series, for which he received a WGA award nomination. He holds an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and currently resides in Texas (but not on purpose), where he writes full time, powered by cold brew coffee, 80s vinyl, and a healthy disregard for the impossible.

Kit Anderson is an Ignatz Award-nominated cartoonist from Boulder, Colorado living near Zürich. Her short stories have been published by Parsifal Press and the Rumpus, and collected into Safer Places (Avery Hill, 2024). Kit makes comics about memory, nature, and space adventures sometimes, too. Second Shift (Avery Hill, 2025) is her first graphic novel.

Stewart C Baker (any pronouns) is an academic librarian and author of speculative fiction, poetry, and games. He is the author of The Butterfly Disjunct: And Other Stories (Interstellar Flight Press), co-wrote the Nebula-nominated game The Bread Must Rise with James Beamon, and was lead writer for the Nebula-award-winning game A Death in Hyperspace. Stewart's shorter works have appeared in Asimov’s, Fantasy, Flash Fiction Online, Lightspeed, Nature, IFComp, and various other places. Born in England, Stewart has lived in South Carolina, Japan, and Los Angeles, and now lives within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya in Oregon—although if anyone asks, he’ll usually say he’s from the Internet.

Renan Bernardo is a Nebula and Ignyte finalist author of science fiction and fantasy from Brazil. His fiction appeared in Reactor/Tor.com, Clarkesworld, Apex Magazine, Podcastle, Escape Pod, and elsewhere. He writes from secondary world fantasy to dark science fiction, and he enjoys the intersection of climate narratives with science, technology, and the human relations inherent to it. His solarpunk/clifi collection, Different Kinds of Defiance, was published in 2024. His dark sci-fi novella, Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle, was published in 2025 by Dark Matter Ink. He also had stories recommended by Locus and longlisted for the BSFA.

Mayanna Berrin is a writer for animation and games, voice actor, comedian, and performer based in Los Angeles, CA.

Jonathan is a full-time hybrid writer living in Colorado Springs with his wife Kiwi and twin daughters Danika Dawn and Darika Marie. (Dani and Dari are the inspirations for GEMINI RISING's Nika and Rika.) He is a retired Marine infantry colonel, a former grad school professor, and a former director of international business at a large multinational manufacturing corporation.He writes mostly military scifi with forays into YA, paranormal, and fantasy. He is a multiple Nebula Award finalist, a multiple Dragon Award finalist, and a USA Today bestseller.Jonathan has been a national representative for the VFW, walking the halls of Congress to get bills passed for active duty members, veterans, and their families. He’s been a long-time volunteer for SFWA and is currently serving as the CFO.When he’s not writing, Jonathan is playing with his girls, cooking, and working out in the gym. He’s been a national champion equestrian and rugger and recently earned a national championship in powerlifting. You can find him at various cons throughout the year in the US and abroad.

Guillaume Broche is known for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (2025), Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint (2019) and Might & Magic: Heroes VII (2015). (from IMDb)

Jubilee Cho (13 April 1998 – 06 March 2024) was a writer and dreamer.Cho grew up near Disneyland, enamored with stories of fantastical princesses. Yearning to see herself included in such tales, she wrote her own to help give new generations of children something she’d needed to create for herself. Cho planned a long writing career and wanted to use her platform to foster awareness about disability and mental health, and to share the beauty of trans joy with the world.Author Kwame Mbalia who had reached out as a mentor says, “In the briefest of moments that I was able to interact with Jubilee, her desire to not only write, but to write for young readers about drawing upon their own identity and sharing that with others, was an inspiration. She is an inspiration, and her light is gone too soon, though its glow will live on in the hearts of those who knew her.”Author E.D.E. Bell said, “Jubilee was a princess who wanted everyone to know that they too can be included in stories, in joy, in femininity, in Pride, in gathering, in any magic they desired. I hope children will find their own spirit in her lovely, hopeful story, and let it lift them to soar.”Jubilee Cho lived 25 years.

