ML Liebler is an internationally known and widely published Detroit poet, university professor, literary arts activist and arts organizer. He is the author of 13 books including the award winning Wide Awake in Someone Else’s Dream. The Coyote Monk Poetry Band features Grammy winning Eminem producer and bassist Steve King, The Blue Room guitarist Charlie Palazzola, Frankie the K of Black Hat on the keys, and form The Dangerous Diane Band, The Ghost Band, and 54 Sound session, drummer Leonard Johnson.

Margaret Noori / Giiwedinoodin received an MFA in Creative Writing and a PhD in English and Linguistics from the University of Minnesota. She is Director of the Comprehensive Studies Program and teaches American Indian Literature at the University of Michigan. Her book Bwaajimowin: A Dialect of Dreams in Anishinaabe Language and Literature is forthcoming from MSU Press and her poetry has recently appeared in the Michigan Quarterly Review, Sing: Poetry from the Indigenous Americas, and Cell Traffic by Heid Erdrich.

Michael Delp is a writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction whose works have appeared in numerous national publications. He is the author of Over the Graves of Horses, Under the Influence of Water, The Coast of Nowhere, and The Last Good Water, in addition to six chapbooks of poetry. He teaches creative writing at the Interlochen Arts Academy and has received several awards for his teaching.

Jack Driscoll is the author of four poetry collections, four novels, and two collections of short stories, most recently The World of a Few Minutes Ago. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the NEA Creative Writing Fellowship, the Pushcard Book Editors’ Award, the Barnes & Noble Discovery of Great New Writers Award, and more. His novel, How Like an Angel, was a 2005 Michigan Notable Book.

Lonnie Hull DuPont moved back to her home state of Michigan after living many years in Greece, New York City, and San Francisco. In Michigan she often performs her poetry with musicians which have included pianist Doug Howell and Detroit guitarist Robert Tye. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her poems can be seen in dozens of journals and anthologies. She is the author of The Haiku Box and six chapbooks of poetry.

Michael Brian Ogden is a resident artist at the Purple Rose Theatre Company (PRTC), an actor and playwright. He has previously appeared in PRTC productions of The Meaning of Almost Everything, Superior Donuts, White Buffalo, Escanaba in da Moonlight, Corktown, Our Town, Bleeding Red, and more. His plays Bleeding Red and Corktown received their world premeiere productionss at the PRTC and he continues to write and develop new work for the stage.

Peter Leonard is the acclaimed author of five suspense thrillers Quiver, Trust Me, All He Saw Was the Girl, Voices of the Dead, and Back From the Dead. A former advertising executive, in mid-life he decided to follow in his father’s legendary footsteps. As Carl Hiaasen says, “Elmore Leonard is a tough act to follow, but son Peter is off to a terrific start . . . Clearly, great storytelling runs in the Leonard family’s DNA.”

Elmore John Leonard, Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 11, 1925. Beginning as an ad writer, Leonard quite work to become a full-time writer in 1961, publishing Westerns, fiction, and screenplays. Having written 45 novels, Leonard has received a myriad of awards including The Raymond Chandler Award, F. Scott Fitzgerald Award, and PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. Multiple adaptations have been made of Leonard’s work including the 1995 movie Get Shorty and Justified, the hit FX show currently in its fourth season.