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Seattle poet John Burgess just had his second book—"A History of Guns in the Family"—published by Ravenna Press. He's a 2006 Jack Straw writer, co-founder of the Burning Word Poetry Festival, and the 2008 curator for Words' Worth, the poetry program for the Seattle City Council. He is currently working to put the lit journal Snow Monkey online. His first collection is "Punk Poems."

Jennifer Jasper has been performing and directing in Seattle for almost 20 years.  She was a co-founder of Kings' Elephant Theatre (10 years) and co-founder of Pulp Vixens (10 years).  She has been performing her own work in various forms including stand up comedy, monologues and is now developing a one-woman show for 2009/2010.  Most recently she can be seen hosting for the Von Foxies Burlesque as the scotch-swilling "Maggie."  

Jourdan Keith, Seattle's 2007 Poet Populist and storyteller, is a Jack Straw writer and Hedgebrook alum. A 2004 grant recipient from the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for the choreopoem, "The Uterine Files: Episode I, Voices Spitting Out Rainbows," her publication credits include ColorsNW, Seattle Woman, KUOW, the video "Silence...Broken" and the anthology, "Ma-Ka, Diasporic Juks." She is the founder of Urban Wilderness Project, which provides storytelling, restoration and adventure programs.

David Schmader is a writer and performer who's been living and working in Seattle since 1991. His solo plays include Letter to Axl and Straight, which he's performed to great acclaim in Seattle and across the U.S. In his spare time, Schmader is also the world's foremost authority on the brilliant horribleness of Paul Verhoven's Showgirls, hosting annotated screenings of the notorious stripper drama at film festivals across the country and supplying the commentary track for MGM's special-edition Showgirls DVD in 2002. Since 1999, Schmader's been an editor and staff writer for the Seattle newsweekly The Stranger, for which he writes the weekly pop culture-and-politics column "Last Days." He's currently completing the new live cinema essay Nomi's Inferno: An Abridged and Annotated Tour of American Cinematic Failure, and a new solo play, Litter.

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