Guest Speakers

C. M. Alongi is a sci-fi/fantasy author and content creator from the Twin Cities. She creates the urban fantasy TikTok series CaFae Latte and the epic fantasy novella series Blackwing. The sci-fi book Citadel is her first full-length novel. The sword is fake, but excellent in defending her furniture from her roommates' evil cats.

Emily Bleeker is the bestselling author of six novels. Combined, her books have reached more than two million readers. She is a two-time Whitney Award finalist as well as being on the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Emily lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with her husband, their kids, and her kitten-muse, Hazel. Along with writing and being a mom, she performs with a local improv troupe, sings karaoke like no one is watching, and embraces her newfound addiction to running. Connect with her or request virtual visit with your book club at www.emilybleeker.com.

I’m sure growing up in my grandmother’s house, taking care of my developmentally disabled mother, forged who I am, but I don’t believe any one thing defines me. My philosophy of life is that we are all in this together—and we need to embrace one another with as much grace, humor and compassion as we can muster. I see life as big, bigger, biggest, and I want to take everyone along with me on the journey. I not only attend black-tie affairs and work on charity board projects, but I am also just as likely to be taking a grandchild to lunch and a movie. I happily married my late husband John, with whom I eloped when I was an 18-year-old freshman in college. It was quite the scandal. We have four beautiful children and 12 grandchildren. I won my first writing award in the seventh grade in a statewide essay contest about a television broadcast of Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. Instead of Silver Skates, they sent real skates, which I enjoyed immensely. I’m only sorry I don’t still have them so they could hang in my office. While moving 22 times across the country and rearing our children, I sold stories to Fate Magazine, Home Life Magazine and True Confessions. In 1988, I sold my first novel and a week later received a two-book contract from Fawcett. Sixteen novels later, I’ve seen The Other Amanda win the Wisconsin Romance Writers of America Write Touch Readers’ Award and Talk of the Town chosen by Cosmopolitan magazine as its “Red Hot Read” for February 2009.

D.J. (Dave) Butler has been a lawyer, a consultant, an editor, a corporate trainer, and a registered investment banking representative, and he is now a Consulting Editor for Baen Books. His novels published by Baen Books include the Witchy War series (Witchy Eye, Witchy Winter, Witchy Kingdom, and Serpent Daughter), In the Palace of Shadow and Joy, Between Princesses and Other Jobs, and Abbott in Darkness, as well as The Cunning Man and The Jupiter Knife, co-written with Aaron Michael Ritchey, and Time Trials, co-written with M.A. Rothman. He also writes for children: the steampunk fantasy adventure tales The Kidnap Plot, the Giant's Seat, and The Library Machine are published by Knopf. Other novels include City of the Saints from WordFire Press and The Wilding Probate from Immortal Works. His novels have won the Whitney Award, the Association for Mormon Letters Award for Novel, and the Dragon Award. Dave also organizes writing retreats and anarcho-libertarian writers' events, and travels the country to sell books. He tells many stories as a gamemaster with a gaming group some of whom he’s been playing with since sixth grade. He plays guitar and banjo whenever he can, and likes to hang out in Utah with his wife, their children, and the family dog.

From the banking boardroom to baking, Debi Catenacci has taken her love and passion for the Italian culture, preserving old-world practices and traditions of baking authentic biscotti. In her book “Divine Biscotti,” Debi shares her storytelling charm on how she has turned her grandmother’s old-world biscotti recipes into gourmet seasonal delights. Love is wrapped in each enchanting bite of the gourmet biscotti.Debi has held baking demonstrations at Williams-Sonoma and has a special Divine Biscotti recipe featured in “The Pastry Chef’s Little Black Book Volume II.”Debi Catenacci received her BA in Business from DePaul University and was a member of the delegation representing DePaul University at the Sustainable Development NGO conference at the United Nations, in New York. She resides in Chicago with her husband.If you are curious about Divine Biscotti baking you can go to divinebiscotti.com and you can follow Debi on Instagram @debicatenacci

