Stephen Mack Jones, Keynote ● Stephen Mack Jones is a published poet, award winning playwright and winner of the Kresge Arts in Detroit Literary Fellowship. Stephen has received many accolades for his August Snow crime/thriller series. He has been shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award and a finalist for the Shamus Award as well as the Strand Critic’s Award. The Nero Wolfe Society awarded August Snow the 2018 Nero Award. In 2018, the International Association of Crime Writers presented Stephen with the prestigious Hammett Prize for literary excellence in the field of crime writing. August Snow, was named a ‘2018 Michigan Notable Book’ by the Library of Michigan. He received that honor again in 2022 for Dead of Winter.
Colleen Gleason ● Colleen Gleason, who also writes as Colleen Cambridge, is an award-winning, USA Today and New York Times bestselling author. She has written over sixty full-length novels in a variety of genres, and has been published by major publishers such as Penguin, HarperCollins, and Kensington. She was an early adopter of indie publishing, and continues to publish both traditionally, with a small boutique press, and as an indie author. Her works have been translated into ten languages and counting.
Esther G. Belin ● Esther is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and is the current Poet Laureate for Durango, Colorado. She has two single-volume poetry books published by the University of Arizona Press, one of which won the American Book Award in 2000. She was one of four editors of The Diné Reader: An Anthology of Navajo Literature, which won the American Book Award in 2022. She is a graduate from UC Berkeley, Institute of American Indian Arts, and Antioch University. She teaches in the English department at Michigan State University.
Jen Wahi● Jen Wahi is the President of Mission Point Press, a Michigan based hybrid publishing company with locations in Traverse City and Detroit. She has more than 25 years of experience in both traditional and self-publishing. She has worked with large publishers, including Cengage Learning, and her background spans academic publishing, trade titles, and children’s books. Coming from the creative side of the industry, Jen spent over 20 years as a Creative Director in traditional publishing, where she helped develop company brands and marketing strategies. She also served on acquisition teams, evaluating author manuscripts for publication. Jen enjoys sharing what she has learned about publishing and helping writers understand their options. She explains the differences between traditional, independent, and hybrid publishing, along with the benefits and challenges of each model, so authors can make informed decisions about the best path for their work.
Jim Hines ● Jim C. Hines is the author of 20 published SF/F novels, including the Goblin Quest trilogy, the Magic ex Libris series, the Princess series of fairy tale retellings, the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse trilogy, and the Fable Legends tie-in Blood of Heroes.
Jim won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2012. His latest novel is Slayers of Old. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a Masters in English, and lives with his family in mid-Michigan.
Marcel Fable Price ● Marcel Fable Price is a bi-racial Black, justice impacted, widowed, non-monogamous, multi hyphenate creative. A nationally touring poet and self-taught storyteller, he previously raised millions as a nonprofit executive and now works within Michigan’s innovation and venture ecosystem.
The youngest and first person of color to serve as Grand Rapids’ Poet Laureate from 2017 to 2020, Fable’s writing appears in The Missouri Review, Button Poetry, Write About Now, Hindsight, and Pergola Magazine in 2025 and 2026. His work centers grief, growth, survivorship, and radical honesty.
His debut collection, New American Monarch, is available now.
Bethany Neal ● Bethany Neal is an internationally published young adult author and is currently pursuing an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University. She also is part of the editorial team at Cherry Lake Publishing Group and co-teaches the Emerging Writers Workshops at the Ann Arbor District Library.
Holly Mayes ● Holly Mayes, a native of Michigan, has shared her passion for writing in a variety of genres, having self-published a young adult science fiction series, GEMS; a romance novel, Fade to Black; and a romance anthology, Mistaken, with two other female authors.
Her short stories also have been featured in Motherwell Magazine and Lansing Community College’s Washington Square Review. Her most recent work is a memoir, Dream, Girl, published with Koehler Books. She earned a BA in Professional Communications from Siena Heights University in 2016 and works as a communication representative.
Carrie Howland – Agent ● Carrie is a twenty-one-year veteran in the publishing industry. She worked for fourteen years as a literary agent at two New York City based agencies before founding her eponymous agency, Howland Literary, LLC in 2018.
Carrie holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Albion College, where she was the Poetry Editor of The Albion Review. Her poetry has appeared in various literary journals and magazines. She has been featured in several publications discussing her work as an agent including Poets & Writers, SCBWI insight, Akashic Books, and Slice Magazine. Carrie is accepting submissions for: adult literary and upmarket fiction, contemporary romance, short story collections, prescriptive nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, essay collections, and cookbooks.
Sara Maurer ● Sara’s critically-acclaimed debut novel, A Good Animal, is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press on February 24, 2026. Set in the farm country of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, A Good Animal is a deeply felt coming-of-age story that captures the ache of first love, the beauty and brutality of rural life, and how one decision can echo through generations and shape who we become. Sara attended Albion College and Eastern Michigan University and completed the Stanford Continuing Studies certificate in novel writing in 2022. In 2023, she was selected as a Suzanne M. Wilson Artist-in-Residence at the Glen Arbor Arts Center. She lives with her family in Sault Ste. Marie.
Dawn Burns ● Dawn Burns is the author of A Green Glow on the Horizon and Evangelina Everyday, and founder and co-organizer of the SwampFire community of writers and artists. Dawn’s creative nonfiction has appeared in Lingering Inland: A Literary Tour of the Midwest, and in On an Inland Sea: Writing the Great Lakes. A recipient of excellence awards from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature and the Ohio Arts Council, and an assistant professor at Michigan State University, Dawn is committed to writing and community building as acts of personal and social change both in and beyond their classroom.
Kevin Fitton ● Kevin Fitton is a Visiting Professor of English at Kalamazoo College where he teaches creative writing. He is the author of Auras, (Fomite 2022), a collection of short stories.
He is also author of the children’s picture book, Higher Ground (Radiant Hen 2012), with Caldecott-winning artist, Mary Azarian. He holds an MFA from Bennington College, and a PhD from Western Michigan.
Mary Anna Kruch ● Mary Anna Kruch is a career educator who has taught in public school classrooms, Michigan State University, Grand Valley, and Northern Michigan University. A writer and photographer, her works reflect the natural world, ancestry, mental illness, and social justice. Mary Anna has published a textbook for writing teachers, Tend Your Garden: Nurturing Motivation in Young Adolescent Writers (2012), several professional articles focused on what motivates writing, and three poetry collections, We Draw Breath from the Same Sky (2019), Grace Notes: A Memoir in Poetry & Prose (2021), and Water Marks (2024). Her poetry and photos appear in state, national, and international journals.
Julie Mariouw ● Julie Mariouw is a former English teacher and Amherst Writers & Artists facilitator who offers online and in-person writing workshops through Wellspring Writing Workshops, LLC, which she founded in 2016. Julie combines the power of metaphor, the senses, movement, and nature together with writing, to create healing and increased creativity.
Julie’s writing has been published in Story Sanctum, Wilderness House Literary Review, Teach.Write. A Literary Journal, Recovering the Self, The Huron River Review, The Brick Magazine, Crazy Wisdom Journal, Natural Awakenings Magazine, and Verdad Magazine.
Erin Bartels ● Erin writes character-driven fiction for curious people. She is the award-winning author of several books, including the Michigan Notable Book Award winners We Hope for Better Things, Everything Is Just Beginning, and The Lady with the Dark Hair. After 24 years in the book publishing industry, she has taken on the role of Editor in Chief of HSM Publications at the Historical Society of Michigan. She lives with her husband and their son in Mason, Michigan.
A Rally of Writers 