Kael Alford is a photographer, journalist, writer and educator. Her photography explores political violence, environmental justice and the tenuous personal relationship to others. As a journalist, she photographed the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia from 1996-2002 and the impact of the U.S. led invasion Iraqi civilians from 2004-2011. She spent seven years photographing Native American communities in coastal Louisiana, building an estranged family album of her maternal grandmother’s lineage. More recently she has been developing photography-based projects that bring local, individual stories of community members to public spaces. Alford has published two photography books: "Bottom of da Boot: Louisiana's Disappearing Coast" (2012) and "Unembedded: Four Independent Journalists on the War in Iraq (2005). She is based in Denton, Texas.

BFA from Southern Methodist University. Award winning Editorial Cartoonist for many major newspapers. Cartoons have been syndicated across the world. Have illustrated 15 books, both children and adult. Art Teacher for 10 years. Avid painter with works in galleries all over the United States. Design work for Rock posters, street banners and many other projects.

Michael Merschel's three decades in journalism included 12 years as books editor for The Dallas Morning News. In that role, he interviewed authors such as Khaled Hosseini, Kwame Alexander, Michael Chabon, Maria Semple, Norton Juster and Susan Orlean. Also, Judy Blume retweeted him once, and he won't stop talking about it. Mike is also the author of the novel "Revenge of the Star Survivors," which won the Texas Institute of Letters’ award for best middle-grade book in 2018. Before that, he contributed to public radio’s "A Prairie Home Companion" and composed an out-of-office reply that was mentioned in The New York Times and featured on NPR. Learn more at merschel.net.

Ashley Schumacher is the young adult author of Amelia Unabridged, Full Flight, and The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway and has a degree in creative writing from the University of North Texas. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s either singing Disney songs, finding new and exciting ways to pester her family, or trying to find her inside voice, which has been sadly missing since birth. She lives in a small town north of Dallas with her husband, son, and a few too many books. Ms. Schumacher’s books, Full Flight and Amelia Unabridged will be available for purchase on the evening of February 22 during the Keynote Speaker Event and on February 23 in the HPHS Library during workshop presentations.

Ben Montgomery is author of the New York Times-bestselling 'Grandma Gatewood's Walk,' 'The Leper Spy,' 'The Man Who Walked Backward,' and 'A Shot in the Moonlight." He spent most of his 20 year newspaper career as an enterprise reporter for the Tampa Bay Times. He founded the narrative journalism website Gangrey.com and helped launch the Auburn Chautauqua, a Southern writers collective. He has taught journalism at the University of Montana and the University of South Florida.

In 2010, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting and won the Dart Award and Casey Medal for a series called "For Their Own Good," about abuse at Florida's oldest reform school.

Montgomery grew up in Oklahoma and studied journalism at Arkansas Tech University. He worked for the Courier in Russellville, Ark., the Standard-Times in San Angelo, Texas, the Times Herald-Record in New York's Hudson River Valley and the Tampa Tribune before joining the Times in 2006. He lives in Tampa.

HP Alumni Benji Harris is one of Nashville’s most talented and versatile mainstay musicians. His original trio ‘Scarletta’ has had a Top 30 hit on Country Radio, and a popular music video in high-rotation on CMT. He has played for country music stars on arena tours across the country, and has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Benji has performed with SongDivision for numerous Fortune 500 clients and has a vast knowledge when it comes to communicating clients’ core values and purpose using music. With years in the music business and the meetings & events industry, Benji brings a high degree of passion, professionalism, and creativity to each and every client with whom he works.

Greg Brownderville is the author of three books of poetry, the editor-in-chief of Southwest Review, the creator of an online narrative series called Fire Bones, and the lead singer and songwriter for indie rock duo Beekeeper Spaceman. He lives in Dallas and serves as Professor of English at SMU.

Michael J. Mooney is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Life and Legend of Chris Kyle. He is a regular contributor to The Atlantic, GQ, ESPN the Magazine, Texas Monthly, and Politico. His stories have appeared in multiple editions of The Best American Crime Reporting and The Best American Sports Writing. His GQ story about a 21-year-old man who convinced an entire Texas town that he was a 15-year-old orphan, and then became the star of the high school basketball team, is currently in pre-production. Mooney’s Atlantic feature about a married mother who ran a prison dog program, fell in love with a convicted murderer, and then helped him escape, was recently optioned by Warner Bros. Television Studios. He’s been interviewed as a subject-matter expert on Dateline NBC, and on a variety of shows on CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN, and Investigative Discovery. He also writes the Axios Dallas daily newsletter. Mooney lives in Dallas with his wife, Tara.

Glenna Whitley is an award-winning investigative reporter. Whitley’s work has appeared in numerous publications, including the Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, Dallas Observer, Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, More, New York Times, Texas Monthly, Penthouse, Reader’s Digest, Redbook, Town & Country, and many more.

She is co-author of Stolen Valor, a non-fiction book published in 1998 about the Vietnam War. The book received the 2000 William E. Colby Award for non-fiction writing on military affairs. It received acclaim from news outlets as diverse as ABC’s “20/20,” NPR’s “This American Life with Ira Glass,” and Naval Proceedings, and popularized the phrase “stolen valor” to describe military pretenders.

She has discussed her stories on numerous television programs such as Dateline, NBC News, “The Hunt with Jon Walsh,” ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary series, Snapped, and “Discovery Investigates.” Whitley is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where she earned a degree in journalism.