Leslie J. Hall is enthusiastic about sharing her passion for words with writers and would-be writers. She is a regular instructor and speaker at colleges and writers conferences around the Pacific Northwest. She’s written nine novels, mysteries and women’s fiction. In 2014, she won first place in the PNWA Writing Contest, mystery category. Her latest humorous mystery series will launch this fall on Amazon. Leslie is on the board of Northwest Mystery Writers of America.

Lynne Schmidt is the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor and mental health professional with a focus in trauma and healing. She is the author of the chapter books, Gravity (Nightingale and Sparrow Press) which was listed as one of the 17 Best Breakup Books to Read in 2020, and On Becoming a Role Model (Thirty West), which was featured on The Wardrobe's Best Dressed for PTSD Awareness Week. Her work has received the Maine Nonfiction Award, Editor's Choice Award, and was a 2018 and 2019 PNWA finalist for memoir and poetry respectively. Lynne was a five time 2019 Best of the Net Nominee, and an honorable mention for the Charles Bukowski and Doug Draime Poetry Awards. In 2012 she started the project, AbortionChat, which aims to lessen the stigma around abortion. When given the choice, Lynne prefers the company of her three dogs and one cat to humans.

Nancy Berland is an award-winning professional public relations counselor, who helps traditionally and independently published authors achieve their career objectives. A University of Oklahoma Journalism graduate, she was a newspaper feature writer, national trade association public relations director, speech writer, editor and romance author before launching her firm in 1995. Since then she has worked with #1 New York Times bestsellers, up-and-coming authors and newbies with equal enthusiasm. She currently represents romance, women’s fiction, mystery, suspense and non-fiction authors from her home base in Tampa, Florida.

Lisa Preston began writing after careers as a fire department paramedic and a city police officer. She was first published in nonfiction, with titles on animal care, such as The Ultimate Guide to Horse Feed, Supplements and Nutrition. Her debut novel, Orchids and Stone, (Thomas & Mercer, 2016), has been described as a book club thriller, or domestic noir. Her psychological suspense novel, The Measure of the Moon, (Thomas & Mercer, 2017) was also a book club pick. The Clincher (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018) debuted her mystery series featuring a young woman horseshoer. She lives with her husband in western Washington.

Maria Connor is the founder and owner of My Author Concierge, which provides high-level project management support services to authors. She is the author of Do Less. Write More: The Author's Guide to Finding, Hiring and Keeping an Excellent Author Assistant, and an international speaker on writing, editing, marketing and publishing topics. In addition to providing services and consulting to more than 100 authors, across all genres, she is also an award-winning freelance writer, journalist and hybrid author, with more than fifteen years of expertise producing content for print and digital media. She has been invited to present workshops at the Women’s Fiction Festival (Matera, Italy), NINC (The International Organization of Multi-Published Novelists), Romance Writers of America National Conference and numerous regional writing conferences/events.

Nicole J. Persun is an award-winning and international bestselling author and board member of the Pacific Northwest Writers' Association. Nicole got her start publishing fantasy (A Kingdomís Possession, finalist for the 2011 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award and Dead of Knight, winner of the 2013 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award). Nowadays, she is writing book club fiction under the pen name Jennifer Gold (The Ingredients of Us, 2020 Book Excellence Award Winner and newly released Keep Me Afloat). Nicole has a masterís degree in writing and instruction. In addition to her writing career, Nicole works as a horse caretaker on a large farm in the Pacific Northwest. She fills her spare time with books, animals, and coffee. Learn more at jennifergoldauthor.com.

Young Author's Day Speaker, Lu Henry-Mitchell, (she/her or they/them) is a senior at Annie Wright Schools in Tacoma, Washington, where they are co-captain of their school writing group, Annie Writers. They were an international finalist in the River of Words poetry competition, and their short stories have appeared in their school newspaper, Inkwell. They are passionate about queer representation, enjoy a good YA romance, and love researching obscure details that will almost certainly never end up in their book. Lu can be found writing in most of their spare time, and they are currently working on a YA romance with a dash of sci-fi.

Melinda Curtis, an award-winning USA Today bestseller of more 60 romances, is a writing craft geek. Before turning to writing as a career, she worked with a cultural anthropologist and a marketing psychologist on how to create more compelling packaging at the shelf. One class short of a psychology minor, Melinda believes that "knowing more about what makes people tick can add depth to your writing." Her upcoming release is A Very Merry Match from Forever Romance.

Nina Harrington writes award-winning romance fiction for HarperCollins and bestselling non-fiction guides for writers. Nina is also the founder of The Prolific Author, helping Indie Authors to Create Successful Home Businesses and Thrive. To date, over 1.6 million of Nina’s books have been purchased in 23 languages worldwide.