Gwenda Bond is the author of eleven novels, two serials, and a graphic novel, among them the Lois Lane and Cirque American young adult series and, with Christopher Rowe, the Supernormal Sleuthing Service series for middle-grade readers. Netflix and Penguin Books recently selected her to pen the first Stranger Things novel for adults. For the Carnegie Center, Gwenda mentors fiction across all genres (except historical), with specialties in young adult, mystery, and fantasy.

Susan Christerson Brown has published essays and memoiristic nonfiction in various journals and anthologies, and earned her MFA in Writing from Spalding University. She mentors writers of memoir, essay, and other nonfiction forms, and enjoys encouraging new writers in finding the heart of their work. 

Teri Carter writes about politics and women’s rights for the Lexington Herald-Leader and The Washington Post, and she is working on a memoir about step-parenting. She mentors Author Academy writers on the art of personal essays, newspaper opinion, and developing essay collections. 

Whitney Collins is the author of BIG BAD (Sarabande Books, 2021), which won the 2019 Mary McCarthy Prize, a 2022 IPPY Gold Medal, and a 2021 INDIES Bronze Medal. She is the recipient of a 2020 Pushcart Prize, a 2020 Pushcart Special Mention, and won the 2020 American Short(er) FictionPrize and Grist’s 2021 ProForma Contest. Her second collection, RICKY & OTHER LOVE STORIES, is forthcoming with Sarabande in January 2024. Whitney’s fiction has appeared in AGNI, Gulf Coast, American Short Fiction, and Best Small Fiction 2022, among others. She specializes in short stories that have a literary and magic realism bent.

Michael L. Cooper has published 16 middle-grade and young adult books, both biography and social history, with major publishers such as Viking and National Geographic. He has taught nonfiction and fiction at the Institute for Writers in Madison, Connecticut for 20 years. For the Carnegie Center, Michael mentors fiction and nonfiction writers. 

Leatha Kendrick’s fifth collection of poetry, And Luckier, was published by Accents Publishing in 2020. Over the past 30 years her poems, essays, articles, fiction, and memoir in journals (including Tar River Poetry, New Madrid Review, Appalachian Review, and the Southern Poetry Review)and anthologies (such as The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume 3; I to I—Life Writing by Kentucky Feminists; and What Comes Down to Us – Twenty-Five Contemporary Kentucky Poets). In her private practice and with the Author Academy, she’s mentored poets, memoirists, and fiction writers. 

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Jeremy Paden has published two full-length books of poems, three chapbooks, an illustrated children’s book, and two full-length collections of translations. He mentors students in the Author Academy in poetry, creative nonfiction, and illustrated children’s books.

Lynn Pruett has published the novel Ruby River (Grove/Atlantic Press) and numerous essays and short stories. She mentors novelists, fiction writers, and essayists in the Author Academy and teaches in the MFA program at Murray State University.

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Sharon Mauldin Reynolds is the author of a short fiction collection, Walking Air (Pen-L Publishing) and numerous short stories appearing in literary journals. She mentors Author Academy writers in the craft of short stories, novels, and creative non-fiction.

Christopher Rowe is the author of two short fiction collections—Bittersweet Creek and Telling the Map—and three novels—Sandstorm, The Lost Legacy, and The Sphinx’s Secret, the last two co-written with Gwenda Bond. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Theodore Sturgeon awards, and his fiction has been reprinted and translated around the world. For the Carnegie Center, Christopher mentors short and long fiction, with special expertise in science fiction and fantasy.

Katerina Stoykova is the author of award-winning poetry books in Bulgarian and English. Senior Editor of Accents Publishing, she is the editor and publisher of over 50 poetry books and several anthologies. Katerina mentors writing and editing poems, as well as collecting them into poetry books.

Richard Taylor, a former Kentucky poet laureate, has published numerous collections of poetry, two novels, as well as several non-fiction books relating to Kentucky history, including Thomas Clark Medallion winner, Elkhorn: Evolution of a Kentucky Landmark (2019). He mentors writers of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction books.

Patsi B. Trollinger has published a nonfiction picture book, Perfect Timing (a Junior Library Guild selection), a mid-grade novel, Thrill in the ‘Ville, and numerous magazine articles. She mentors Author Academy writers of picture books, mid-grade fiction, and nonfiction for young readers of all ages.

Jeff Worley is a former Kentucky Poet Laureate. Worley has published six books of poetry, four chapbooks, and was editor of the anthology What Comes Down to Us: 25 Contemporary Kentucky Poets (University Press of Kentucky). His latest book of poetry, The Poet Laureate of Aurora Avenue: Selected Poems, was released in October 2022. He teaches classes in poetry writing at the Carnegie Center and mentors Author Academy writers of poetry.