Chicago born and bred, Richard Chwedyk, has been writing since before he learned to read, and teaching since 1989. He won a Nebula Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association in 2002 for his novella, “Bronte’s Egg,” and has been nominated for the Hugo, Sturgeon and Rhysling awards as well. His work has appeared in many places, most notably in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, often as cover stories. He’s best known for his “saur” stories, about a group of bioengineered dinosaurs, sold as toys but abandoned, discarded, and currently living in a sort of shelter home at the edge of a great megalopolis. The AI “Reggie” who helps both saurs and humans in the home predates Siri and Alexa by over a decade and is not trying to steal your job. He’s also just completed a stint as book reviewer for Galaxy’s Edge magazine. Currently, he’s been carrying a heavy teaching load of writing and literature courses at Columbia College Chicago. He has a master’s degree in English from Northwestern, so don’t confront him in a dark alley. Like most science fiction writers, he is to be considered unarmed but dangerous.

MaryJanice Davidson is the bestselling author of many novels, including the UNDEAD series and the BEARS BEHAVING BADLY trilogy, and is published across multiple genres. Her books have been published in over a dozen languages and have been on bestseller lists all over the world, including USA Today and New York Times. She has published books, novellas, articles, short stories, recipes, reviews, and rants, and writes a column for USA Today. A former model and medical test subject, she lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her family.

Carlos Ferro is one of the leading voice acting talents working in the industry today. A star of the award-winning, best-selling GEARS OF WAR 1-5, Ferro is known to video game fans worldwide as the voice of COG soldier Dom Santiago. In addition to his work on GEARS, he is also known as the voice of Michael Corleone, head of the Corleone family in THE GODFATHER II and Leonardo da Vinci in ASSASSIN”S CREED 2, ASSASSIN’S CREED BROTHERHOOD and ASSASSIN’S CREED ASCENDANCE. Ferro has lent his voice to such well-known properties as SHENMUE III, FINAL FANTASY, BEWARE THE BATMAN, SCOOBY-DOO, THE CLEVELAND SHOW, JUSTICE LEAGUE, SPAWN, REIGN: THE CONQUERER, X-MEN: NEXT DIMENSION, TONY HAWK’S AMERICAN WASTELAND, SCARFACE: THE WORLD IS YOURS, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, INDIANA JONES AND THE STAFF OF KINGS, RANGO THE VIDEOGAME, PHANTASY STAR ONLINE 2 as well as the popular CALL OF DUTY, SAINTS ROW and UNCHARTED franchises. Anime fans know him as the evil Thomas Waltham from GOLGO 13: QUEEN BEE. Ferro is also an accomplished actor, club DJ, and host, who has starred in landmark television shows such as STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, tours under his DJ moniker “the Domfather," and in 2018/2019 served as Esports host at the Gears Pro Circuit in Las Vegas and Mexico City.

JAMIE FREVELETTI is an award winning author of seven novels and five short stories. Her Emma Caldridge series (Running From The Devil, Running Dark, The Ninth Day, Dead Asleep, Blood Run) won an International Thriller Writers Best First Novel award, a Barry award, and was a VOX media pick in Germany. In addition to her own novels she’s written for Robert Ludlum’s Covert One series (The Janus Reprisal, The Geneva Strategy) and contributed to the non-fiction anthology for the Life after Innocence Project, Anatomy of Innocence, Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted, and For the Sake of the Game: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon. Her next short story, The Disappearing Place, can be found in Suspense Magazine’s anthology Infinity, edited by Catherine Coulter (March 21). A former lawyer, avid distance runner and black belt in aikido, a Japanese martial art, she loves writing and drinks prodigious amounts of coffee.

Talented author and top-flight editor, Jamie Beth (J. B.) Garner has written over twenty novels across multiple genres and edited hundreds more. Born near Baltimore, MD, J.B's seen and done many things in her life, from honors student to factory worker to garbage collector to construction worker, but her true passion has always been the written word. She writes fantasy, sci-fi, and pro-wrestling epics, among other things, and is always out to entertain and amaze!

