Jeffrey Lependorf serves as Executive Director of the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, the Literary Ventures Fund, Inc., and Small Press Distribution.  An experienced development professional, his former posts include Development Director for the Creative Capital Foundation and Vice President of Development for Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project. A composer and musician in "real life," his "Masterpieces of Western Music" audio course is now available through Barnes & Noble's "Portable Professor" series.

Alison Meyers is the Executive Director of Cave Canem Foundation, New York City, North America’s premier “home for black poetry.” Previously, she was Artistic Director of the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival at Hill-Stead Museum, CT, where she also served as Director of Marketing & Communication. A published poet, twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she has served as a judge for the Connecticut Book Awards and a panelist for the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

Debora Ott, LitTAP’s Founding Director and Liaison for National Projects, is Principal at Smart Solutions, arts management consulting firm. Her consulting practice focuses on leadership succession, strategic planning, and building capacity in organizations through resource acquisition and audience development.  She is the author of About Face – A Guide to Founder Transition, which was commissioned by the New York State Council on the Arts (2001). A writer and former editor of Ink Magazine, she is the founder of Just Buffalo Literary Center, Inc., and is currently serving as Literature & Arts Education Manager for the Georgia Council for the Arts.

Ron Hogan is the creator of the literary web site Beatrice.com, as well as a co-correspondent for the mediabistro.com publishing industry news blog GalleyCat. He has written a book about '70s Hollywood called The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane!

Georgia Popoff is a community poet, performer, educator, spoken word producer, and senior editor of The Comstock Review (www.comstockreview.org).  A teaching poet in schools and community settings, she has appeared in numerous journals, anthologies, and web publications.  Her first collection is Coaxing Nectar from Longing (Hale Mary Press 1997).  Her second book, The Doom Weaver, will be released in early 2008 by Main Street Rag.  Georgia is the Central New York Community Coordinator for Partners for Arts Education (www.arts4ed.org) and a board member of the Association of Teaching Artists (www.teachingartists.com).

George Quasha poet, artist, and editor/publisher (Barrytown/Station Hill Press), was recently awarded a Guggenheim in video art (art is/poetry is/music is: Speaking Portraits (in the performative indicative)). His Axial Stones: An art of Precarious Balance (North Atlantic Books) presents sculpture and drawings exhibited at the Baumgartner Gallery in Chelsea, NYC, and ZONE Chelsea Center for the Arts. Among his 14 books: poetry (e.g., Somapoetics, Giving the Lily Back Her Hands, Ainu Dreams), anthologies (e.g., America a Prophecy), and art writing (e.g., Gary Hill: Tall Ships). He is an NEA Fellow in poetry.

By Donn Vickers

Kermit Frazier has been a professional writer—especially playwright and television writer—as well as a teacher of writing, literature, and theater for more than twenty-five years.  His more than a dozen plays have been produced in New York and around the country at such theaters as the Milwaukee Rep, the Seattle Children’s Theater, the First Stage Children’s Theater, the Asolo Theater Company, Center Stage, the Philadelphia Drama Guild, and the Williamstown Theater Festival.  He has written for such television series as Ghostwriter, Gullah Gullah Island, The Cosby Mysteries, Rescue 77, and Wonder Pets.  And his articles, reviews, and short stories have appeared in many magazines and journals, including The Chicago Review, American Theater, Black World, Essence, and The New York Times Book Review.  He has taught at such schools as Morgan State, Chicago State, and New York universities, Baruch and Williams colleges, and the Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center, where he has also served as acting president and chairman of the board.  Currently, he’s an associate professor of English at Adelphi University, which is in the second year of its new MFA in creative writing program.

Georgia Popoff is a community poet, performer, educator, spoken word producer, and senior editor of The Comstock Review (www.comstockreview.org).  A teaching poet in schools and community settings, she has appeared in numerous journals, anthologies, and web publications.  Her first collection is Coaxing Nectar from Longing (Hale Mary Press 1997).  Her second book, The Doom Weaver, will be released in early 2008 by Main Street Rag.  Georgia is the Central New York Community Coordinator for Partners for Arts Education (www.arts4ed.org) and a board member of the Association of Teaching Artists (www.teachingartists.com).

Chad W. Post is the director of Open Letter, a new publishing venture at the University of Rochester dedicated to publishing quality fiction from around the world. He is also the co-founder of Reading the World--a collaborative program designed to help publishers and booksellers promote literature in translation--and was formerly the associate director of Dalkey Archive Press.