Amy Chu is a writer for comics, graphic novels, and animation. Her most recent graphic novel is Carmilla: The Eternal (Dark Horse / Berger Books) the final book in the award winning Carmilla the First Vampire trilogy. For Marvel she wrote the miniseries Emma Frost: White Queen, and for Gearbox/Dark Horse the Borderlands mini series Moxxi's Mysterious Memento. She worked on two Netflix shows including the anime series DOTA: Dragon’s Blood. Her credits include characters such as Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy, Deadpool, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man and Iron Man. Known for her Dejah Thoris: Princess of Mars prequel and her contemporary run on the sword fantasy Red Sonja, she is also the first female writer on the KISS and Green Hornet series. Her children's graphic novels include Ana and the Cosmic Race, Turning Red (Pixar), the L. Frank Baum adaptation Sea Sirens and Sky Island (Penguin Random House). Amy is a frequent speaker at comic cons and schools and libraries, and has served as a Harvey and Ringo awards judge. She is on the faculty of the Kubert School and the School of Visual Arts and a board member of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Her interests include: Travel, Lego, coffee, donuts and whiskey. You can follow her on instagram @amy_chu, tiktok @theamychu, and on Facebook/iwritecomics.

Suzanne Collins is an American author best known for writing The Hunger Games trilogy. She began her career in 1991 as a writer for children’s television, working on shows for Nickelodeon such as Clarissa Explains It All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, and Little Bear. Collins later became the head writer for Clifford’s Puppy Days.Her first book series, The Underland Chronicles, was published between 2003 and 2007. The series includes five novels: Gregor the Overlander, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor and the Marks of Secret, and Gregor and the Code of Claw.In 2008, Collins published The Hunger Games, the first book in a dystopian trilogy. The series continued with Catching Fire (2009) and Mockingjay (2010). The trilogy has been translated into more than 50 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide. In 2020, Collins released a prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.Collins has received several awards for her work, including the California Young Reader Medal and the Children’s Choice Book Awards Author of the Year. The Hunger Games was named a New York Times Notable Children’s Book of 2008 and an American Library Association Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults. The series has also been adapted into a successful film franchise.In 2013, Time Magazine named Suzanne Collins one of the most influential people in the world. (Bio from School Reading List, UK)

P.A. Cornell is a Chilean-Canadian speculative fiction writer. A two-time finalist for the Nebula Award, her stories have been published in over sixty magazines and anthologies, including Lightspeed, Apex, and four “Best of” anthologies. In addition to becoming the first Chilean Nebula finalist in 2024, Cornell has been a finalist for the Aurora and World Fantasy Awards, and in 2022 won Canada’s Short Works Prize. When not writing, she can be found assembling intricate LEGO builds or drinking ridiculous quantities of tea. Sometimes both. For more on the author and her work, visit her website pacornell.com.

Marie Croke is a fantasy, science-fiction, and horror writer with 50 stories in publication. She is a graduate of the Odyssey workshop, first place winner in the Writers of the Future contest, and her work has been published in The Best Horror of the Year Anthology, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex Magazine, Diabolical Plots, Flash Fiction Online, Fireside, Cast of Wonders, and The Orange & Bee, among other magazines and anthologies. She has worked as an editor for multiple magazines, including khōréō and Dark Matter INK, and has written reviews for Apex Magazine and articles for writers for the SFWA Blog. She lives in Maryland with her family and enjoys crocheting, kayaking, and aerial dancing in her free time. You can find her online at mariecroke.com or chat with her @mariecroke.bsky.social on Bluesky.

J.R. Dawson (she/they) is the Golden Crown award-winning author of The First Bright Thing. They have had shorter works in places such as F&SF, Lightspeed, Reactor, and Uncanny. Dawson currently lives on Dakota land in Minnesota with her loving wife. She teaches at Drexel University’s MFA program for creative writing, and fills her free time with keeping her three chaotic dogs out of trouble. Her latest book, The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World, is a sapphic Orpheus retelling.