Richard Heinz’s inspiration for The Seventh Age traces back to his history as an electrician and especially to his love of crawling through the hidden underbelly of a city to uncover its secret wonders—not to mention countless caffeine-driven hours spent playing Diablo. The Seventh Age: Dawn is Rick’s first book, as well as book one in the sprawling urban fantasy epic the Seventh Age series. He’s since written many other projects both in tabletop gaming and literary form such as The Crow: Prayers of the Past, Universal Soldier: Return to Eden, The Red Opera: Last Days of the Warlock, Sirens: Battle of the Bards, and The Black Ballad. Go to www.StorytellersForge.com if you are curious about the gaming side of Rick’s mind… or you can follow Rick on go to www.RickHeinzWrites.com to uncover more about the world of the Seventh Age.

Writing nonfiction about human rights and the street level reality of saving lives takes everything Cheryl Jefferson has learned as a writer/producer at ABC/WLSTV – Chicago, J. Walter Thompson, Britannica Films and USG Corporation; as the author of numerous books including Use Your Anger: A Woman’s Guide to Empowerment; as the winner of Harlequin’s inaugural Red Dress Ink writing competition plus Ragdale and Wurlitzer Foundation residencies; as a speaker/participant at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women; and as a graduate of the University of Illinois -Urbana Champaign College of Communications/Media, Landmark Education, the Evanston Citizens Police Academy and numerous advanced writing workshops. As a TED speaker and the Founder/Executive Producer of The Art of Influence: Breaking Criminal Traditions, Cheryl and her team have produced major art exhibitions nationwide addressing social justice issues including programs for the Chicago-Kent College of Law, North Central College, Kean University, Penn Technical College/ Penn State, the Highland Park Art Center, Wells Fargo and many more. Each program is accompanied by extensive community outreach including presentations for the College Art Association, National Art Education Association, Illinois Art Education Association, and others, all driven by the critical need to raise consciousness as the first step toward positive global change.

Garnett Kilberg Cohen is the author of three previous story collections: Lost Women, Banished Souls; How We Move the Air; and Swarm to Glory. She has taught creative writing at Columbia College Chicago for more than twenty-five years. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker online, Rumpus, The Gettysburg Review, StoryQuarterly, The Antioch Review and elsewhere, and she has been the recipient of many awards including a 2022 award from December magazine, the Crazyhorse National Fiction Prize, and four Illinois Arts Council Awards, as well as two Notable Essay citations from Best American Essays.

Kay Kro, aka Kro, is a full-time on-demand typewriter poet, and creative facilitator. As The Traveling Typist, they typewrite as both street performance and upscale event entertainment. They teach creative bravery and written improvisation, using the typewriter as a generative vehicle. Since 2021 Kro has hosted the Traveling Typewriter Lounge, a free community event where Chicagoans of all ages can explore typewriter magic. Kro hosts the podcast Poetic Devices: (Type) Writing Life, detailing the stories, philosophies, and realities of life as a full-time typewriter poet. In 2016 they received their MA in linguistics; their thesis investigated Native language codeswitching in indigenous slam poetry. They are currently an MFA student in Creative Writing at DePaul University and hold a graduate assistant position at the DePaul Publishing Institute. Prayer Wheel, their poetry, art, essay, and activity collection, was published in October 2022 with grant support from the Illinois Arts Council. Prayer Wheel was illustrated in collaboration with eleven women, queer, and POC Chicago-area artists. Their other work has been published in QWERTY Quarterly, Outpatient Press, and The Prairie Light Review, among others.

CEO, 4 Horseman Publications. Erika had the unique opportunity to live in several different environments across the country growing up, giving her a colorful perspective on life. Born in Minnesota, she spent most of her formative years in Hollywood, then a ranch in New Mexico on the border of an Indian reservation. With a love of the arts since she was a child (acting, painting, sewing and dancing to name a few!) she found her passion in writing. Beginning with short stories, poems and articles for local papers, “Jimmy” is her first published fiction story.

