Sandra Beasley is the author of I Was the Jukebox, winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize; Theories of Falling, winner of the New Issues Poetry Prize; and the memoir Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life. Honors for her work include selection for the 2010 Best American Poetry, the University of Mississippi Summer Poet in Residence position, a DCCAH Individual Artist Fellowship, the Friends of Literature Prize from the Poetry Foundation, and the Maureen Egen Exchange Award from Poets & Writers. She lives in Washington, D.C. where her prose has appeared in the Washington Post Magazine.
 

Bob Edwards, author of A Voice in the Box, is the host of “The Bob Edwards Show” on
Sirius XM Radio and “Bob Edwards Weekend,” distributed to public radio stations by Public Radio International (PRI). Both programs feature in-depth interviews with newsmakers, journalists, entertainers and other compelling figures.

Before joining Sirius XM in 2004, Edwards hosted National Public Radio’s (NPR) “Morning Edition” for 24-and-a-half years, attracting more than 13 million listeners weekly. He joined NPR in 1974 and was co-host of NPR’s evening news magazine, “All Things Considered,” until 1979 when he helped launch “Morning Edition.”

He is the author of two other books: Fridays with Red, which chronicled his radio friendship with legendary sportscaster Red Barber, and Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism.
 

Glen Finland, author of Next Stop, a memoir based on her May 2009 Washington Post
Magazine feature story about parenting an autistic child to adulthood and then learning to let go.  A former TV news reporter, Glen's work has appeared in The Washington Post, American Magazine, Revolution, A Cup of Comfort and the East Coast Women's Anthology. She received her M.F.A. from American University. She is the recipient of the Southeastern Writers Association Best Fiction award and a Noted Writer from the 2005 and 2006 Boston Fiction Festivals.

Glen has taught writing at American University with Fellowships at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Casa Libre in Tucson.

 Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs, is the CEO of the Aspen Institute, has been chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Einstein: His Life and Universe, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, and Kissinger:
A Biography, and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made.

Isaccson lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and daughter.

Marvin Kalb, co-author of Haunting Legacy with his daughter, Deborah Kalb, is a guest scholar in the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings. He is also the Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice (Emeritus) at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and founding director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. His distinguished journalism career covers 30 years of award-winning reporting and commentary for CBS and NBC News, including stints as bureau chief in Moscow and host of Meet the Press. His 11 previous books include The Nixon Memo (University of Chicago) and Kissinger (Dell).
 

Deborah Kalb, co-author of Haunting Legacy with her father, Marvin Kalb, is a freelance writer and editor, worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C. for two decades, including writing for the Gannett News Service, Congressional Quarterly, U.S. News & World Report, and The Hill.
 

Sally Bedell Smith, author of Elizabeth, The Queen, is also the author of bestselling biographies of William S. Paley; Pamela Harriman; Diana, Princess of Wales; John and Jacqueline Kennedy; and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

A contributing editor at Vanity Fair since 1996, she previously worked at Time and The New York Times, where she was a cultural news reporter.
 

R.L. Stine is the author of the bestselling children’s book series, Goosebumps. 
Translated into 32 languages, more than 300 million Goosebumps books have been sold to date.  The Goosebumps TV show was the number-one kids’ show in the U.S. for three years in a row.  The Goosebumps HorrorLand series debuted in April 2008. It features classic Goosebumps characters such as Slappy the evil dummy, The Haunted Mask, as well as many new characters.

Stine has won numerous awards and honors, including several Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids’ Choice Awards, and he was the 2007 Winner of the Thriller Writers of America Silver Bullet Award. R.L. Stine also received the first Champion of Reading Award from the Free Public Library of Philadelphia.  R.L. Stine lives in New York City with his wife Jane.
 

Judith Viorst, author of Lulu and the Brontosaurus, was born and brought up in New Jersey, graduated from Rutgers University, moved to Greenwich Village, and has lived in Washington, D.C., since 1960, when she married Milton Viorst, a political writer. They have three sons and seven grandchildren.

Viorst writes in many different areas: science books, children's picture books, adult fiction and non-fiction, poetry for children and adults, and three musicals, which are still performed on stages around the country. She is best known for her beloved picture book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.