KATHI APPELT is the author of many books for children and teenagers, so this is her first official writing for adults. It makes her feel like a grown up. She is the mother of two grown-up sons, Jacob and Cooper, who both play the double bass, often at the same time. She is married to her lifelong honey, Ken. And she adores her two cats, Hoss and Jazz. Besides reading and writing, she likes to fish with her sisters in the Gulf of Mexico. She only practices "catch and release."

ROSE ELDER loves to explore the world and insists on at least one exotic vacation a year. She also loves to read, write, dive, hike and drink beer with freinds. She finds that long scuba trips to Indonesia, Borneo, Malaysia, or Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro lend themselves both to discovery and to reading. She considers herself a a very lucky girl because she has fabulous and creative friends, two adorable Labradors, and her best buddy Terry, all of whom she loves with abandon.

DONNA HANNA-CALVERT loves reading and discovering new people and places, in print and in her life. In spring, the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming lure her, and she spends her summers on a ranch there, leading hikes. Following the birds, she returns to Texas in winter, home base for the Poetry Girls. Always, she continues exploring her "one wild and precious life," and the joys and loves of new and long-standing friendships and family.

DINNY LINN, born Diane Kamins, grew up in Honolulu and is almost reconciled to living in Texas. An early reader and late-bloomer, she still hopes to figure out what to be when she grows up. Besides reading and writing, recent explorations include apple-picking in British Columbia and historical research in Washington D.C., aided and abetted as always by her tolerant husband Brian. Thanks to the Poetry Gils, Bryan/College Station is more than home base.