Mitchell S. Jackson’s debut novel The Residue Years won a Whiting Award and the Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. It was also a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel prize, and the Hurston Wright Legacy award.

Barbara Jones is an executive editor at Henry Holt & Company, where she acquires and edits fiction, memoir and narrative nonfiction. She was previously the editorial director at Hyperion Books, and previous to that, a longtime magazine editor, at Harper’s, Vogue, Real Simple, and elsewhere.

Courtney Maum is the author of the novels Costalegre, Touch, I Am Having So Much Fun Here without You, and the forthcoming humor guide for writers Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting and Surviving Your First Book. Find her online at courtneymaum.com