Chris Dempsey, from Middleton, Idaho, is the author of Winter Horses, a book of poetry. He has been Idaho Council of Teachers of English Language Arts Teacher of the Year and Eagle High School Teacher of the Year, which is where he presently teaches eleventh grade English, honors English, American character, creative writing, and journalism. Chris also coaches track and football. He earned his master's degree in Arts in Education from Boise State University.

Catherine Jones is a freelance writer from Missoula, Montana. Most recently, she has worked with Full Glass Films and director Danny Leiner, adapting the manuscript of her novel, The Ceremony, into a feature length screenplay. An earlier version of the same novel was a finalist for the 2005 Dana Award in the Novel. In 2010, she was a resident at the Millay Colony for the Arts and a recipient of a grant from the Montana Arts Council. She teaches for the 406 Writers' Workshop in Missoula, has taught at Boise State University and the University of Montana. She received an MFA in creative writing from University of Montana.

Meghan Kenny a writer who lives and teaches in Baltimore, Maryland, says, "I grew up in New England, but I spent seven years during and after graduate school in Boise. I love Idaho." Meghan held the 2008-2009 Tickner Writing fellowship, was a 2008 Peter Taylor Fellow at the Kenyon Review Writers' Workshop, and won the 2005 Iowa Review Award for Fiction. Most recently, her stories have appeared in Hobart, Pleiades, The Florida Review, and The Kenyon Review, and she was a 2010 Tuition Scholar at Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. She holds a BA in English from Kenyon College and an MFA in fiction from Boise State University. Meghan says she's looking forward to W@H 2011—"the kids and company, the animals, the river, the hikes, the stars, and those awesome recliner chairs!" 

William Johnson, Professor Emeritus at Lewis-Clark State College and Idaho's Writer in Residence (from 1998-2001 and 2010-11), lives in Lewiston, Idaho. His recent works include A River without Banks, a book of essays about family experiences in northern Idaho with a focus on seeing/belonging, what they are, and mean.  His critical study, What Thoreau Said, appeared in 1991. Published later are two collections of his poetry, a chapbook, At the Wilderness Boundary, and a full collection, Out of the Ruins, which won the Idaho Book Award for 2000. He has won fellowships from Fishtrap, the Environmental Writing Institute, the Idaho Humanities Council, the Idaho Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Nicole LeFavour, has an MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana and a bachelor's degree from the University of California Berkeley in the evolution of cognition. She lives in Boise and teaches creative writing at The Cabin, and has represented the state in the National Slam Poetry competition. She is the Idaho State Senator from District 19, and has a tireless record in striving for human rights through her work in the legislature and organizations to which she contributes her energy. "As a young person, I lived on an Idaho ranch at the edge of the largest wilderness area in the lower 48 states. Nothing inspires me to write more than being in the wild. It is not only what is around me, the beauty, the unexpected detail, the intricate lives of the plants and animals, but what of myself I find there."

Terrece Beesley grew up on a potato farm near Rexburg, Idaho, a place that remains close to her heart. Her brother says that she paints because she throws like a girl so had no future in the major leagues. “But I think I paint because there is still a small child inside me saying, ‘Look what I can do,'" Terrece says. She earned a BFA from Utah State University, and has been the artist for a publishing firm she co-owned, for a freelance career in product design, and since 2000, as a watercolor artist. She presently works in the Utah Arts Council's Artist in Residence program. She teaches at elementary schools around Utah, and conducts watercolor seminars for high school and elementary students at Weber State University.

Anna Demetriades lives, works and creates in Boise, Idaho, and teaches Storystorystory. She was raised by theater geeks in the tiny mountain town of McCall, ID and spent much of her adolescence at the local theater, either on the stage, behind the stage, or at the very least nestled in the audience. She has traveled and explored many places and finds her deepest inspiration in the mountains. Any mountains. Anna is an award winning nonfiction writer and works as a freelance grant writer, copy writer, and copy editor. She is also the executive director of Story Story Night, a Boise storytelling sensation. She holds a degree in writing from Boise State University and has an especially deep affection for poetry and creative nonfiction. She is also a devoted lover of insects.

Erica Crockett is a native Idahoan, raised in Boise. She earned degrees in philosophy, linguistics and writing from Boise State University. After traveling around the world with her husband and seeing more than her fair share of hostels, rickety buses and street food, she made her way back to Boise where she taught ESL and GED prep for several years. She is now pursuing a writing career and has recently finished the first draft of her first novel. Erica loves hanging out with her husband, Aaron Sup, wrangling animals (dogs, cat, and chickens), upping the size of her biceps, playing banjo, crocheting stuffed animals, growing herbs and engaging in another hundred or so other hobbies and vocations.

Aaron Sup grew up in Boise, Idaho, and left briefly to get his undergraduate degree in physics from UC Santa Barbara. He came back and got his MS from BSU in materials science while waiting around for his lovely wife, Erica, to graduate. He's taught a slew of math, engineering and physics courses at BSU for ten years. He stays busy with playing keyboard for the local band, A Seasonal Disguise. He has a third-degree black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu, which comes in handy when his students get out of line. Some of his other favorite things include weightlifting, playing video games, travel, surfing (when he's near a coastline), and spending time with his wife and pets.

Margaret Marti is the director for Writers @ Harriman, a week-long residential writing camp for high school students held in a state park in eastern Idaho. Doing this, she combines her passion for the arts and the outdoors. She also consults and writes grants for some Boise-area cultural organizations. A life-long reader and writer, she was the managing director for The Cabin, Idaho's literary center, and worked in publishing for some 20 years before that. Needlework and quilting consume many of her hours.