Kelly Link

Kelly Link has had an outstanding career as an award-winning writer, publisher, and editor. She is the author of two collections, STRANGER THINGS HAPPEN and MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS. Her first young adult collection, PRETTY MONSTERS, will be published by Penguin in 2008. With her partner, Gavin J. Grant, Kelly runs Small Beer Press and co-edits the zine LADY CHURCHILL'S ROSEBUD WRISTLET as well as the fantasy half of THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR (St. Martins). Her short stories have won the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and James, Tiptree, Jr. Awards. Her recent work has appeared in THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, FIREBIRDS RISING, TIN HOUSE, THE RESTLESS DEAD, and BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES. THE BEST OF LADY CHURCHILL'S ROSEBUD WRISTLET was published in 2007 by Del Rey. Link graduated with an M.F.A. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1995. She is also a graduate of the Clarion workshop. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Walter Jon Williams

Walter Jon Williams is a New York Times and London Times bestselling author, and the author of Hardwired, City on Fire, and The Praxis.  He has written 27 volumes of fiction in 27 years, as well as being nominated for ten Nebula Awards, six Hugo Awards, the World Fantasy Award, and the Philip K Dick Award.  He has also written for movies, television, and the gaming field.

He has participated in the Sycamore Hill and Franklinia workshops, as well as being a founding member of the Very Small Array and Critical Mass workshops.  He is the founder of the Rio Hondo professional workshop, held for the last eight years in Taos, as well as the founder of Taos Toolbox, the workshop for new writers. 

“Walter good.  Monsters bad.”  (Ian Tregillis, Clarion 2005)

Stephen R. Donaldson
Special Lecturer

Stephen R. Donaldson, raised in India by medical missionaries, was the first fantasy or science fiction author to appear on the New York Times Bestseller List. In addition to the bestselling, award-winning CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT and DAUGHTER OF REGALS, Steve has written science fiction (THE GAP series), and mysteries under the name "Reed Stephens." He holds a black belt in Shotokan.