A professional writer/editor for almost 30 years, Karen Wojcik Berner's wide and varied experience includes such topics as grammar, blog content, book reviews, corporate communications, the arts, coatings, the fire service, writing, and literature. An award-winning journalist, her work has appeared in several magazines, newspapers, and blogs, including the Chicago Tribune, Writer Unboxed, and Naperville magazine. She also is the author of the Bibliophiles series, contemporary fiction with a sprinkling of the classics. Her blog features Editing for Grammarphobes every Wednesday with handy tips to enhance all of our writing from daily emails to articles to novels. karenberner.com.

Debra R. Borys has published four books in her Street Stories suspense series, Painted Black, Bend Me Shape Me, Box of Rain, and Cry Baby Cry. Her years of volunteering with Chicago’s Night Ministry lend an authenticity to her work which combines quirky suspense plots with a realistic portrait of what living on the streets is like in reality. Find out more at debra-r-borys.com and streetstoriessuspensenovels.com.

Diane Piron-Gelman has worked in publishing since 1998, editing mysteries, historicals, and sci-fi/fantasy. Her novels Shall We Not Revenge and For You Were Strangers (D. M. Pirrone, Allium Press), were named Notable Page-Turners by Shelf Unbound, and Shall We Not Revenge was a 2014 Kirkus Prize nominee. A Chicago native, Ms. Piron-Gelman belongs to Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Chicago Writers’ Association, and Society for Midland Authors. She particularly enjoys mysteries, historical fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, history, and biography. Connect with her at dmpirrone.net, Twitter, Wordnrd, Wordnrd' Facebook, and Facebook author page.

Caryn Green is a veteran Chicago journalist, editor and author who has written on topics ranging from travel, lifestyle issues and the arts, to politics, religion and the environment for numerous online and print publications. Her travel memoir Overland:Remembering Southeast Asia, published by Manitou & Cedar Press, won the 2018 National Indie Excellence Award in New Adult Non-Fiction.

Brinda Gupta is a writer, editor, and editorial project manager with almost twenty years of experience in the educational publishing industry, with specialties in social studies and literature. She currently runs her freelance editorial firm Kali Ink, Inc. Because of her love of dogs, Brinda will happily complete any editorial work for nonprofit dog rescues and shelters pro bono. Though she is a nonfiction writer herself, she enjoys reviewing all genres. You can find her online at kali-ink.com.

Lawrence Hartmann has been a freelance writer for over 20 years. For over ten years, he was the editor of a newsletter, The Week in Congress, covering the U.S. Congress for the publishing company Wolters Kluwer. He enjoys most types of literature and currently focuses his time on nonfiction and poetry. In the nonfiction field, he’s particularly interested in biography, history, and science. He has a BA in English from the University of Missouri. His blog on the Chicago Tribune blogsite Chicagonow.com, called From Hollywood to Ravenswood, includes movie reviews, current events, poems and more.

As a journalist for many years, Dennis Hetzel says he sometimes was accused of writing fiction, but he really did it with his award-winning sports-political thrillers, Killing the Curse and Season of Lies. Hetzel grew up in Chicago and Hoffman Estates. After graduating from Western Illinois University, he began his career as a weekly newspaper sports editor in Barrington and become an award-winning reporter, editorial writer, editor, and publisher, most recently at The Cincinnati Enquirer. He's now executive director of the Ohio News Media Association in Columbus, Ohio. He also has taught journalism at Penn State and Temple universities. Find out more about Dennis at dennishetzel.com.

Samantha Hoffman is a writer, editor, personal assistant, private chef, 8-time marathoner, film and theatre buff, and world traveler. She is a freelance editor in the genres of fiction and creative nonfiction, Associate Editor for The Write City Magazine, Editor for Windy City Reviews, author of What More Could You Wish For published by St. Martin’s Press (2012), V.P. of the Chicago Writers Association, and Executive Director of Let's Just Write! An Uncommon Writers Conference. samanthahoffman.com and Facebook.