Amal El-Mohtar is an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry, and criticism. Her stories and poems have appeared in magazines including Tor.com, Fireside Fiction, Lightspeed, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, Apex, Stone Telling, and Mythic Delirium; anthologies including The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories (2017), The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales (2016), Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories (2014), and The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (2011); and in her own collection, The Honey Month (2010). She is co-author, with Max Gladstone, of the multiple award-winning This is How You Lose the Time War. Her articles and reviews have appeared in the New York Times, NPR Books and on Tor.com. She has been the New York Times's science fiction and fantasy columnist since February 2018, and she is represented by DongWon Song of HMLA.

Daryl Gregory is a Seattle writer whose novels and short stories have been translated into a dozen languages and have won multiple awards, including the World Fantasy, Shirley Jackson, and Crawford awards, and have been short-listed for the Hugo, Nebula, Edgar, Dragon, Locus, Lambda, and other awards. His latest novel is _When We Were Real_ (4/2025 from Saga Press / Simon & Schuster). His seven other novels include _Revelator_ (a Washington Post book of the year), _Spoonbenders_ (an IndieNext pick), and _Pandemonium._. Other books include the novellas _The Porcelain Sisters_ (upcoming from Tachyon), _The Album of Dr. Moreau_ and _We Are All Completely Fine_, and the collection _Unpossible and Other Stories_, a Publishers Weekly best book of the year. He's also written for comics, video games, and television, and teaches at writing workshops, including Clarion West, Aspen Writers, and Viable Paradise.

Thomas Ha is a writer of speculative short fiction whose work has been nominated for the Nebula, Ignyte, Hugo, Locus, and Shirley Jackson Awards, among others. You can find his work in Clarkesworld, Lightspeed Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Weird Horror Magazine, and other publications. His work has also appeared in The Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror. Thomas grew up in Honolulu and, after a decade plus of living in the northeast, now resides in Los Angeles with his family.

Thomas Ha is a writer of speculative short fiction whose work has been nominated for the Nebula, Ignyte, Hugo, Locus, and Shirley Jackson Awards, among others. You can find his work in Clarkesworld, Lightspeed Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Weird Horror Magazine, and other publications. His work has also appeared in The Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror. Thomas grew up in Honolulu and, after a decade plus of living in the northeast, now resides in Los Angeles with his family.

Jamal Hodge is a multi-award-winning filmmaker and writer who is a sitting Board Member of Harlem Film House and Axs Lab. Hodge is an active member of The Horror Writer’s Association and The SFPA, being nominated for a 2021 Rhysling Award for his Poem ‘Fermi’s Spaceship’ and a 2022 Rhysling Award for his poem ‘Loving Venus’. While his poem ‘The Silence of God’ placed in the 2021 Horror Writer Association Showcase. His Poetry is Featured in the Anthology Chiral Mad 5 alongside such legends as Stephen King, Langston Hughes, Linda Addison & Josh Malerman. Jamal’s screenplay ‘Mourning Meal’ won 5 awards (including best short screenplay at NYC Horror Film Festival 2018) while his poetry is featured in the historical all-black issue of Star*line Magazine (issue 43.4) and has been featured in SPACE AND TIME Magazine, PENUMBRIC Speculative Fiction Magazine, amongst others.

Jennifer Hudak is a speculative fiction writer fueled mostly by tea. Her work can be found or in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, The Sunday Morning Transport, and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. She is a Nebula Award Finalist and a graduate of the Viable Paradise writer's workshop. Originally from Boston, she now lives with her family in Upstate New York where she teaches yoga, knits pocket-sized animals, and misses the ocean.

Somto Ihezue is a writer, editor, and filmmaker. He is an MFA fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Maryland. His writing has appeared in Clarkesworld, Poetry Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Flash Fiction Online, and others. His work has received residencies and fellowships from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Tin House, Clarion West, Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, Sundress Academy for the Arts, and more. He was assistant editor of the Publishing Taught Me Anthology (SFWA & NEA) and co-editor of Will This Be a Problem? The Anthology.

