Aamina Ahmad is the author of the novel The Return of Faraz Ali (Riverhead, 2022), which won the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize from the UK Society of Authors, LA Times Book Prize's Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and Best First Novel award from the Writers Guild of Great Britain and was named a New York Times Editors' Choice and listed on NPR's Books We Love 2022. In June 2026, she published her debut story collection, July Sun (Riverhead). A graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, she has received a Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University, a Pushcart Prize, and a Rona Jaffe Writer’s Award. Her short fiction has appeared in One Story, The Southern Review, Ecotone, and elsewhere; she is also the author of a play, The Dishonored. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota.

Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher whose writing has appeared on NPR and in The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Vulture, Playboy, The Daily Beast, and other publications. His memoir-in-progress, I’m Here to Make Friends, was longlisted for the 2022 First Pages Prize. Andy holds an MFA from Bennington College, and taught nonfiction writing and journalism for more than 20 years, including as an assistant professor of practice at Stetson University in Florida. Andy is vice president of the Television Critics Association, and also publishes and writes reality blurred, which has, since 2000, offered analysis and reporting on unscripted television. It won an Excellence in Journalism award from NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists (2023) and an L.A. Press Club National A&E Journalism Award (2021).

Megan Giddings is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota. Her novel Lakewood was published by Amistad in 2020. Her second novel, The Women Could Fly (Amistad, 2022), was named one of The Washington Post’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy novels of 2022, one of Vulture’s Best Fantasy books of 2022, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. In fall 2023, she was the Picador Professor at Leipzig University. Her third novel, Meet Me at the Crossroads (Amistad, 2025), was one of NPR’s Books We Love in 2025, one of Town and Country’s 20 Best Books of 2025, one of The Ottawa Citizen’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2025, and one of The Washington Post’s Best Science Fiction/Speculative Novels of 2025. Her first short story collection, Black Arts (Amistad), will be published in September 2026.

Ty Chapman is an author and poet based in Minnesota. He is the author of four children’s books, and the poetry collection, Tartarus. Additionally, he co-edited the poetry anthology, All Power to the People, with his friend and collaborator, Ari Tison. He has published poems through The Academy of American Poets, Water~Stone, and more. Ty has received fellowships from Cave Canem, The Center for Arts + Social Justice, and The Loft Literary Center. He holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults through Vermont College of Fine Arts. When he isn’t writing his next poetry collection or middle grade fantasy novel, he spends his time playing basketball and reading in the sun. Find out more on his website.