| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
|---|---|---|
Kathleen Vincenz | Kathleen Vincenz is a children's book author who enjoys writing about family, faith, warmth, and humor. She is the founder of Squirrels at the Door Publishing, a children's publishing outlet for middle grade novels and educational online content. She lives on a hill by a lake with her husband and woodland friends. In her other work, she is a technical writer and explains how to use software to solve engineering problems. | |
Cody Walker | Cody Walker teaches English and directs the Undergraduate Program in Creative Writing at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He’s the author of two full-length poetry collections: The Self-Styled No-Child (Waywiser, 2016) and Shuffle and Breakdown (Waywiser, 2008). He’s also the author of The Trumpiad, a 2017 chapbook that doubled as an ACLU fundraiser. His awards include the James Boatwright III Prize for Poetry from Shenandoah, the Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize from Hunger Mountain, and residency fellowships from the University of Arizona Poetry Center, the Amy Clampitt Fund, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. A longtime writer-in-residence in Seattle Arts & Lectures’ Writers in the Schools program, he was elected Seattle Poet Populist in 2007. His work appears in The New York Times Magazine, Slate, The Yale Review, and The Best American Poetry (2015 and 2007). He’s the director of the Bear River Writers’ Conference and the co-editor of Alive at the Center: Contemporary Poems from the Pacific Northwest (Ooligan, 2013). He lives in Ann Arbor with the fiction writer Polly Rosenwaike and their two daughters. | |
Aaron P. Dworkin | Best-selling writer and host of the nationally-broadcast Arts Engines show, Aaron P. Dworkin was President Obama's first appointment to the National Council on the Arts. He is a former dean and current Professor of Arts Leadership & Entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance. He is the founder of the Sphinx Organization, with the mission of transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. He has collaborated with a breadth of artists including Yo-Yo Ma and Anna Deveare Smith. He has been featured in several publications and received numerous awards including Newsweek's "15 People Who Make America Great” and BET's History Makers in the Making Award. Aaron is a frequent speaker at several universities and conferences and a member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMYs), in addition to serving on the board of multiple art organizations including the Ann Arbor Foundation. He is an avid kayaker, poker player, and boater, having captained multiple crossings of the Gulfstream. He is married to Afa Sadykhly Dworkin, a prominent international arts leader who serves as President and Artistic Director of the Sphinx Organization, and has two awesome sons, Noah Still and Amani Jaise. They reside in Michigan with their two Savannah cats, Mocha and Pekoe, and English Cream Retriever, Rondo. | |
Sarah Weeks | Sarah Weeks has written and published more than 60 books and novels for young readers including the best selling novels, Pie, Save Me a Seat, and So B. It, now a feature film. Her most recent title Soof, is the companion book to her novel So B. It. In addition to writing, Sarah has served as a faculty member in the prestigious Writing Program at the New School in New York City as well as at Columbia University's Teachers College under the auspices of Lucy Calkins. Each year Sarah visits, both virtually and in-person with thousands of students in grades k-8. Born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she now resides in Jeffersonville, NY. She has two grown sons, Gabriel and Nathanial and is married to Jim Fyfe, a high school history teacher and presentation coach. | |
Kamron Reynolds | Kamron Reynolds, of Kam Komics, is your friendly neighborhood comic book artist and rapper. As Kam says, “I JUST WANT TO HELP CREATE DIVERSE NEW CHARACTERS AND STORIES THAT CAN STAND THE TEST OF TIME, LIKE SO MANY ICONIC CHARACTERS FANS HAVE BEEN IN LOVE WITH FOR OVER A CENTURY. THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IS CHANGING EVERYDAY. AS MUCH AS I LOVE SPIDER-MAN, BATMAN, SUPERMAN, X-MEN, THE FANTASTIC FOUR INCREDIBLE HULK, ETC. THINGS HAVE TO CHANGE IN THIS NEW ERA OF COMICS. WE NEED MORE DIVERSE CHARACTERS WITH DEPTH. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT HAVING BLACK/WHITE CHARACTERS ANYMORE. WE NEED MORE CHARACTERS THAT ARE HISPANIC, ASIAN, INDONESIAN, GAY, STRAIGHT, MALE, FEMALE, TRANS-GENDER, DISABLED, KIDS, TEENAGERS, ADULTS, SENIOR CITIZENS, ETC. AND THE ONLY WAY TO GET THIS TYPE OF DIVERSITY IS TO ENCOURAGE DIVERSE CREATORS AND ARTISTS. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE COMICS NOW. AND WE AS CREATORS AND ARTISTS HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO DIG DEEPER TO CREATE NEW ART AND LITERATURE. JUST LIKE ANYTHING IT TAKES TIME. AND I JUST HOPE MY WORK REACHES THE MOST DIVERSE COMMUNITY THAT IT CAN.” | |
Sara Hughes | Associate Professor Sara Hughes studies policy agendas, policy analysis, and governance processes, focusing on decisions about water resources and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Current projects examine the political and institutional dimensions of equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water in the U.S.; the role of municipal finances in drinking water management and investments; and urban climate change governance, including equitable approaches to building urban climate resilience. | |
Sarah Magee | Sarah Magee is an inveterate traveler, unabashed globalist, and firm believer in always eating dessert first. It is never too early for ice cream. She is a master packer of suitcases and lifelong Michigander. I Never Said I Love You is her literary debut. |  |
Michelle Webster-Hein | Michelle Webster-Hein is a graduate of Vermont College’s MFA program and the author of the Michigan-based novel Out of Esau from Counterpoint Press. Her work has been recognized in the Best American series, nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize and published in Lit Hub, Modern Farmer, River Teeth, and Hunger Mountain, among other places. She lives on a homestead in rural Michigan with her husband and children. |  |
Ken MacGregor | When I was a kid, I wanted more than anything to be an actor. To tread the boards onstage, wowing audience members with my ability to slip seamlessly into a character. For a while, I realized that dream. I even had an agent, in St. Louis, Missouri, who got me some TV gigs, including an appearance on the Discovery Channel. All that time, though, I was also writing stuff. And, it crawled further toward the front of my brain. I wrote and performed sketch comedy for about five years, in St. Louis, and when I moved back to Michigan. I wrote a zombie movie (which we made. It’s called “The Quirk and the Dead” and it’s on YouTube. Go watch it. It’s only 16 minutes. I can wait…Pretty good, huh? Thanks. So, eventually, the guy I was making movies with (Hi, Brian!) told me to stop sending him script after script after script and to turn them into short stories. Thank goodness he did, because it turns out I love doing this! | |
John U. Bacon | New York Times bestselling author John U. Bacon has written thirteen books on sports, business, and history, seven of them national bestsellers. His previous book, Let Them Lead: Unexpected Lessons in Leadership from America’s Worst High School Hockey Team, was featured in the New York Times, and on Good Morning America, which called him “the REAL Ted Lasso”. He freelances for The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo, and others, appears often on TV, including HBO, ESPN, and the Big Ten Network, and delivers weekly essays for Michigan Radio and occasionally NPR, where he won the prize for the nation’s best commentary in 2014. Bacon is a popular corporate speaker and leadership consultant, who occasionally teaches at the University of Michigan, where the students awarded him the Golden Apple Award, given to one instructor annually for “Excellence in Teaching”. In 2019 he was appointed trustee of Michigan Technological University, where he delivered the commencement speech in 2022. John is a decent Spanish speaker, an average hockey player, and a poor piano player, but he still enjoys all three. He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and son. | |
| Author | Biography | Book Cover(s) |
