Truth & Dare (32 page)

Jennifer Finney Boylan
is the author of numerous books, including the young adult series, “Falcon Quinn” as well as the bestselling memoir,
She’s Not There
. She is a regular contributor to the
New York Times
, as well as an ongoing contributor to
Conde Nast Traveller
magazine. As well as being professor of English at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, Jenny is the Hoyer-Updike Distinguished Writer at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. She serves on the judging committee of the Fulbright Scholars, administered by the U.S. Department of State. Jenny has been a frequent guest on a number of national television and radio programs, including
The Oprah Winfrey Show
. She lives in Belgrade Lakes, Maine, with her family.
www.jenniferboylan.net

Sarah Rees Brennan
was born and raised by the sea in Ireland, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it’s not called Gaelic), but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. After college she lived briefly in New York and somehow survived in spite of her habit of hitching lifts in fire engines. Since then she has returned to Ireland to write. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it.
The 
Demon’s Lexicon
, her first novel, received three starred reviews and was a
Kirkus
’ Best Books, an ALA Top Ten Best Books, and a Best British Fantasy Book. It was followed by
The Demon’s Covenant
, and the trilogy will conclude with
The Demon’s Surrender
.
www.sarahreesbrennan.com

Cecil Castellucci
is the author of novels and graphic novels for young adults. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. Recent books include a YA novel,
Rose
Sees Red
, and picture book,
Grandma’s Gloves
. In addition to writing books, she writes plays, makes movies and occasionally rocks out.
www.misscecil.com

Emma Donoghue
(who despises sport in all forms) is the least qualified person in the world to write a story about footie, but when she had a notion to retell the Bible story of David, Jonathan, and Saul it seemed to her as if a boys’ soccer team (all hormones and bruises) would be the perfect setting. So she got a good friend to help her with the technical details for “Team Men,” and apologizes for any errors. Born and raised in Dublin, Emma started coming out of the closet at fourteen, the scariest truth-or-dare period of her life. These days she lives in Canada with her girlfriend and their two small children, and is lucky enough to do nothing but write for a living. Her books of fiction include fairy tales
(Kissing the Witch
), historical novels (
Slammerkin, Life Mask
and
The Sealed Letter
), and contemporary ones (including
Stirfry, Hood
and
Landing
). Her bestselling novel
Room
, a horrifying tale told through the eyes of a five-year-old boy, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Governor General’s Awards.
www.emmadonoghue.com

Courtney Gillette
is a writer, teacher, and lover of milkshakes. Her work has appeared in
Tom Tom Magazine; No, Dear; The Queerist
; and Spinner.com, among others, as well as the Lambda Award-winning anthology
The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Other Identities
, edited by David Levithan and Billy Merrell. In 2009 she became a Literary Death Match Champion. Her most favorite thing in the world is Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, a non-profit organization whose mission is to teach and empower girls. She lives in Brooklyn, and rides a sweet blue bicycle.
courtneygillette.wordpress.com

A. M. Homes
has received many awards for her writing, including Fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, NYFA, and The Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at The New York Public Library, along with the Benjamin Franklin Award. She is the author of the novels,
This Book Will Save Your Life, Music for Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers
, and
Jack
, as well as the short-story collections,
Things You Should Know
and
The Safety of Objects
, which was adapted into a film. She is also a Contributing Editor to
Vanity Fair, Bomb
, and
Blind Spot
. Homes was a writer/producer of the hit television show
The L Word
and wrote the television adaptation of her first novel,
Jack
, for Showtime.

Born in Washington, D.C., Homes now lives in New York City.
www.amhomesbooks.com

Jennifer R. Hubbard
lives and writes near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a night person who believes that mornings are meant to be slept through, a chocolate lover, and
a hiker. Her short fiction has appeared in literary magazines such as
Willow Review
and
North American Review
, and her short non-fiction has appeared in
AMC Outdoors
. Her first book was the contemporary YA novel
The Secret Year
. She blogs at writerjenn.livejournal.com.
www.jenniferhubbard.com.

Heidi R. Kling
is the author of
Sea
, a story of hope after tragedy set in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which was an IndieNext pick that sparked the popular #sealove campaign on Twitter. She contributed an essay to
A Visitor’s Guide to Mystic Falls
, where she peers into the complicated relationship of the undead
Vampire Diaries
brothers. Getting paid to re-watch episodes of hot, shirtless bloodsuckers? Definitely a perk. She lives in Palo Alto, California, with her trauma-psychiatrist husband, two wildly entertaining children, and an old, tired dog. A former actress and children’s theater director/playwright, she is writing a “
Romeo and Juliet
with magic” fantasy series, while remembering to be grateful, each and every day, that she didn’t have to wear headgear to high school.
heidirkling.com

Jennifer Knight
has been an avid reader and writer since she was young, but never imagined herself as an author until her college days, when she stumbled upon an unfinished book idea amid her failed attempts at picking a major. That first idea was ultimately a bomb, but it got her going in the right direction—one that led to the publication of her debut novel,
Blood on the Moon
. Ever since, she has preferred to write for teens, claiming that they are the most enjoyable and challenging audience available—not to mention that it gives her the opportunity to relive (and redeem) her own disastrous
high school experiences with good humor and a healthy smattering of sarcasm. Jennifer lives in South Florida with her family, where she spends every available moment lost in her head, dreaming about what comes next.

