Amy Gerstler, author of Dearest Creature, received her B.A. in psychology from Pitzer College in 1978 and her M.F.A. in nonfiction from Bennington College in 2000. Her other books of poetry include Ghost Girl; Medicine, finalist for the Phi Beta Kappa Poetry Award; Crown of Weeds; Nerve Storm; Bitter Angel, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; and The True Bride.

Kenneth Turan, author of Free For All: Joe Papp, The Public, and the Greatest Theater Story Ever Told, is film critic for the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and the director of the Times’ Book Prizes. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Turan has been the Times’ book review editor and a staff writer for The Washington Post and TV Guide. His other books include Never Coming To A Theater Near You and Now In Theaters. He is also on the board of directors of the National Yiddish Book Center.