Ashley Jeffalone is a writer in Austin, Texas. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Wordrunner eChapbooks, Third Point Press, and Ellipsis Zine. She currently works in interactive narrative, contributing her words to a video game. Say hi to her on Twitter at @amaejef.

Stephen Graham Jones is the NYT bestselling author of thirty-five or so novels and collections, and there’s some novellas and comic books in there as well. Most recent are Earthdivers, I Was a Teenage Slasher, and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, and Killer on the Road. Stephen lives and teaches in Boulder, Colorado.

Greg Kasavin is writer and creative director at Supergiant Games, an independent game development studio founded in 2009 and known for its titles Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, Hades, and Hades II. Prior to becoming a game developer, Kasavin worked for more than 10 years on the media side of the game industry, notably as editor-in-chief of GameSpot.com. He was less than three years old when his family emigrated from Moscow to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has lived ever since. He holds a B.A. in English literature from U.C. Berkeley, and always wanted to find a way to combine his love of video games, writing, and fantasy and science fiction.

Eisner winning writer of Batman, Mister Miracle, The Vision, The Sheriff of Babylon, Supergirl, Human Target, (and more); dad of 3 plus a dog; generally tired.

Michelle Knudsen is the New York Times best-selling author of 50+ books for young readers and a writer of speculative short fiction for adults. Her titles include the award-winning Library Lion (Time magazine's 100 Best Children's Books of All Time), The Dragon of Trelian (Kids' Indie Next List; VOYA Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers), and Evil Librarian (YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults; Sid Fleischman Humor Award). Her latest books are the middle grade fantasy novel Into the Wild Magic and the young adult novel Cursed Princess Club: A Most Unusual Princess. Her SFF short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Underland Arcana, Drabblecast, and Adventitious, and one was a 2023 BSFA finalist for Best Audio Fiction. A lifelong musical theater lover, Michelle is thrilled that two of her books have now been made into musicals! (Catch Evil Librarian in DC this June and Library Lion's return to Boston next January!) She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with three humans, two cats, and one snake. Find her on Instagram @michelle.knudsen, Bluesky @michelleknudsen.bsky.social, or at michelleknudsen.com.

Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, Yellowface, and Katabasis. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. She was named to the 2023 Time100 Next list and the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2024. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she researches Sinophone literature and Asian American literature.

Jordan Kurella is a trans and disabled author who has lived all over the world (including Moscow and Manhattan). In his past lives, he was a photographer, radio DJ, and social worker. His work has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Sturgeon Award, and the LA Times Book Prize. He is the author of the fantasy novella, I NEVER LIKED YOU ANYWAY, the short story collection, WHEN I WAS LOST, and the climate fiction novella, THE DEATH OF MOUNTAINS. Jordan lives in limbo with his perfect dog and practical cat.

Wen-yi Lee is the author of When They Burned the Butterfly, a historical fantasy duology about Chinese secret societies and a girl gang in postcolonial Singapore, and The Dark We Know, a young adult gothic horror. Her work often involves troubling women, troubled history, and ghosts, and has appeared in short form in venues like Lightspeed, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, and various anthologies including the USA Today bestselling Amplitudes. She has been supported by the Clarion West Octavia E Butler Scholarship, the Singapore National Arts Council, and the UK National Centre for Writing. She is currently based in Singapore.

Jeff Lemire is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of such graphic novels as Sweet Tooth, Essex County, Underwater Welder, and Mazebook as well as co-creator of Black Hammer, Gideon Falls, Descender, Little Monsters, The Bone Orchard, Phantom Road and many others. He has worked extensively for both Marvel and DC Comics including a celebrated run on Moon Knight which heavily inspired the 2022 Marvel television show. His graphic novels have been translated into dozens of languages, establishing him as one of the most prolific and acclaimed comic book creators of his generation.Sweet Tooth has been adapted into a popular Netflix original series produced by Robert Downey Jr., and Essex County was adapted in 2023 into a 5-part prestige television miniseries starring Molly Parker, with Lemire both writing and showrunning the production. Many of his other books are also in active development for film and television.Jeff has also collaborated with award-winning musicians such as Eddie Vedder on his “Matter of Time” animated video and the late Gord Downie on Secret Path, an animated film and graphic novel.Lemire lives in Toronto, Canada.