Michael Lowenthal
grew up near Washington, D.C., where the truth often seems in short supply, and was inspired to tell stories as truthfully as possible, even—especially!—when the truth requires making things up. He is the author of the novels
Charity Girl, Avoidance
, and
The Same Embrace
, as well as stories and essays that have been widely anthologized. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and welcomes dares.
www.MichaelLowenthal.com.

Liz Miles’s
first writing commission was to examine and report on the quality of the food, beer, and atmosphere in London pubs—a tough beginning! Since those heady, tortuous days, she has discovered yet more joy in writing a wide range of books, from comic-strip stories about cream-bun fights to biographies of Louis Pasteur and Will Smith. Her only distractions from writing and reading (books, blogs, and tweets) are watching movies and eating New York cheesecake.

Saundra Mitchell
has been a phone psychic, a car salesperson, a denture-deliverer and a layout waxer. She has dodged trains, endured basic training, and hitchhiked from Montana to California. She teaches herself languages, raises children, and makes paper for fun. She is also a screenwriter for Fresh Films and the author of
Shadowed Summer
and
The Vespertine
. She always picks truth; dares are too easy.
www.saundramitchell.com

Luisa Plaja
was born in Glasgow and spent her earliest years
in Sicily and her school years in the suburbs of London. As an Italian girl in England and an English girl in Italy, she was a mixed-up girl all over the place. She believes that school days might not be the happiest days of your life but they definitely have their uses as a writer’s resource and well of fascinating characters and conflicts. She now lives in Devon and is the author of several novels for teenagers, including
Split by a Kiss, Swapped by a Kiss and Extreme Kissing
.
www.luisaplaja.com

Matthue Roth
is a novelist and performance poet. He has filmed for HBO’s
Def Poetry Jam
and
Rock the Vote
, performed with Deepak Chopra and Carlos Santana, and completed three national tours with his own brand of poetry that isn’t quite hip-hop and isn’t quite storytelling, but still manages to be funny and sweet and brutal, and brutally honest.

Matthue’s first novel was
Never Mind the Goldbergs
—a coming-of-age tale of a teenage Orthodox Jewish girl who stars on a television sitcom—and his second was the memoir
Yom Kippur a Go-Go
. He is also the author of the novels,
Candy in Action
, featuring supermodels who know kung fu, and
Losers
, which is about teenage Russian Jewish immigrants and geeks who want to take over the world. “Girl Jesus” is a sequel to
Losers
.

Matthue writes for the
Forward, Bitch Magazine
, and the
San Francisco Bay Guardian
, and he keeps a secret online journal.
www.matthue.com.

Sherry Shahan
has written over thirty books, including
Purple Daze
, a provocative free verse novel in which six high school students navigate war, riots, love, rock ‘n’ roll, school, and friendship. When she’s not writing, she hits the dance floor, and even enters contests at dance conventions. She says, “It’s
fun to wear clothes that sparkle, and glue-on false eyelashes.” Sherry lives in California in a funky beach town.
www.sherryshahan.com

Gary Soto
is a highly acclaimed poet, essayist, and fiction writer who was born and raised in Fresno, CA. His was a breakout voice in Latino literature. He is the author of many much-loved novels, short stories, plays, and poetry collections, including
Accidental Love, The Afterlife
, and the acclaimed
Baseball in April and Other Stories
. He has received numerous awards and recognition for his work, including the Literature Award from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, PEN Center West Book Award, Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association, and a National Book Award nomination.
www.garysoto.com.

Shelley Stoehr
has authored four award-winning novels for young adults, including the popular, award-winning
Crosses
. Reviews have described her as “one of the new young breed of truth-telling, young-adult writers” (
The Horn Book
), and said her “narrative flow is a strength, as is her ability to capture the rhythms, attitudes, and feelings of teens” (
School Library Journal
). Shelley’s weekly posting of short fiction can be found at outsidergirlswrite.blogspot.com.
www.shelleystoehr.com.

Sara Wilkinson
is new to fiction writing, but not new to teens. She was brought up on the cliffs of Cornwall but spent much of her life in London and Essex, teaching young people how to use mallets and chisels to attack pieces of wood rather than each other. She says that one of her happiest writing achievements was to feature both daughter and poodle in her
book on how to carve bits of tree. As well as chiseling wood, she bashes stone into shapes and retreats into other worlds. She lives in Wivenhoe, Essex, with her partner and her two maladjusted dogs. Her daughter, along with a bad-tempered hedgehog, is her most frequent visitor.

Ellen Wittlinger
began her writing career as a poet at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop at University of Iowa while studying for her Master of Fine Arts degree. Her focus changed to writing for young adults after having two children and working as a children’s librarian.

Ellen’s first teen novel was
Lombardo’s Law
. She has had numerous successes for teen readers since. Her Printz Honor Book,
Hard Love
, was highly acclaimed for its portrayal of an unlikely relationship based on “zines, alienation and dreams of escape.”
Parrotfish
received praise for its humorous and authentic look at the person behind labels such as “gender dysphoria.”
www.ellenwittlinger.com

Jill Wolfson
worked as a journalist for newspapers and magazines around the country after attending Temple University. Her award-winning novels for young people include
What I Call Life; Home, and Other Big, Fat Lies
; and
Cold Hands, Warm Heart
. Jill has taught writing at several universities and is a long-time volunteer at a writing program for incarcerated youth. She lives in Santa Cruz, California, and has two college-aged children, Alex and Gwen.
www.jillwolfson.com