Dr. Mag Gabbert has a Ph.D. in English, with a focus in creative writing, from Texas Tech University, an MFA in creative writing from The University of California at Riverside, and a BA in English from Trinity University. Her debut full-length poetry collection, which was published in 2023, won the Charles B. Wheeler Prize in Poetry from The Ohio State University and the Writers League of Texas Book Award in Poetry. Her awards also include a 92NY Discovery Award from the 92NY Unterberg Poetry Center, a Pushcart Prize, and fellowships from The Kenyon Review Writers’ Workshop, Idyllwild Arts, and Poetry at Round Top. She teaches at Southern Methodist University and currently serves as Poet Laureate for the city of Dallas.

K.E. Davenport graduated from HPHS in 2000 and went on to study film, storytelling, and animation at NYU and later at The University of Texas, where she graduated in 2004.

She worked as a distance learning coordinator, a controller for JP Morgan, a home remodeler, and a teacher before becoming a full-time author. She has also volunteered as an animal rescuer, transporting and fostering animals on behalf of local shelters, as well as running social media for one of her favorite rescue groups.

During the last five years, K.E. has immersed herself in learning the world of independent publishing while releasing her science fantasy trilogy: The Moon Travelers. Currently, she's in the process of developing two new series that will be released later this year and in 2025.

K.E. spends most of her leisure time with her husband, kids, and pets. When she's not daydreaming, writing, or editing, she can be found hiking or having fun outdoors with her family.

Karl Wimer is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator, published in books, magazines, and newspapers across five continents. Karl’s been a syndicated cartoonist for WoodyPaige.com, Mile High Sports Magazine, Denver Business Journal, and Central European Business Weekly. His cartoons have won multiple 1st Place Awards (Society of Professional Journalists, Colorado Press Association, and others), and have been featured extensively in the Best US Editorial Cartoons of the Year, in USAToday, NPR, Fox News, and in economics textbooks. Karl’s background (BA History/Yale, MBA/Kellogg, Grad Degree/London School Economics), business experience (29 years as a successful marketing executive), sports bonafides (2-sport college athlete: football, All-America in lacrosse, successful coach at many levels), and international interest (several years living and working in places as varied as Prague and Bangkok), all find their way into his art.

Michael Merschel’s three decades in newspaper journalism included 12 years as books editor for The Dallas Morning News. He’s 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. He now writes about cardiovascular health for American Heart Association News. Learn more at merschel.net.

Joaquín Zihuatanejo was recently named the inaugural Dallas Poet Laureate for 2022-2024. Hailed as “The People’s Poet” by The Dallas Morning News, Joaquín credits his Abuelo, who was the first person to place a book in his hands and challenge him to read aloud, as his first teacher and the source of his poetic inspiration.

He received his MFA in creative writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His work has been published in Southwestern American Literature, Yellow Medicine Review, Sonora Review, among other journals and anthologies. His poetry has been featured on HBO, NBC, and on NPR in Historias and The National Teacher’s Initiative. His new collection of poetry, Occupy Whiteness, is out now from Deep Vellum Publishing.

Joaquín was recently named a Poet Laureate Fellow by the Academy of American Poets and received a $50,000 prize in honor of the outstanding work he has done in Dallas as their first poet laureate.

Kurt Voelker was born and raised in Dallas, graduated from Harvard and went to graduate film school at USC. He has since written feature screenplays for Warner Bros, Paramount, Disney, Fox, Sony, MTV Films, Screen Gems and more. His work includes the Warner Bros release SWEET NOVEMBER, starring Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves, and Lionsgate/Huayi Brothers’ animated feature ROCK DOG. Kurt also wrote and directed the award-winning, independent features PARK and THE BACHELORS, starring J.K. Simmons and Julie Delpy. He is currently writing a limited series about Mary Wollstonecraft and a feature about Olympic speedskater Irving Jaffee. He is also attached to direct the feature film SCRATCH.

Kael Alford is a photographer, writer, and educator. Her work explores legacies of political violence, our relationship to the ecosystems that sustain us and our tenuous relationships to others. She develops photography-based projects that bring individual stories into dialogue with public discourse, backed by extensive research and long-term commitment to topics and subjects. Her photographs have been widely exhibited in North America and Europe and are held in the permanent collections at the High Museum of Art (Atlanta) and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans) and in private collections. She lives in Denton, Texas.

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.

Nellie Sciutto is an actor/writer/TV personality. Her book, 50 Moments: Faking It, Making It and Taking It in Hollywood as a Working Actor, illustrates life in the film and television industry and the struggles artists face, whether funny, tragic or just poignant. As a writer, she has written for several TV shows and currently has a docuseries that she executive produced and wrote airing on AMC, the Sundance Channel and Amazon. Her focus is non-fiction in Hollywood but her underlying theme is about being an underdog, which all of us are in some aspects of our lives.

Matt Lyle is a playwright and comedy writer living in Dallas, Texas. He’s a graduate of the Second City Training program and was the host and head writer for The City Life Supplement, named a Top 5 Comedy Show in Chicago (NEWCITY 2013). His sketches have been seen in Dallas in A Brief Endless Love at the Dallas Comedy House, Gold, Frankincense and Credit Card Debt in Theatre Too, and Adulthood: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Ken Burns at FunHouse Theater and Film and currently in Most Likely Forever yours at the Wyly Theatre. Matt’s plays, The Boxer, Barbecue Apocalypse, Big Scary Animals, Raptured!, Hello Human Female, A 3D Adventure, A Dance of Joy, and The Better Doctor, have been produced in DFW and across the U.S. In 2018 Matt was honored as a Distinguished Alum of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre. His work is published by Broadway Play Publishing.