E.M. Linden (she/her) is a writer from Aotearoa New Zealand whose work has appeared in 20+ publications including Strange Horizons, PodCastle, and The Deadlands, as well as on the Locus Recommended Reading List. She likes coffee, owls, and the sea.

Angela Liu is a three-time Nebula Award, Astounding Award, and Hugo Award-nominated writer/poet based in NYC and Tokyo. Her work has also been nominated for the Locus, Ignyte, and Rhysling Awards. She is a MEXT recipient and masters graduate of Keio University’s Graduate School of Media Design in Japan where she researched mixed reality (with a focus on interactive narrative platforms and tangible interfaces for remote communication). Her short fiction and poetry are published/forthcoming in Uncanny Magazine, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, Electric Literature, and The Dark, among others. Her novelette, “Imagine: Purple-Haired Girl Shooting Down The Moon” was a 2024 Nebula Award and Ignyte Award Finalist. Her novelette “Another Girl Under The Iron Bell” was a 2025 Nebula Award and Locus Award Finalist, and a notable story in 2025’s The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. Her poem, “there are no taxis for the dead” was a finalist for the inaugural Hugo Award for Best Poem in 2025. Her poem, “An Interrogation About A Monster During Sleep Paralysis” won 3rd place in the 2023 Rhysling Awards.

Jessica Maison, a speculative fiction writer, comics creator, and filmmaker, grew up in Traverse City near the shores of Lake Michigan and currently lives in Los Angeles with her family and their animal familiars. The first book in her Mary Shelley’s School for Monsters graphic novel series was a Foreword INDIES finalist and IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award winner. Plastic Girl is her coming-of-age ecopunk trilogy that explores her fears and hopes for her daughters around the climate crisis. She is a screenwriter who also co-directed the time travel feature film, Own Worst Enemy. Her speculative/horror short fiction appears in Terraform and other publications, and her short comics has been published in several comics anthologies. She is the co-host of the improv storytelling/talk show podcast, Monster V. Monster, that launches soon. Her speculative short fiction and musings about monsters and folklore can be found on her Substack, Monster of the Week. In her other life, Jessica has worked and volunteered with non-profits involving homelessness, education, literacy, and climate.

No public biography available.

K.A. Mielke (they/he) is the co-author of Victory Lap with Riley Alexis Wood, and the sole author of Losing Hit Points, Lonely in Happy Town, and Goblin Girl. They love drinking too much coffee, watching long video essays about philosophy and cartoons, and writing about queer heroes and hungry monsters. They live in Southern Ontario with entirely too many people and pets to list.

Mari Ness has published over 300 works of short fiction and poetry in various anthologies, zines, and collections. Mari lives in central Florida, and almost always stops to watch the lightning.

Annalee Newitz is a science journalist who also writes science fiction. They are the author of several books, including Automatic Noodle, an instant USA Today bestseller, The Terraformers, which was nominated for the Nebula Award, and Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age. They have a monthly column in New Scientist magazine, and are a member of the Flaming Hydra collective.

Nico Martinez Nocito (they/them) writes speculative fiction and poetry with a queer, feminist bent. They are a Nebula finalist and three-time Rhysling nominee whose work has been published in Strange Horizons, Heartlines Spec, and Apex Magazine. Learn more about Nico and their writing on Bluesky and Instagram @nicowritesbooks, or on their website, nicomartineznocito.com.

Aimee Ogden is an American werewolf in the Netherlands. She is the author of five novellas and over a hundred short stories, and her work has appeared in publications such as Psychopomp, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Clarkesworld. "Because I Held His Name Like a Key" is her third Nebula Award Finalist work, and her first in the short story category. Ik sta met de mond vol tanden - wat een eer, hoor!

