ROB AMBERG is a freelance documentary photographer who lives in the mountains of western North Carolina. His book of photographs and writing Sodom Laurel Album (University of North Carolina Press) won the 2002 Thomas Wolfe Literary Award.

ANN BAUER’s first novel, A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards (Scribner), was named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post. She teaches creative nonfiction at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has become an avid long-distance motorcycle rider. She lives in Minneapolis.

WALTER O. BEATON lives in New York City and has taken many photographs of Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

TIMOTHY BYARS is a photographer who lives in Lafayette, California.

ARNIE COOPER sometimes wonders if teaching English as a second language might be hurting his ability to write. Bombarded by misspellings, misplaced modifiers, and mangled syntax, he fights to maintain his own knowledge of English. Luckily, none of the magazines he writes for have detected a problem. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

PEG DÍAZ is a photographer who lives in Barstow, California.

DUNCAN GREEN first discovered his love of photography at YMCA camp when he was eleven. He lives in Olympia, Washington, and is staff photographer for the Washington State House of Representatives.

ETHAN HUBBARD’s photos and writing in the August 2008 issue are from his latest book, Grandfather’s Gift: A Journey to the Heart of the World (Heron Dance Press). He lives in Chelsea, Vermont.

TOM IRELAND lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and edits books for the Museum of New Mexico and the Smithsonian Institution. His last book was Birds of Sorrow (Zephyr Press), and he’s working on an essay collection called Head Noise.

LYN LIFSHIN is the author of The Licorice Daughter: My Year with Ruffian (Texas Review Press), Another Woman Who Looks like Me (Black Sparrow and Godine Press), and Barbaro, a poetry collection in progress. She lives in Vienna, Virginia.

R.A. McBRIDE is working on a book of photographs and essays about San Francisco movie theaters. She lives in New York City.

DION OGUST lives in Woodstock, New York, and is a staff photographer for the Woodstock Times. Her portraits of writers and musicians have appeared on book and CD covers.

KIMBERLEY PITTMAN-SCHULZ lives with her wildlife-biologist husband and her cat on the East Fork of the Lewis River in Battle Ground, Washington. When not writing poems or hiking in the woods, she raises and manages charitable funds for Clark College.

BRUCE HOLLAND ROGERS teaches fiction writing in the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA program in Washington State. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.

EMILY ROGERS is the pseudonym of a writer who was raised in the Assemblies of God Church and presently lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, with her husband and son. She juggles family life with writing, getting her PhD, teaching English literature at a community college, and working as a television closed-captioner.

LEE ROSSI is the perfect company man. He has no hobbies or interests outside his job. He barely remembers his wife’s name, and indeed has forgotten the names of his two children. He believes that if no one notices him, maybe Death will overlook him too.  He is the author of two books of poetry: Ghost Diary (Terrapin Press) and Beyond Rescue (Bombshelter Press). He lives in Culver City, California.

SY SAFRANSKY is editor and publisher of The Sun.

MATTHEW SEPTIMUS is a freelance photographer living in New York City. He works with Unseen America, an organization that teaches photography to groups that are socially and politically underrepresented.

WENDY STONE is a licensed massage therapist whose passions are photography, professional cycling, and travel. She is currently enrolled at the University of Connecticut, where she’s majoring in photography.

MARK TOWNSEND lives in Brooklyn, New York.

HIROSHI WATANABE made commercials for Japanese television for twenty years before he quit to devote himself full time to fine-art photography. He lives in West Hollywood, California.

SHARON WHARTON lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she takes portraits and wedding photographs.

THERESA WILLIAMS can pick up pens and pencils with her toes, whistle out of the side of her mouth, and spell most words correctly most of the time. She is the author of a novel called The Secret of Hurricanes (MacAdam/Cage). She teaches literature and creative writing at Bowling Green State University and lives in Bradner, Ohio.