William Kenower is the author of Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt, Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write With Confidence, and Write Within Yourself: An Author’s Companion, and the Editor-in-Chief of Author magazine.

In addition to his books he’s been published in The New York Times, Writer’s Digest, Edible Seattle, Parent Map, and has been a featured blogger for the Huffington Post. He also hosts the popular podcast Author2Author.

At the 2023 in-person SWW, William is teaching.

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Amanda Sun is a published YA author and proud Nerdfighter. She is an Associate Editor at Scholastic Canada.

At the 2023 Seattle workshop, Amanda is offering add-on virtual manuscript critiques for attendees.

Amanda is the author of the Paper Gods series, a YA Fantasy set in Japan about dangerous drawings coming to life. She also wrote HEIR TO THE SKY, which was nominated for the Aurora Award for Best YA Novel of 2016. She has contributed to several award-winning anthologies, including the Asian SF/F anthology WHERE THE STARS RISE, STRANGERS AMONG US, THE SUM OF US, TESSERACTS FIFTEEN, and SHADES WITHIN US.

Many of her novels and short fiction have been Aurora Award nominees and Junior Library Guild selections, as well as Indigo Top Teen Picks and USA Today features. When not reading or writing, Sun is an avid cosplayer and crafter. She has a degree in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, and will happily write your name for you in Egyptian hieroglyphs if you ask.

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Denise McConduit is a published Children’s Book Author. At the 2023 SWW, she is offering add-on virtual manuscript critiques for attendees.

See all of her kidlit books here.

Denise lives in New Orleans, Louisiana the birthplace of jazz and other unique customs like Mardi Gras, Jazz Festivals, and Debutante balls. Denise grew up in a large family of thirteen children. As a child she used to entertain her siblings by reading and putting on plays. She began writing poetry at an early age and then studied art. Her first magazine article was published in 1982 in Black New Orleans magazine. Later she had articles published in Essence Magazine and the New Orleans Tribune magazine. She currently writes a weekly column for the Times Picayune newspaper focusing on the recovery of her neighborhood after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Preserving cultural traditions through family stories is important to Denise. It’s how she grew up and it’s what she passes on. Her first book, “D.J. and the Zulu Parade” is about the adventures of her son, “D.J” when he rode in a Mardi Gras Parade. That book led to two other stories about the intrepid boy: “D.J. and the Jazz Fest” and “D.J. and the Debutante Ball”. McConduit feels that writing culturally rich books are essential because it’s important for children see themselves in literature.

Her newest book is titled, The Boy Who Wouldn’t Read. In this book young readers will meet Robbie, a stubborn little boy who doesn’t like to read. His wish is granted when a magic sorcerer removes the words from everything and that’s when his world gets topsy-turvy! He soon learns that life without reading is nothing to wish for! Denise often advises aspiring young authors, “Do you have any interesting or funny characters in your family? If you do, you may want to write a story about them. I did!”

McConduit has four children, Crishelle, Monique, Erika and D.J. It was her son D.J.’s experience as a page in the Zulu Parade that gave her the idea for the first book in the series. Denise has always been an avid reader and writer. Her personal mission is to write fun and meaningful stories for children.

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Gabrielle Prendergast is the bestselling author of numerous books for children and teens. She is the author of many books for kids (young adult, middle grade, and picture books).

She studied at the University of New South Wales in Australia, at San Francisco State University and the University of British Columbia. After years of working in the music industry, in social welfare, and the film industry, Gabrielle began writing books when she became a mother, so she could work from home. Her books have received nominations for the White Pine Award, the Canadian Library Association Award, the Vancouver Book Prize and several other honors. She won the BC Book Prize for her YA sci-fi Zero Repeat Forever and the Westchester Award for her YA novel in verse Audacious. Born in the UK and both an Australian and New Zealand citizen, Gabrielle now lives in East Vancouver in a permanent state of “under-construction”.

At the 2023 in-person Seattle event, she is offering virtual manuscript critiques for attendees as an add-on element.

 

S.Z. Estavillo is a writing coach, social media instructor, and former literary agent.

At the 2023 Seattle Writing Workshop, she is offering add-on virtual manuscripts as an add-on for conference attendees. 

She has a master’s degree in television, radio, and film and a bachelor’s degree in film. She has also worked with studios and agencies critiquing manuscripts and greenlighting film screenplays.

“My specialty is directing content from concept through completion. I have extensive professional writing experience that marries well with content direction, management, strategy, and social media marketing. The content creation, production process, and utilizing social media for marketing are what I absolutely love to do. I not only direct, write, create multi-media and social content for companies but also in my free time because it is my passion.”

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Michele Cacano has published both fiction and nonfiction over the years, in magazines, anthologies, and zines. She is co-founder and lead facilitator of the Seattle Writers Meetup, est. 2007, that currently meets once a week in Seattle. The group is large and diverse, with a focus on supporting writers in their personal writing goals and helping them create the best writing possible.

At the 2023 SWW, Michele is teaching a class.

Michele counts many diverse Renaissaince humans among her influences, such as Benjamin Franklin, Katharine Hepburn, Leonardo DaVinci, Elvis Presley, Cher, Carl Jung, Dorothy Parker, Amadeus Mozart, Clive Barker, Craig Ferguson, Debbie Harry, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Tristan Tzara, and David Bowie. Art is paramount to life, and all aspects of life are opportunities for art and artistic expression.

During the years of her public education, Michele won numerous awards for her horsemanship, visual art, creative writing, and leadership skills. Her high school sponsored travels to The United Kingdom and Europe provided further perspective on life and the arts for Michele and her work. With dreams of living the artist’s life in New York squeezed by financial restrictions, she moved to London at age eighteen, only to return before the end of the year. Then, at the age of twenty, she made a permanent change of address to Seattle, where she has since married, raise several cats, and created a successful business of her own, in massage therapy. Her love of travel has continued with much time spent in Tokyo and Japan, Morocco, Mexico, Canada, and other parts of the United States.

In the nineteen-nineties, most of Michele’s employment was in the restaurant trade, making a living as a cook, a waitress, a hostess, a barista, and a juice bar manager. But, always there were the artistic side streams of interest and income, as a jewelry maker, a singer, a dancer, a drummer, a writer, a tarot card reader, a stage emcee for poetry slams, a contributor of art and words to zines, a music and event reviewer. Even now, Michele enjoys a variety of music, art, theatre, literary, and performance events and communities.

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