Elizabeth Arnold (poetry) 
Author of Effacement and winner of a Whiting Writer's award

Ana Maria Spagna (creative nonfiction)  
Author of Test Ride on the Sunnyland Bus: A Daughter’s Civil Rights Journey, winner of the River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize

 Matt Burgess (fiction)
Author of Dogfight, A Love Story, a New York Times Editors' Pick and Barnes and Noble "Discover Great New Writers" selection 

Patricia Henley (fiction) 
Author of Hummingbird House, a National Book Award finalist 

Jerry Gabriel (conference director)
Author of Drowned Boy, winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction and a Barnes and Noble "Discover Great New Writers" selection

Jen Michalski (visiting writer)
Author of The Tide King, winner of the 2012 Big Moose Prize, and editor of JMWW                                                                             

H.G. Carrillo (visiting writer) 
Author of Loosing My Espanish

Matthew Henry Hall (youth workshop) 
Author of Phoebe and Chub, a finalist for a Western Writers of America Storyteller Award