Avery Hastings is an author and former book editor from New York City. Avery grew up in Ohio, graduated in 2006 from the University of Notre Dame and earned her MFA from the New School in 2008. She currently lives in Paris, where she’s unable to go more than twenty-four hours without eating an almond croissant and/or several varieties of smelly cheese. When she’s not reading or writing, Avery can usually be spotted lying around in the park with her affable dog or scouting various Parisian thrift stores. Feuds is her first novel. Photo © Charles Grantham

C.R. Grey was born in a house on a pier in Maine—literally on the ocean. She then grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. She received her BA in Theatre from SUNY New Paltz and her MFA in Fiction from Ohio State University. Grey lives in a sunny apartment in Poughkeepsie, New York, with one black cat, one white cat, and a Boston Terrier named Trudy. She can often be found weeding through ephemera in antique shops and walking over the bridges that span the Hudson River. Animas is her first novel. Photo © Charles Grantham

Elizabeth Miles grew up in Chappaqua, New York, not far from New York City. She graduated cum laude from Boston University in 2004, worked for several years at the Boston Phoenix, and now writes for the Portland Phoenix, an alternative weekly newspaper. She has won several awards from the New England Press Association and was nominated for an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Award. Elizabeth serves on the board of trustees of Portland Players, a community theater and second home. She loves pizza; she can often be found running around on stage while scantily clad; and a cold winter night in Maine is one of the creepiest and most beautiful things she can think of. Fury is Elizabeth’s first novel. Photo © Sophie Dougher/RISE Photography

www.thefuryseries.com

Ellie Rollins spent her childhood zipping across the Midwest. Since then, she’s chased many of her own adventures in places like Seattle, Paris, and New York, and has had success in the form of at least one death-defying cab ride across Italy. She got her BA from the University of Washington in 2008 and now works at a major publishing company in New York City. She loves peanut butter and jelly and has always wanted to learn to walk a tightrope. Zip is her first novel. Photo © Charles Grantham

Fiona Paul lives in the Midwest but travels a lot since she can’t breathe if she spends too much time away from the ocean. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a major in psychology and spent a year teaching English in Seoul, Korea while she was deciding what she wanted to be when she grew up. Answer: everything. In addition to being a teacher and a writer, she’s also worked as a sauté cook, sporting goods manager, veterinary assistant, and registered nurse. When she’s not working, you can usually find her kayaking, reading, or helping turtles cross the road. Her future goals include diving with great white sharks and writing more books, not necessarily in that order. Venom is her first novel. Photo © Kholood Eid

www.fionapaulbooks.com

Jacqueline Green grew up in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, where she devoured books the way other kids did candy. She never stopped loving those books she read as a kid, so after receiving her BA from Cornell University, she went on to get her MFA in Writing for Children from The New School. She’s since worked in many parts of the children’s publishing field, from marketing to editorial to writing. She now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and their very small dog, who moonlights as her writing companion. Truth or Dare is her first novel. Photo © Charles Grantham

www.jacquelinewrites.com

Kate Ellison spent a lot of time as a child, in Baltimore, pretending to be things she wasn’t: a twin, a telekinetic, a benevolent witch with a box full of magical stones, a spy, a soccer player. She trained as an actor in Chicago and has walked across the entire country of Spain. She is a painter and jewelry-maker, and has at least one artist friend who really does keep his true name a secret from the world. He told her, but don’t ask her to tell you—she’s not gonna do it. Kate lives in Brooklyn, New York. Butterfly Clues is her first novel. Photo © Janna Giacoppo

www.kateellison.com

Lanie Bross was born in a small town in Maine, where she spent the next 18 years dreaming of bigger places. After exploring city life, she and her husband and two young sons ended up coming right back to the wilds of Maine where they now live just one house down from where she grew up. Fate, perhaps? She loves chasing around her rambunctious kids, playing tug-o-war with her 95 pound Lab, and writing for Young Adults. Fates is her first novel. Photo © Todd Bross

Lauren Morrill grew up in Maryville, Tennessee, where she was a short-term Girl Scout, a (not so) proud member of the marching band, and a trouble-making editor for the school newspaper. She graduated from Indiana University with a major in history and a minor in rock & roll, and now lives in Macon, Georgia with her husband and their dog, Lucy. When she’s not writing, she spends a lot of hours on the track getting knocked around playing roller derby. Photo © Steven Folkins

www.laurenmorrill.com