Kathleen Crisci considers herself, first and foremost, a storyteller. Her friends and family live in constant dread that any mishap to befall them will be seized upon and used in a poem or prose piece. "It didn't happen like that" is a common and typical response of family members. Nevertheless, Kathy Crisci perseveres in her craft and hopes that those who recognize themselves in her work, particularly her mother, will forgive her for the liberties she takes. Currently she is an MFA candidate in non-fiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College. A piece she wrote, Windows, may have found a place in an anthology called Dirt, which will be published by Seal Press next spring.

Thaddeus Rutkowski grew up in central Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Cornell University and The Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of the novels Tetched (Behler Publications) and Roughhouse (Kaya Press), Both books were finalists for an Asian American Literary Award; Tetched was chosen as one of the best books reviewed in 2006 by Chronogram magazine. His stories and poems have been nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and daughter.

For the past 12 years, Lee Sachs has been an information technology consultant. Previously, Mr. Sachs attended NYU's graduate film program. He has published articles in Premiere Magazine, Details and Metropolis, worked with directors like Woody Allen and Francis Ford Coppola, performed at Cornelia Street Cafe, Dixon Place, PS122 and The Knitting Factory and even appeared on Late Night with David Letterman as a Stupid Human Trick. Lee Sachs lives outside of New York City with his wife, son and a bunch of pets.

Gabrielle Mitchell-Marell has contributed articles and reviews to Publishers Weekly, Variety, New York Magazine online, New York Theater News and Citysearch.com. She has taught at Fordham University and the Writing Center at Yeshiva University. She has an MFA in Fiction Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She grew up in Woodstock, New York.

Rick Rofihe is the author of Father Must, a collection of short stories published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Grand Street, Open City, Unsaid, Swink, and on epiphanyzine.com. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, SPY, and on mrbellersneighborhood.com. A recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award, he has taught writing at Columbia University, and currently teaches privately and at Gotham Writers' Workshop in New York. He is a member of PEN, and the judge of the annual RRofihe Trophy Short Story Contest for Open City magazine.

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Janice Eidus is the author of six books, including her most recent novel, THE WAR OF THE ROSENS, and a short story collection, THE CELIBACY CLUB. She has twice won the O.Henry Prize for Short Fiction, and has written essays on pop culture, Jewish identity, and parenting, for The New York Times and other places.

Colette Inez has published nine poetry collections, including the recent SPINOZA DOESN'T COME HERE ANYMORE. Her memoir, THE SECRET OF MONSIEUR DULONG, was published in 2005. She has won Guggenheim, NEA, and Pushcart prizes, among other honors. Colette Inez teaches creative writing at Columbia University.

Marilyn Kallet is the author of 14 books, including CIRCE, AFTER HOURS, poetry from BkMk Press, and LAST LOVE POEMS OF PAUL ELUARD, translations from Black Widow Press. With Kathryn Stripling Byer, she edited THE MOVABLE NEST: A MOTHER/DAUGHTER COMPANION. She is a Lindsay Young Professor at the University of Tennessee.

Lauren K. Alleyne hails from Trinidad and Tobago. She has published in many journals, including BLACK ARTS QUARTERLY, and she won a poetry prize from ATLANTIC MONTHLY in 2003. A Cave Canem Fellow, she now teaches at Hobart & William Smith Colleges.

Rebecca McClanahan is the author of nine books, most recently DEEP LIGHT: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS 1987-2007 and THE RIDDLE SONG AND OTHER REMEMBERINGS, which won the Glasgow Award for nonfiction. She has also received a Pushcart Prize in fiction and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in nonfiction, among other honors. She teaches in the MFA Program at Queens University in Charlotte.

Rochelle Ratner is the editor of Bearing Life: Womens'Wriitings on Childlessness" (The Feminist Press, 2000). She'll have two new books published this coming fall -- Mother and Child, her first novel in 16 years, will be published by Hamilton Stone Editions, and Ben Casey Days, book of prosepoems, will be publishes by Marsh Hawk Press.

Gloria Vando Hickok is a poet and publisher of Helicon Nine Editions.

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Rochelle, poet, essayist, novelist, critic, friend, mentor, sister to all contributed over 80 books of poetry, literature and insight to the world. We are proud to read in her honor:

Alethea Black – reading from her upcoming story in The North American Review

Marian Bock – reading selections from Rochelle's collections Combing the Waves and Balancing Acts

Anita Bernstein – reading her poems recently published in Parnassus Literary Journal and the Minnesota Review.

Michele Bowman – reading from her poems

Christine Panas - reading select poems by Rochelle.
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