During a brief early career in public relations, James Patrick Kelly attended the Clarion Writers Workshop and has been writing professionally ever since. He has become one of the most prolific and successful short fiction writers in science fiction. Kelly is the author of five novels, and two short story collections, including Wildlife, Strange But Not a Stranger, and Burn. He received the 2006 Nebula Award for Burn, and the Hugo Award for his novelettes "Think Like A Dinosaur" and "Ten to the Sixteenth to One."

Kelly has returned to the Clarion Workshop to teach and serve on the board of directors. He writes a column about the Internet, "On the Net," for Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, has taught writing in the NEA-funded Arts in Education program, and is currently the Chair of the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.

John Kessel is a winner of the Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, and the Locus Poll. His books include Good News from Outer Space, Corrupting Dr. Nice, and The Pure Product. Kessel's story collection, Meeting in Infinity, was a New York Times notable book of 1992. His play Faustfeathers won the 1994 Paul Green Playwrights' Competition, and his novella "Stories for Men" shared the 2002 Tiptree Award.

Kessel directs the creative writing program at North Carolina State University. He is the co-editor of Intersections, an anthology of fiction from the Sycamore Hill Writer's Conference. His essays on science fiction and fantasy have been published in The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The New York Review of Science Fiction, Science Fiction Age, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Foundation.