Peter F. Crowley is a prolific author from the Boston area who writes in various forms including short fiction, op-eds, poetry and academic essays. In 2020, his poetry book Those Who Hold Up the Earth was published by Kelsay Books and received impressive reviews by Kirkus Review, the Bangladeshi New Age and two local Boston-area newspapers. The work shines a light on the forgotten people of the world, from pizza makers in the US, to Bangladeshi rickshaw drivers to middle-aged residents of Pendik, Turkey who are willing to help out strangers. Peter’s writing can be found in Middle East Monitor, Znet, 34th Parallel, Pif Magazine, Galway Review, Digging the Fat, Adelaide’s Short Story and Poetry Award anthologies (finalist in both) and The Opiate.

His forthcoming books, due out later in 2023, are That Night and Other Stories (CAAB Publishing) and Empire’s End (Alien Buddha Press).

Linda Werbner is a Salem-based writer who works as a therapist. When she is not sitting with clients and practicing tikkun olam (healing the world), she enjoys performing at local spoken word open mics, making quilts for loved ones, cooking eggplant parm, eating popcorn and watching Columbo with her partner, and playing old-time banjo. Her work has appeared in Quail Bell Magazine and Global Poemic, an online literary journal.

Timothy Gager is a bestselling author who has published 18 books of fiction and poetry, including his third novel, Joe the Salamander. He hosted the successful Dire Literary Series in Cambridge, MA from 2001 to 2018, and started a weekly virtual series in 2020. He has had over 1000 works of fiction and poetry published, 18 nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His work also has been nominated for a Massachusetts Book Award, The Best of the Web, The Best Small Fictions Anthology and has been read on National Public Radio.  In 2023, Big Table Publishing published an anthology of twenty years of his selected work, with over 150 pages of new material: The Best of Timothy Gager. Timothy is the former Fiction Editor of The Wilderness House Literary Review, and the founding co-editor of The Heat City Literary Review. A graduate of the University of Delaware, Timothy lives in Dedham, Massachusetts, and is employed as a social worker.