Susan Wadds

Finalist for the 2024 Canadian Book Club Awards and Winner of The 2016 Writer’s Union of Canada’s Prose Contest, Susan Wadds’ work has appeared in carteblanche, The Blood Pudding, Room, Waterwheel Review, and many more. The first two chapters of her debut novel, What The Living Do, (Regal House Publishing, 2024), won the Lazuli Group’s Prose Contest, and were published in Azure Magazine. A graduate of the Humber School for Writers and a proud member of The Writers Union of Canada, Susan is a certified Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) workshop facilitator. She lives on a quiet river on Williams Treaty land in traditional Anishinaabe territory with an odd assortment of humans and cats.

Kathleen Barber

Kathleen Barber is the author of Truth Be Told (originally published as Are You Sleeping and adapted into a series on AppleTV+) and Follow Me, as well as the forthcoming rom-com Both Things Are True (summer 2025) and thriller Sisterhood Above All (spring 2026), and an Author Accelerator-certified book coach. A graduate of the University of Illinois and Northwestern University School of Law, she now lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and children.

Barbara Josselsohn

Barbara Josselsohn is the best-selling author of THE FORGOTTEN ITALIAN RESTAURANT,  THE LOST GIFT TO THE ITALIAN ISLAND, and SECRETS OF THE ITALIAN ISLAND, all part of her Sisters of War series set in Italy during the darkest days of World War Two. Her previous contemporary novels include THE LILAC HOUSE, THE BLUEBELL GIRLS, THE LILY GARDEN, THE CRANBERRY INN, and THE LAST DREAMER.  She has also written hundreds of articles and essays in major and regional publications about family, home, and relationships. She also teaches novel writing at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, at Westport Writers Workshop, at the Scarsdale Public Library, and privately.  She lives just north of New York City and enjoys escaping to the beach or the mountains whenever she can. Other than writing, her biggest passion is her family: her husband, her three kids, and her rescue pup, a mini-schnauzer named Albie. She is currently at work on a new historical novel set to release in 2025.

Lauren Faulkenberry

Lauren Faulkenberry is the author of seven novels and three novellas, including the Bayou Sabine series and the Jasmine Falls Love Stories series (writing as Lucy Day). She is the winner of the Family Circle Fiction prize, the Next Generation Indie Book Award (Series Fiction), and a two-time winner of the Independent Publisher Award (IPPY) Silver Medal in Romance. She is co-founder of Blue Crow Books and offers developmental editing services and book coaching to authors of all genres. Find her at www.laurenfaulkenberry.com and lucydayauthor.com.

Nicole Meier

Nicole Meier is the author of four novels. She is a certified book coach and developmental editor living and working in the Pacific Northwest. She works with fiction writers to strengthen their manuscripts, develop author platforms, and strategize agent pitches. You can find her at nicolemeier.com