Kathy Lyons is the wild, adventurous half of USA TODAY bestselling author Jade Lee. A lover of all things fantastical, Kathy spent much of her childhood in Narnia, Middle Earth, Amber, and Earthsea, just to name a few. Meanwhile, ball gowns and rakish lords caught Jade’s attention and her fascination with historical romance began. Both Kathy and Jade have a gift for creating a lively world, witty dialogue, and hot, sexy humor. Winner of several industry awards including the Prism—Best of the Best, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice, and Fresh Fiction’s Steamiest Read, Kathy/Jade has published 60 romance novels and says she’s just getting started. In her free time (what’s that?) her hobbies include racquetball, rollerblading, and tv/movie watching with her husband. She’s a big fan of the Big Bang Theory (even though it’s over) and her favorite movie is The Avengers because she loves everything created by Joss Whedon. And she’d love to share all things geek with you in person at any of her many appearances. She’s usually found at the loudest table in the coffee shop or next to the dessert bar.

Joyce McIntosh is the Assistant Program Director for the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), an organization dedicated to First Amendment education, litigation, and advocacy. She has worked at the intersection of intellectual freedom, communication, and the First Amendment for three decades. Her background and education in journalism and library and information science have led her to work for newspapers, non-profits, and for the last two decades in libraries. She worked in a public library outside of Chicago, IL providing reference, programming, outreach, and assistive technology before joining FTRF. With FTRF and the American Library Association her work has focused on education about the First Amendment and censorship, and helping librarians navigate challenges in their school and public libraries.

Charles D. Moisant is a renaissance man of the creative industry, with experience as a comic book publisher, artist, writer, and creative director and a Chicago-based independent comic book publisher. Moisant has been a part of numerous projects over the years, including the development of educational comics, custom handmade dice, and board games. He has also been heavily involved in the Roller Derby world and even developed a comic with the help of Jasper Barks called Roller Derby Drama. His involvement with titles such as 'Whispers from The Void', 'Zombie Annihilation', 'Danni and Dayna in Dino World', and 'Thunder World' showcase his diverse skillset. In particular, his collaboration with Doug Rice on the upcoming 'Thunder World' title has garnered significant anticipation among comic book fans. Moisant's new board game and comic web series under development, titled 'The Cockrel's Fist', is expected to be a major hit among board game enthusiasts and comic book fans alike. Alongside his development of free educational comics and his involvement in the successful Kickstarter campaign 'Haunting Tales of Bachelor's Grove', Moisant has remained committed to creating quality content that engages both casual and dedicated fans. Moreover, he is currently working on a new poster/comic book project with Jason R. Spriggs titled 'Monster Cat Raree' aka 'Kaiju Neko No Raree' with a retro feal akin to the days of Godzilla. Moisant is also involved in the development of his strategic sci-fi game 'Outer PLANET PANIC', which he plans to play-test. Lastly, his comic title 'Covid is not native' is currently archived in the Permanent collection at the Field Museum of Chicago. https://www.pandemic-collection.fieldmuseum.org/comic With an impressive portfolio of work, Moisant has established himself as a versatile creative force who continuously pushes the boundaries of his craft.

A.D. Nauman is a Chicago author whose short fiction has appeared in Chicago Quarterly Review, Willow Springs, TriQuarterly, Necessary Fiction, The Literary Review, and many other journals. Her dystopian novel, Scorch, was published in 2001 and re-released in a StoryBundle in 2019. Nauman is an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award recipient, whose work has been produced by Stories on Stage and broadcast on NPR. Though now a Midwesterner, Nauman grew up mostly in Tidewater, Virginia.

