Alisa Kriegel, PhD is a psychologist with a private practice in New York City, working with adults and couples. She is on a mission to give people permission to seek pleasure and believes everyone deserves to experience incredible, mind-blowing sex.

Her debut memoir, From Sexless Marriage to Sex Goddess, tells the story of her own transformation. After twenty-five years in a marriage with little intimacy, her husband’s revelation of an affair with a man upended their life together. That rupture sparked a journey of self-discovery that pushed Kriegel to confront shame, challenge old beliefs, and claim her desires.

She writes candidly about solo exploration, dating, nontraditional relationships, and even her first visit to a sex club, while also navigating divorce and co-parenting. Interweaving past and present, she explores how childhood lessons about shame and a pragmatic marriage shaped her, and how she ultimately redefined intimacy, love, and self-worth.

Her story is both personal and universal, inviting readers to embrace vulnerability, authenticity, and pleasure. Kriegel also hosts the podcast Let’s Talk About Sex, Really and lives in New York, NY.

Suzanne Trauth is a novelist and playwright. Her novels include What Remains of Love (a first-place winner in Women's Fiction, Firebird Book Awards; a finalist in General Fiction, American Book Festival; and a finalist for the Hemingway Prize) and the Dodie O’Dell mystery series–Show Time, Time Out, Running Out of Time, Just in Time, No More Time and Killing Time.

Her plays include Laws of the Universe (semi-finalist Premiere Stages New Play Festival), La Fonda (HRC Showcase Theatre; semi-finalist Premiere Stages New Play Festival), Françoise (nominated for Kilroy List; semi-finalist Boomerang New Play Festival), Midwives, Rehearsing Desire, iDream, and Katrina: the K Word. Ms. Trauth has co-authored Sonia Moore and American Acting Training and co-edited Katrina on Stage: Five Plays. Her most recent novel, The First to Die, domestic suspense, was released in November, 2025. She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the Dramatists Guild, and the League of Professional Theatre Women.

Sharon White is an award-winning author whose work spans nonfiction, poetry, and fiction. She has written extensively about nature, place, and memory, bringing a lyrical and reflective voice to her storytelling. Her books include Minato Sketches (Minerva Rising Press), The Body Is Burden and Delight (Cornerstone Press), Boiling Lake: On Voyage (Jaded Ibis Press), Vanished Gardens: Finding Nature in Philadelphia (University of Georgia Press), Eve and Her Apple (Harbor Mountain Press), Field Notes: A Geography of Mourning (Hazelden Press), and Bone House (Brickhouse Books, New Poets Series).

Anika has earned multiple awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board and from the Jerome Foundation, and her writing for adults and children has appeared in numerous publications including Brief Encounters: A Collection of Contemporary Nonfiction, We Are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World, and Boundless: Twenty Voices Celebrating Multicultural and Multiracial Identities, as well as Travel + Leisure magazine.

With a Masters in Library Science, she is a former librarian and also the founder of the author collective, MN BIPOC Kidlit Creators. When she’s not writing, find her teaching at Augsburg University’s MFA program or interviewing authors on her podcast Gobblefunking with Words. Anika lives with her family in Minneapolis.

Winnie M Li is an American author and activist living in the UK with her partner and young son. A Harvard graduate, Winnie has written for travel guidebooks, produced independent feature films, programmed for film festivals, and developed eco-tourism projects. Her first novel Dark Chapter was nominated for an Edgar Award and translated into ten languages, followed by the critically acclaimed Complicit. A survivor and advocate against gendered violence, she holds a PhD from the London School of Economics in Media Studies and is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing.

Sue William Silverman is an award-winning author known for her fearless explorations of trauma, identity, and personal transformation. Her latest book, “Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader,” showcases her signature blend of lyricism, insight, and unflinching honesty.

Her previous titles include “Acetylene Torch Songs: Writing True Stories to Ignite the Soul,” winner of the IPPY Silver Award and a finalist for two Foreword INDIE Book of the Year Awards in the self-help and reference categories. She is also the author of “How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences,” which received the gold Foreword INDIE Book of the Year Award and the Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature. Earlier works include “Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction,” adapted into a Lifetime TV movie; “Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You,” winner of the AWP Award for Creative Nonfiction; and “The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew.”

Silverman co-chairs the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a frequent guest in national media. Her appearances include “The View,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” and “PBS Books.”

H. Lee Barnes is the author of ten books, including four novels and four short story collections. His short fiction has received the Willamette Fiction Award and the Arizona Author's Association Fiction Award. His last collection, Life Is a Country Western Song, garnered the 2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award for Fiction Other. In addition, Barnes was honored by the Vietnam Veterans of America with an Excellence in the Arts Award for his Vietnam War books, and in 2009 he was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. He earned his MFA in creative writing from Arizona State University and taught English and creative writing at the College of Southern Nevada, retiring emeritus in 2017. Barnes lives in the Hualapai Valley in northern Arizona.

Stephen Greenblatt is the Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He has written extensively on English Renaissance literature and acts as general editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and The Norton Shakespeare. He is the author of fifteen books, including The Swerve, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and Will in the World, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Dark Renaissance is his latest.