Augusten Burroughs is the New York Times bestselling author of three memoirs, A Wolf at the Table, Dry, and Running with Scissors; three essay collections, You Better Not Cry, Possible Side Effects, and Magical Thinking; and the novel, Sellevision. His work has been published in more than twenty-five countries. He lives in New York City with an Italian Greyhound named Wiley.

ROZ CHAST has contributed over 1,000 cartoons to The New Yorker. Her cartoons have also been published in Scientific American, the Harvard Business Review, Travel & Leisure, as well as many other magazines. Every so often, she develops craft obsessions like decorating Pysanky eggs, origami, knitting, making tiny books, and fashioning clay miniatures of household appliances.

DAISY FRIEDMAN is a writer living in New York City.

MAIRA KALMAN is an author/illustrator who has lost twelve pairs of shoes for the love of a dog.

Tom Leopold has written for television on such shows as Seinfeld, Cheers, and the BBC's My Family, on which he also served as executive producer. With Harry Shearer, he wrote J. Edgar! (A Musical Fantasia on the life of J. Edgar Hoover). He is the author of three novels, Almost Like Being Here, Somebody Sing and Milt and Marty (The Longest Lasting and Least Successful Comedy Writing Duo in Show Biz History), and lives in New York City with his wife and their two daughters.

RICK MEYEROWITZ barks, pants, and begs for food in New York City. He is a prolific illustrator who recently published Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the National Lampoon Insanely Great, a juicy bone of a book well worth chewing on.

ISAAC MIZRAHI is a leader in the design business for more than twenty years. He has been awarded four CFDA awards, including a special award in 1995 for the groundbreaking documentary Unzipped. Television audiences have come to love Isaac as the host of his own series on both the Oxygen Network and the Style Network and on Bravo’s The Fashion Show. When not working, Isaac enjoys spending time with his dog Harry, cooking, and watching the Yankees.

Todd Oldham is an author, photographer and designer who lives and works in New York City. He is currently working on his thirteenth book, a monograph on the artist Alexander Girard. As usual, he remains in constant adoration of his dog Ann.

BILL PERSKY is a five-time Emmy Award-winning writer, director, and producer for such shows as The Dick Van Dyke Show, That Girl, Sid Caesar, Bill Cosby and Kate & Allie. Of late he has compiled a memoir of stories, both professional and personal, which he performs as a one-man show, Whisper Whoopie. He is a contributing writer to USA Today and a guest lecturer at NYU and Yale University.

SOPHIE ROSENBLUM is a writer whose work can be found in journals, newspapers, and websites. She is at work on her first novel.

Frank Santopadre has created material for dozens of performers and personalities, including Bill Murray, Matt Lauer, Meryl Streep, Joy Behar and Donald Trump. He has developed and polished stand-up acts for national headliners, and his work has been seen on ABC, HBO, Comedy Central, ESPN and TV Land, as well as in the pages of National Lampoon, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker. He is also the author of Pride and Prejudice and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

WILLIAM WEGMAN lives in New York with his sixteen Weimaraners. He is married and has only two children.

ANDREW ZIMMERN is the James Beard Award-winning host, co-creator and consulting producer of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, author of The Bizarre Truth and is a contributing editor and columnist with Mpls. St. Paul Magazine and Delta Sky Magazine. Follow him at andrewzimmern.com.