Jody Lynn Nye is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction books and short stories, many of them with a humorous bent. Before breaking away from gainful employment to write full time, Jody worked as a file clerk, book-keeper at a small publishing house, freelance journalist and photographer, accounting assistant and costume maker. For four years, she was on the technical operations staff of a local Chicago television station, WFBN (WGBO), serving the last year as Technical Operations Manager. During her time at WFBN, she was part of the engineering team that built the station, acted as Technical Director during live sports broadcasts, and worked to produce in-house spots and public service announcements. Since 1987 she has published over 50 books and more than 170 short stories. Among the novels Jody has written are her epic fantasy series, The Dreamland, beginning with Waking In Dreamland, five contemporary humorous fantasies, Mythology 101, Mythology Abroad, Higher Mythology (the three collected by Meisha Merlin Publishing as Applied Mythology), Advanced Mythology, The Magic Touch, and three medical science fiction novels, Taylor’s Ark, Medicine Show and The Lady and the Tiger. Strong Arm Tactics, a humorous military science fiction novel, the first of The Wolfe Pack series. Jody also wrote The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern, a non-fiction-style guide to the world of internationally best-selling author Anne McCaffrey’s popular world. She also collaborated with Anne McCaffrey on four science fiction novels, The Death of Sleep, Crisis On Doona (a New York Times and USA Today bestseller), Treaty At Doona and The Ship Who Won, and wrote a solo sequel to The Ship Who Won entitled The Ship Errant. Jody co-authored the Visual Guide to Xanth with best-selling fantasy author Piers Anthony. She has edited two anthologies, humorous stories about mothers in science fiction, fantasy, myth and legend, entitled Don’t Forget Your Spacesuit, Dear!, Launch Pad, and an anthology of science fiction stories co-edited with Mike Brotherton. She has two short story collections, A Circle of Celebrations, holiday SF/fantasy stories, and Cats Triumphant!, SF and fantasy feline tales. She wrote eight books with the late Robert Lynn Asprin, License Invoked, a contemporary fantasy set in New Orleans, and seven set in Asprin’s Myth Adventures universe: Myth-Told Tales (anthology), Myth Alliances, Myth-Taken Identity, Class Dis-Mythed, Myth-Gotten Gains, Myth Chief, and Myth-Fortunes. Since Asprin’s passing, she has published Myth-Quoted, Dragons Deal and Dragons Run (Ace Books), third and fourth in Asprin’s Dragons series. Her newest series is the Lord Thomas Kinago books, beginning with View From the Imperium (Baen Books), a humorous military space opera novel. Her newest books are Moon Tracks (Baen), a young adult hard science fiction novel, the second in collaboration with Dr. Travis S. Taylor. Rhythm of the Imperium, third in the Lord Thomas Kinago series; Pros and Cons (WordFire Press), a nonfiction book about conventions in collaboration with Bill Fawcett; and the 20th novel in the Myth-Adventures series, Myth-Fits. Over the last thirty or so years, Jody has taught in numerous writing workshops and participated on hundreds of panels covering the subjects of writing and being published at science-fiction conventions. She has also spoken in schools and libraries around the north and northwest suburbs. In 2007 she taught fantasy writing at Columbia College Chicago. She also runs the two-day writers’ workshop at DragonCon. In 2016, Jody joined the judging staff of the Writers of the Future contest, the world’s largest science fiction and fantasy writing contest for new authors. She is now its Coordinating Judge. Once a lifelong Chicagoan (though still a Cubs fan), Jody now lives near Atlanta with her husband Bill Fawcett, a writer, game designer, military historian and book packager, and three feline overlords, Athena, Minx, and Marmalade