Nnedi Okorafor is a New York Times bestselling author who writes speculative fiction for adults, young adults, and children. Her latest adult novel, Death of the Author. Her all-ages graphic novel The Space Cat was published in 2025, as well. The final installment of her She Who Knows trilogy, The Daughter Who Remains, was just released in February 2026. Among her many acclaimed works are the groundbreaking Binti trilogy, the harrowing Who Fears Death, and the beloved Akata series. Nnedi is also the author of Marvel’s Black Panther: Long Live the King, Shuri, and Wakanda Forever. Her honors include the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus, Eisner, an NAACP Image Award and multiple Hugo and Lodestar Awards. Nnedi holds a PhD in Literature and two Master’s degrees in Journalism and Literature.

H.H. Pak (they/them) is a Los Angeles-born child of Korean immigrants and a strong believer in the power of sacrificial love. Their speculative fiction has been published in Clarkesworld Magazine and khōréō. When they are not working towards their aspirations in the medical field or co-editing and art directing for Wyrmhole Magazine, they dream about space operas, make cringe fanart, and bother their dog too much.

Hache Pueyo is the Argentine-Brazilian writer and translator of CABARET IN FLAMES and BUT NOT TOO BOLD. She won an Otherwise Fellowship for her work with gender in speculative fiction, and her short stories have appeared as H. Pueyo in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, and The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, among others.

Chris Rebbert is known for Right Hand Man, Right Hand Man: Pilot and The Walking Dead: The Final Season (2018). (from IMDb)

Chad Rhiness is known for Something Fun (2017), Dispatch (2025) and Mad (2013). (from IMDb)

Ariel Slamet Ries is an Ignatz-award winning cartoonist born and based on unceded Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri lands, Australia. After studying animation in Denmark for 4 years while making their webcomic Witchy, they lost their degree in the post and unceremoniously bumbled into making comics for a living. Their latest graphic novel Strange Bedfellows was Highly Commended in the 2026 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, and was nominated for both the Harvey and Aurealis Awards.

Despite efforts to commit to a single skill set, Tonda has succeeded at balancing a career in cinematography with his passion for graphic design and animation. It was the fusion of these elements that led him to develop a unique style of motion design that combines photographic elements and traditional animation. His work has been sought after for national commercials, theatrical trailers, music videos and title sequences for both television and film.Tonda is currently at the helm at DOGUBOMB, a video game, film and commericial studio located in Los Angeles and has created content for a number of international brands including Pepsi, SONY, Snickers, AT&T, FedEx and Jim Beam.

Effie Seiberg is a fantasy and science fiction writer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her stories include a Nebula Award finalist, a finalist in the AnLab Awards, a finalist for the Subjective Chaos Kind Of Award, and an inclusion in a British Fantasy Award-winning anthology. Her recent work can be found in Diabolical Plots, Lightspeed, Fantasy Magazine, and PodCastle, amongst others. Effie is disabled with ME/CFS and has done activism around it, including several op-eds in the San Francisco Chronicle. In her free time she likes to make sculpted cakes and bad puns, and is the Emotional Support Human to a small anxious dog. You can read her work at effieseiberg.com, or follow her on Bluesky at @effies.bsky.social‬ or on Mastodon at @effies@wandering.shop.

Pierre Shorette is known for Dispatch (2025), The Walking Dead: The Game - Season 2 (2013) and Batman: The Telltale Series (2016). (from IMDb)

Jennifer Svedberg-Yen is an award-winning writer and creative producer who specializes in stories with emotional and philosophical depth. She is the Lead Writer and Voice & Localization Producer for the breakout hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and is an independent creative consultant for various gaming and entertainment studios. She has been warmly praised by partners around the world for her expertise and her thoughtful collaboration style. She loves puzzles and snacks (traits she shares with her dog Trunks) and often composes stories in her sleep. She is usually deeply immersed in a book or tv show, and/or possibly hunting platinum trophies for her favorite games.

