William G. Brozo is a Professor of Literacy in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University . He has taught reading and language arts in junior and senior high school in the Carolinas .  He is the author of numerous articles on literacy development for children and young adults. Some of his books include, To Be a Boy, To Be a Reader: Engaging Teen and Preteen Boys in Active Literacy (International Reading Association); Readers, Teachers, Learners: Expanding Literacy Across the Content Areas (Merrill/Prentice Hall); Content Literacy for Today's Adolescents: Honoring Diversity and Building Competence (Merrill/Prentice Hall) and Supporting Content Area Literacy with Technology: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners.  Dr. Brozo also writes a regular column for the International Reading Association's Thinking Classroom entitled "Strategic Moves," and is a past member of IRA's Commission on Adolescent Literacy and current member of the PISA/PIRLS Task Force.  He presents on ways of enriching the literate culture of middle and secondary schools, enhancing the literate lives of boys, and making teaching more responsive to the needs all students.  Sponsored by Pearson.

Ernest Morrell is an associate professor in the Urban Schooling division of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles . Prior to this appointment, Morrell served on the Teacher Education faculty at Michigan State University . His work examines the possible intersections between indigenous urban adolescent literacies and the “sanctioned” literacies of dominant institutions such as schools. Particularly, he is interested in the discourse of popular culture; adolescent literacy practices in non-school settings; critical research methodologies; critical literacy education; and urban teacher development. Morrell teaches courses on literacy theory and research, critical pedagogy, cultural studies, urban education, and critical research methods in addition to his methods courses for prospective English teachers.  Sponsored by The Collaborative Center for Literacy Development.

http://www.ernestmorrell.com/professor.html

Nell K. Duke, Ed.D., is an associate professor of teacher education and educational psychology, an affiliate of the program in school psychology, and co-director of the Literacy Achievement Research Center (LARC) at Michigan State University .  Duke is the recipient of the International Reading Association Outstanding Dissertation Award, the National Council of Teachers of English Promising Researcher Award, the International Reading Association Dina Feitelson Research Award, and the National Reading Conference Early Career Achievement Award. She is co-author of the books Reading and Writing Informational Text in the Primary Grades: Research-Based Practices; Literacy and the Youngest Learner: Best Practices for Educators of Children from Birth to Five; Beyond Bedtime Stories: A Parent’s Guide to Promoting Reading, Writing, and Other Literacy Skills From Birth to 5; and co-editor of the book Literacy Research Methodologies. Duke teaches preservice, inservice and doctoral courses in literacy education at Michigan State .  Sponsored by Scholastic.

Frank X Walker, is a founding member of the Affrilachian Poets, he is the editor of America! What's My Name? The "Other" Poets Unfurl the Flag and the author of four poetry collections: When Winter Come: the Ascension of York; Black Box; Buffalo Dance: the Journey of York; and Affrilachia.  A Kentucky Arts Council Al Smith Fellowship recipient, Walker 's poems have been converted into a stage production by the University of Kentucky Theatre department and widely anthologized in numerous collections. He is a former contributing writer and columnist for Ace Weekly and the first Kentucky writer to be featured on NPR's This I Believe.  Sponsored by the KY Department of Education.

Terry Thompson is a literacy coach at a Title 1 school just north of Houston, Texas , where he trains teachers and works with readers and writers in grades K-5. He has served as a classroom teacher, basic skills teacher, Reading Recovery teacher, reading interventionist, and state testing coordinator. Terry holds a master’s degree in psychotherapy and cognitive coaching and travels throughout the country consulting with classroom teachers and literacy specialists. He is the author of Adventures in Graphica (2008 Stenhouse) and was a presenter at the International Reading Association Conference in Atlanta, GA in May, 2008.

Lester Laminack is Professor Emeritus from Western Carolina University where he taught writing workshop, children's literature, and reading. His professional books include Learning Under the Influence of Language and Literature and Reading Aloud Across the Curriculum: How to Build Bridges in Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. He is also the author of four books for children: The Sunsets of Miss Olivia Wiggins, Trevor's Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth, Saturdays and Tea Cakes, and Jake's 100th Day of School. He served three years as coeditor of the NCTE journal Primary Voices and as editor of the Children's Book Review Department of the National Council of Teachers of English journal Language Arts from 2003-2006.  Co-sponsored by Scholastic.

Richard Taylor teaches English at Kentucky State University in Frankfort . He is the author of five collections of poetry, two novels, and several non-fiction books. He formerly worked in the Poetry-in-the-Schools Program for the Kentucky Arts Council, and was a teacher and dean of the Governor's Scholars Program. He is the author of Sue Mundy, A Novel of the Civil War, a fictionalized treatment of the life and times of Marcellus Jerome Clarke, a Confederate guerrilla in Kentucky during the Civil War. He is currently working on a collection of "rough sonnets" on Abraham Lincoln called Rail Splitter. He served as Kentucky 's Poet Laureate from 1999-2000.

Joe Survant retired in 2007 from Western Kentucky University after 38 years of teaching. The majority of his teaching career he was at Western, where he helped establish its creative writing program. On a Fulbright Fellowship in 1983-84, he taught at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (in Penang, Malaysia ). His collection of poems, The Presence of Snow in the Tropics, came out of that year in Southeast Asia . In 1995, he won the State Street Press Poetry Prize where his first collection, We Will All Be Changed, was published. His second book, a collection of narrative poems, Anne & Alpheus, 1842-1882, a story of rural life in south central Kentucky , won the 1996 Arkansas Poetry Prize from the University of Arkansas Press . In 2001, Landmark Books of Singapore published The Presence of Snow in the Tropics. In 2002, the University Press of Florida published a second collection of narrative poems, Rafting Rise. He served as Kentucky ’s Poet Laureate from 2003 to 2004.

Jane Gentry has published two full-length collections of poetry, A Garden in Kentucky and Portrait of the Artist as a White Pig.  She has also published a short volume of local history, Looking Back at Athens, with William M. Lamb. An English professor at the University of Kentucky , she has won the UK Alumni Association’s Great Teacher Award, teaches in the Honors program, and is advisor to Jar, a student-edited literary magazine.  She has been awarded two Al Smith Fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council and has held fellowships at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs , New York and at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She served as Kentucky 's Poet Laureate from 2007 to 2008.

Gurney Norman has been a major force in the literary and cultural renaissance throughout the state and region. He played a significant role in the founding of the Appalachian Poetry Project and helped establish the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative. A charter member of the Hindman Settlement School 's annual Writers Workshop faculty, he continues to be involved in as a Senior Writer-in-Residence.  Norman 's first novel is Divine Right's Trip. Other fiction Norman has published includes Book One From Crazy Quilt: A Novel in Progress and Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories. His recent fiction has appeared in Appalachian Heritage magazine. A writer and editor of non-fiction literary criticism, Norman co-edited Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes: Back Talk from an American Region and a collection of essays, An American Vein: Critical Readings in Appalachian Literature. He has also written and narrated three documentary films about Kentucky 's Appalachian region for KET: Time on the River, From This Valley and Wilderness Road .  He has been a member of the English Department faculty at the University of Kentucky for 30 years and directs of the Creative Writing Program.

In addition to his writing, editing and university teaching, Norman serves an active role as advisor to schools and community-based arts groups in Kentucky and the Appalachian mountain region. He is a frequent presenter at education conferences and enjoys visiting small rural schools where Kentucky literature and culture are under discussion.