Moderator: SBWC faculty member, Trey Dowell, is a novelist and a short story aficionado. His expertise in writing effective query letters has helped numerous writers get their projects reviewed by agents and publishers.

Mary Hill-Wagner, is the author of Girlz ‘n the Hood, a memoir of what it was like to grow up on some of the meanest streets in America with 10 siblings and a mother who taught her to protect the weak and love hard. Dr. Hill-Wagner is an award-winning author, journalist, and college professor. She enjoys reading, writing, racquetball, theater, and dogs.

Terra Trevor is the author of We Who Walk the Seven Ways, about the search for healing and finding belonging when Native women elders embraced and guided Trevor (mixedblood Cherokee, Lenape, Seneca, German) through the seven cycles of life in Indigenous ways. She’s a contributor to fifteen books in Native Studies and memoir. She’s the granddaughter of sharecroppers and was raised in a large extended family rich with storytelling and music.

Harlan Green, is the author of Building Community: Answering Kennedy’s Call. His memoir covers his work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a Turkish village, as a photographer and filmmaker for the US Environmental Protection Agency in its earliest days, enforcing the Clean Air and Water Acts, and with Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers of America Union during its mid-1970s struggle organizing seasonal farm workers to better their living conditions.

Connard Hogan is an award-winning author of two memoirs. Once Upon a Kentucky Farm: Hope and Healing from Family Abuse, Alcoholism and Dysfunction shines a light on the struggles of those living with trauma from family abuse, and the healing powers of unconditional love. Barbwire, Brothels and Bombs in the Night: Surviving Vietnam reminds us that no one involved in warfare escapes trauma. He hopes his writing inspires others struggling to heal from trauma.

Dale Zurawski is the the author of Bipolar, a Gift of Thorns, a profoundly insightful memoir about being bipolar and how that affects others. This brave book about some of the darkest aspects of our lives shines a light on her courageous journey uncovering the stigma of being bipolar. This book will help anyone who is or loves someone who is bipolar. For the last 20 years, her home base has been Santa Barbara, California.