Wole Talabi is an engineer, writer, and editor from Nigeria. He is the author of the acclaimed fantasy novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON, which was nominated for the Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy awards. His next novel is the forthcoming sci-fi thriller THE FIST OF MEMORY. His short fiction has appeared in places like Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, and The Africa Risen anthology and is collected in the books CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS and INCOMPLETE SOLUTIONS. He has been a finalist for several awards including the Hugo, Nommo, BSFA, Sidewise, Ignyte and Crawford awards, as well as the Caine Prize for African Writing. He has edited five anthologies. He likes scuba diving, elegant equations, and oddly shaped things. He currently lives in Perth, Australia. Find him at wtalabi.com and at @wtalabi online.

EMILY TESH is a UK-based author of science fiction and fantasy. Her debut novel, Some Desperate Glory, won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Tesh is also a winner of the Astounding Award, and the author of the World Fantasy Award-winning Greenhollow duology.

Natalia Theodoridou is a transmasculine writer whose stories have appeared in publications such as Kenyon Review, Uncanny Magazine, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, and Strange Horizons, and have been translated into Ukrainian, Italian, French, Greek, Estonian, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. Natalia won the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction and a Nebula Award for Game Writing in 2025. He holds a PhD in media and cultural studies from SOAS, University of London, and is a Clarion West graduate. His debut novel, Sour Cherry, a queer Bluebeard retelling about toxic masculinity and cycles of abuse, was published in 2025 (Tin House & Wildfire).

Eugenia Triantafyllou is a Greek author and artist with a flair for dark things.Her work has won the British Fantasy and the Shirley Jackson Awards and has been nominated for the British Science Fiction, Hugo, Ignyte, Locus, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. She is a graduate of Clarion West Writers Workshop. You can find her stories in Reactor, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, Apex, and other venues.She currently lives in Athens with a boy and a dog.Literary representation: Jessica Friedman, Sterling Lord Literistic

Jason Walz is the author/illustrator of several comics and graphic novels, including The Flip Side, the Last Pick trilogy and the Eisner Award-nominated Homesick. He is also a special education teacher, and that part of his life continues to constantly shape the stories he tells.

Paul Weitz was born on November 19, 1965 in New York City, New York, USA as Paul J. Weitz. He is a director, writer and producer, known for Grandma (2015), About a Boy (2002), and Mozart in the Jungle (2014), for which he won a Golden Globe. He has been married to Patricia Brown since December 15, 2001. They have three children. (from IMDb)

Christopher John Weitz is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter who is known for Antz, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, American Pie, About a Boy, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and The Golden Compass. He is married to Mercedes Martinez since 2006 and has three children.

G. Willow Wilson is co-creator of the Hugo and American Book Award-winning comic book series MS MARVEL (now a Disney+ television series), writer of the GLAAD Award-winning POISON IVY series, and has written for some of the world’s best-known superhero comics, including THE X-MEN, SUPERMAN and WONDER WOMAN. Her first novel, ALIF THE UNSEEN, won the 2013 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, was a finalist for the Center For Fiction’s First Novel Prize, and was long-listed for the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her second novel, THE BIRD KING, was named one of the best fantasy novels of the decade by NPR. In 2015, she won the Graphic Literature Innovator Prize at the PEN America Literary Awards. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages. She lives in Seattle.

John Wiswell is a Nebula-winning and Locus-winning author who lives in the middle of the woods. His debut novel, SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN, was released from DAW Books in the U.S. and Arcadia Books in the U.K. in April 2024. John's work has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Tor.com, LeVar Burton Reads, Nature Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Weird Tales, the No Sleep podcast, Nightmare Magazine, Cast of Wonders, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and other fine venues. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards. His fiction has been translated into ten languages.He graduated Bennington College in 2005, and attended the Viable Paradise 17 workshop in 2013. He has multiple disabilities including a neuromuscular syndrome, and thinks healthy people's capacity to complain is very funny. He finds a lot of things very funny and would like to keep it that way.He is frequently available for interview and for talks at conferences. He has done panels at places such as Worldcon, the Nebula Awards Conference, and the World Fantasy Convention.