(MORE TO COME, WE PROMISE)
| ||||||
|
JEN BILIK is owner and founder of Knock Knock, a publishing house that creates witty books and gift and stationery products that can be found in boutique retailers and such chains as Urban Outfitters and Barnes & Noble. Since Knock Knock’s 2002 inception, Jen has focused on bringing a literary sensibility and sense of humor to product and books that marry words and design. Before Knock Knock, Jen was a book editor at Rizzoli Publications followed by a long period as a freelance editor and writer.
TYSON CORNELL spent a decade coordinating literary events and campaigns for the legendary Sunset Strip independent bookstore Book Soup, working with author luminaries from Barack Obama to Norman Mailer. In January 2010, Tyson founded Rare Bird Lit, an independent agency that coordinates national events, PR, and marketing for bestselling authors such as James Ellroy and Katie Arnoldi. He is also co-founder of the Los Angeles and Brooklyn-based independent publisher Barnacle Book & Record.
HOPE EDELMAN is the author of five nonfiction books, including the bestsellers The Possibility of Everything, Motherless Daughters, and Motherless Mothers. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Glamour, and Real Simple, as well as anthologies such as The Bitch in the House and Behind the Bedroom Door. An associate faculty member in the MFA program at Antioch University-LA, she also teaches every summer at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in Iowa City.
BILLY GOLDSTEIN is the marketing associate of Red Hen Press, Southern California's premier independent publisher of poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction. He also freelances for Prospect Park Media, which publishes books, online magazines, and apps with a focus on Southern California; he is a regular contributor to Hometown-Pasadena.com, and was the assistant editor of EAT: Los Angeles 2011. Before Red Hen and Prospect Park, Billy labored variously as a private tutor, guidebook editor, and research assistant.
DIANE LESLIE is the author of the bestselling novels Fleur De Leigh’s Life of Crime and Fleur De Leigh in Exile. She has written reviews for the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Book Review. She is currently working on two novels. She hosted author readings, interviewed public figures, gave talks on contemporary fiction, and led book groups for twenty years at Dutton’s Brentwood Books and is now doing the same at Diesel Books, also in Brentwood.
JAMIE THOMPSON STERN reinvented her career four and a half years ago when she became a writer and editor at Knock Knock, a publishing house in Venice. Prior to that, Jamie worked for more than a decade in the entertainment industry as a development executive, running feature production companies at 20th Century Fox, Castle Rock, and Universal Studios, among others. She is also involved with 826LA, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to supporting students with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
JULIE SWAYZE most recently owned and operated Metropolis Books, the only source for new books in downtown Los Angeles. Prior to that Julie was a grant writer and development associate for a nonprofit in Pasadena. She also worked in front-line retail management and as a buyer in the smallwares department of a major department store chain. Her love of books was the driving force in her decision to open Metropolis Books.