Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola, Professors in Western Washington University’s Creative Writing Program, Sheila Bender, Publisher of Writing It Real and Judith Kitchen, Assistant Program Director at PLU’s Rainier Writing Workshop, all work in the memoir and personal essay genres. Each will present from work they have published about writing, a piece intended to describe the process to those who study writing.  Following the 25-30 minutes of reading, Judith will toss out questions to start a lively discussion among presenters and audience.
Brenda Miller is the author of Season of the Body (Sarabande Books, 2002) and co-author of Tell it Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction (McGraw-Hill, 2003).  Her newest collection of essays, Blessing of the Animals, is forthcoming from Eastern Washington University Press in 2009.  Her work has received five Pushcart Prizes and has been published in such journals as Fourth Genre, Creative Nonfiction, The Sun, Utne Reader, Georgia Review, and Witness.  She is an Associate Professor of English at Western Washington University and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Bellingham Review.

Suzanne Paola has written two books of nonfiction, A Mind Apart: Travels in a Neurodiverse World and Body Toxic, a New York Times notable book, as well as four books of poetry. She coauthored Tell It Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative Nonfiction with Brenda Miller.  Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Orion, and numerous journals and anthologies. She is currently working on a  new book of nonfiction dealing with the subject of adoption, contracted with W.W. Norton.
Sheila Bender has written nine books on writing, including Writing Personal Poetry from Writer’s Digest Books, Writing and Publishing Personal Essays from Silver Threads and Perfect Phrases for College Application Essays from McGraw-Hill. She publishes Writing It Real, an online instructional magazine for those who write from personal experience and directs the yearly Writing It Real in Port Townsend Writers’ Conference. She continues to be a visiting adjunct faculty member at Pima College in Tucson.

Judith Kitchen has edited three anthologies of short nonfiction pieces (In Short, In Brief, and Short Takes) for W. W. Norton.  In addition, she is the author of two books of essays, one novel, a book of poetry, and a book of criticism.  She regularly reviews poetry (twice yearly) for The Georgia Review and her articles about writing have appeared in The Seneca Review, Fourth Genre, American Book Review, etc.  With former U. S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, she has recently completed editing an anthology, The Poets Guide to the Birds, forthcoming from Anhinga Press in time for Christmas.