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Billie Letts is the author of numerous short stories. Her first novel won the Walker Percy Award and the 1996 Oklahoma Book Award. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband, Dennis. With her prizewinning #1 New York Times bestseller,* Where the Heart Is*, and her acclaimed second novel, *The Honk and Holler Opening Soon*, Billie Letts joined the ranks of America's best-loved storytellers.* Where the Heart Is* was also selected as an Oprah's Book Club pick and Billie tells what it was like to receive the phone call from Oprah in her article, "The Call That Changed My Life."

Carl Hiaasen , a graduate of the University of Florida, at age 23 he joined *The Miami Herald* as a general assignment reporter and went on to work for the paper's weekly magazine and later its prize-winning investigations team. Since 1985 Hiaasen has been writing a regular column, which at one time or another has pissed off just about everybody in South Florida, including his own bosses. He has outlasted almost all of them, and his column still appears on most Sundays in *The Herald's* opinion-and-editorial section. For his journalism and commentary, Hiaasen has received numerous state and national honors, including the Damon Runyon Award from the Denver Press Club. His work has also appeared in many well-known magazines, including *Sports Illustrated*, *Playboy*, *Time*, *Life*, *Esquire* and, *Gourmet*.

Charles McNair is the author of Land O'Goshen.

Chuck Palahniuk's previous novels include the bestselling* Fight Club*, which was made into a film by director David Fincher, *Choke*, which was made into a film by director Clark Gregg; *Lullaby*, *Haunted*, *Rant*, and *Pygmy*. He is also the author of *Fugitives* and *Refugees*, a nonfiction profile of Portland, Oregon, published as part of the Crown Journeys series, and the nonfiction collection *Stranger Than Fiction*. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Lydia K. Bergen leads strategic direction and outreach efforts for the Sustainable Fisheries Initiative at the New England Aquarium. As a member of the SFI team for close to four years, Lydia is responsible for overseeing SFI's strategic growth and reputation. Today, the program has grown to include SFI Advisory Services-that provides technical advice and expertise on seafood sustainability to major corporations that buy and sell seafood-and our Celebrate Seafood program-that promotes environmentally responsible seafood options and shares information on seafood sustainability with the general public. Lydia holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Casserly has a PhD in the economics of education from Stanford University and a BA in mathematics from Boston College. Before joining the Hewlett Foundation, she was the program officer for evaluation for the Walter S. Johnson Foundation and worked as a policy analyst for SRI International. She was also a mathematics teacher in Kingston, Jamaica, and tutored in a high security prison. She served as a trustee for the San Mateo County Board of Education from 1997 to 2000.

Faran is vice president and director of planning for finance and operations in Houghton Mifflin's trade and reference division. She managed the startup of an in-house electronic licensing group, as well as domestic and international distribution arrangements, which was instrumental in rebuilding the financial health of the division. Before joining Houghton Mifflin in 1996, Faran was senior vice president, chief financial officer and general manager at Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc. She holds a B.A. from Radcliffe College, a certificate from the Radcliffe Publishing Course and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Henry Jenkins is the Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program and the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities. He is the author and/or editor of nine books on various aspects of media and popular culture, including *Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture*, *Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture* and *From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games*. His newest books include *Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide *and Fans, *Bloggers and Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture *. Until recently, Jenkins wrote a monthly column and blogged about media and cultural change for *Technology Review Online*. A longtime advocate of games culture, he currently co-authors a column with Kurt Squire for *Computer Games magazine* which seeks to promote innovation and diversity in game design. Jenkins recently developed a white paper on the future of media literacy education for the MacArthur Foundation, which is leading to a three year project to develop curricular materials to help teachers and parents better prepare young people for full participation in contemporary culture. Jenkins has a B.A. in Political Science and Journalism from Georgia State University, a MA in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa and a PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught at MIT for more than 16 years, where he is also housemaster of Senior House dormitory.