Leland Humbertson is managing editor of AGD Impact, the newsmagazine of the Academy of General Dentistry. He has writing and editing experience in both the association and newspaper industries. He is a die-hard Trekkie and enjoys reading anything Star Trek- or technology-related.

Renee James' Seven Suspects (2017) was her fourth literary thriller set in Chicago. Her books have won awards from the Chicago Writers Association and Foreword Reviews, and before she focused on fiction, she was an award-winning magazine writer, editor, and owner for many years. She is active as a book reviewer and a substantive editor (plot, character, voice). She loves fiction in most of its forms other than horror, including mysteries, suspense, thrillers, LGBT, and even literary fiction, if it has a plot. Read more at her web site: reneejames-author.com.

Brian R. Johnston lives in St. Joseph, MI with his wife and two children. He is the author of two books: The Art of Being a Baseball Fan and Quiet Faith. In addition, he is a writer for the Wrigleyville Nation website, a book reviewer for Booklist magazine, and a freelance editor. Brian also has over a decade of public library work experience. He is primarily interested in reviewing adult nonfiction. You can find him online.

An award-winning educator, Ellen Jo Ljung has published two textbooks on writing along with dozens of articles about education and Problem-Based Learning. Her teaching memoir, Tales Told Out of School: Lessons Learned by the Teacher, will be out in November, 2021. She also produced Professional Development materials for TeacherMatch. An avid reader of literary fiction interspersed with character-driven mysteries, Ljung also devours books about education and about social justice. She has traveled the world, kayaking on five continents. Her writing website is imwriter.com, where she also maintains a blog about education.

Lisa Lickel is an eclectic reader/writer/editor/mentor/reviewer. With a degree in history she learned the value of research and utilizes current industry standard tools for editing. Through reading, writing, being edited, editing for indie publishers, and teaching, she has built up a steady clientele over the last decade who include Paul Ely of Hewlett-Packard, and award-winning novelists. Several clients have traditionally published after working with her. She writes cozy mysteries and family drama, edits and reviews most work including academic, has experience working with international English, and offers manuscript evaluation. She coaches writers at Novel-in-Progress Bookcamp and Writers Retreat. Web: lisalickel.com.

Alison Marcotte is a Chicago-based editor and children's author. Her debut picture book Seeking Best Friend, illustrated by Diane Ewen and published by Beaming Books, came out in January 2022. She is a member of the Chicago Writers Association, SCBWI, and the 12 x 12 Picture Book Writing Challenge, and a freelance writer for the American Library Association’s American Libraries magazine. Follow her on Instagram at @alisonmarcottewrites or visit her website at alisonmarcotte.com.

An Illinois native, Florence Osmund began writing novels after retiring from a long career in large corporations. In addition to Windy City Reviews, she reviews books for the indieBRAG organization, Awesome Indies, and IndieReader. While literary fiction is her favorite genre to read, write, and review, she will also review contemporary fiction, mysteries, coming of age fiction, dramas, mainstream fiction, family sagas, and young adult fiction. “I will review most fiction genres except for romance, science fiction, and fantasies.” For those interested in her books or looking for advice on how to hone their own author skills, visit Florence’s website/blog at florenceosmund.com. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Goodreads.

Damian Serbu is an author of gay horror/speculative fiction. After over twenty years of teaching history at the collegiate level, he now writes full time. He has several novels published with NineStar Press. He lives in the Chicagoland area with his husband and two dogs. You can find him at www.DamianSerbu.com, or keep up with his latest ramblings at https://twitter.com/DamianSerbu and https://www.facebook.com/damian.serbu.

Caroline L. Huftalen is a freelance writer and editor. She graduated from the University at Buffalo with a degree in English and theatre and continued her education at the Savannah College of Art and Design where she received her MFA in writing. Caroline enjoys reading fiction driven by character, and nonfiction including: travel, health, food, and memoir. She lives in Chicago with her husband, two small children and two very old dogs. You can find out more at CarolineHuftalen.com.