Doug Rice At age 72, the easiest way to describe Doug Rice’s life is that he is a veteran of the United States Air Force, the comics industry, and the animation industry – coming away with an Honorable Discharge, the 1985 San Diego Con’s Russ Manning “Most Promising Newcomer” Award (at age 34), and a Daytime Emmy certificate, respectively. In terms of any skills or abilities, he is completely self-taught…though he does NOT recommend that path for most would-be artists. In the early 1970s, when the old 4-color comics industry was hours away from techno-extinction, Rice was hired to work as the one-man production staff of a small new company in Chicago called FIRST COMICS. Some months later his studio duties were expanded to include an original comics title, DYNAMO JOE, a giant robot series which he created and penciled. From there Doug went off in many other directions as a freelancer: STARBLAZERS (for Comico), PLASTIC MAN and MANHUNTER (for DC Comics), TOXIC AVENGER, and WHAT THE–?! (for Marvel), ROGER RABBIT (for Disney Comics), TALES OF THE TMNT (for Mirage Comics), and STUPID (for Image Comics), among others. It was in 1993 that Rice changed careers and got into TV animation – again, with no formal training at all! Startoons Studio in the south suburbs of Chicago was a beehive of activity for Warner Bros. weekday programming, which found Doug storyboarding and doing background layouts for “Steven Spielberg Presents The Animaniacs” which, in turn, led to him being handed an Emmy certificate and ‘letter-of-congratulations’ from the head of WB animation a little over two years after he started. After the studio folded in the summer of 2001, Rice began work on a two-fisted/pulp-style adventure novel, as a sort of hobby between freelance jobs. The book, SQUADRON, is currently in publication in soft and hard volumes designed by the author. Doug now teaches animation as a part-time professor at Columbia College of the Arts in Chicago because, even though he never graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago Circle, his Emmy honor counts as a ‘doctorate’ academically

In a previous lifetime, William Joseph Roberts "aka Hillbilly" was an F-15 mechanic and Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force. He has traveled the world and experienced many things in his few years. He has been called a Jack of all trades, a Renaissance man, and an insane squirrel wrangler by his peers. Since his enlistment ended, he has perused careers as an industrial and architectural designer, design engineer, and is now an award-winning author, editor, and publisher with Three Ravens Publishing. William Joseph Roberts currently resides in the quaint southern town of Chickamauga, Georgia with his loving wife, three freaky-smart nerd children, and a small pack of fur babies.

As Executive Editor, Kara Rota has been acquiring and editing for Chicago Review Press since 2019, focusing on narrative nonfiction, music, and pop culture titles. Previously from 2014 Kara worked at Macmillan, acquiring and editing cookbooks, business books and other nonfiction for multiple Macmillan imprints including Flatiron and St. Martin's Press. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, she also served as director of recipe website and Macmillan portfolio company Cookstr.com and host of the Clever Cookstr podcast. Thrilled to be back in her hometown, Kara is a third-generation Evanstonian and her first job (besides babysitting) was at Chicago’s Green City Farmer’s Market.

Agent - The Seymour Agency Joyce Sweeney has worn many hats in the kidlit industry. They are the author of fourteen novels for young adults. They have edited, instructed, and encouraged writers for twenty-five years, successfully mentoring 78 traditionally published authors and still counting. They are very active in Florida SCBWI. They have also published poetry and managed a South Florida theater company. As an agent, they pride themselves on client communication and are very editorial. They acquire picture books, chapter books, and middle grade, both fiction and non-fiction.They are particularly interested in graphic novels. Their taste is eclectic, but they are always looking for underrepresented voices. They like science and aerospace, natural history, environmental and animal themes, and anything with a touch of magic. A lyrical voice is the surest way to their heart. Not a big fan of crude or bathroom humor, overtly religious stories or historical fiction.

Jill Wine-Banks is an MSNBC legal analyst, appearing regularly on the network’s primetime and daytime shows. She began her career as an organized crime prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, which led to her selection as one of three assistant Watergate special prosecutors in the obstruction of justice trial against President Nixon's top aides. She has also served as general counsel of the U.S. Army, solicitor general and deputy attorney general of the state of Illinois, and executive vice president and chief operating officer of the American Bar Association. In each case, she was the first woman to hold the position. A graduate of the University of Illinois and the Columbia Law School, she lives in Chicago.