Donna Baier Stein is the author of The Silver Baron’s Wife (PEN/New England Discovery Award, Bronze winner in Foreword reviews 2017 Book of the Year Award, Will Rogers Medallion Award and Paterson Prize for Fiction, more), Sympathetic People (Iowa Fiction Award Finalist and 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist), Sometimes You Sense the Difference (chapbook), and Letting Rain Have Its Say (poetry book), and Scenes from the Heartland: Stories Based on Lithographs by Thomas Hart Benton. She was a Founding Editor of Bellevue Literary Review and founded and publishes Tiferet Journal. She has received a Bread Loaf Scholarship, Johns Hopkins University MFA Fellowship, grants from the New Jersey Council on the Arts and Poetry Society of Virginia, a Scholarship from the Summer Literary Seminars, and more. Donna’s writing has appeared in Virginia Quarterly Review, Saturday Evening Post, Writer’s Digest, Confrontation, Prairie Schooner, New York Quarterly, Washingtonian, New Ohio Review, and many other journals as well as in the anthologies I’ve Always Meant to Tell You (Pocket Books) and To Fathers: What I’ve Never Said (featured in O Magazine). Donna was also an award-winning copywriter for Smithsonian, Time, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and many other clients in the direct marketing industry. www.donnabaierstein.com

Adele Kenny is the author of 24 books (poetry & nonfiction). Her poems, reviews, and articles have been published in journals here and abroad, as well as in books and anthologies published by Crown, Tuttle, Shambhala, and McGraw-Hill. Her awards include two poetry fellowships from the NJ State Arts Council, a Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award, a Writer’s Digest Poetry Award, and a first place Merit Book Award, among others. Her most recent poetry collection, What Matters (Welcome Rain Publishers, 2011), received the 2012 International Book Award for Poetry. One of her poems appeared on the marquee of the rialto West Theater in NYC as part of the 42nd Street Art Project, and her antiques reference books have been cited by Home and Garden Television. A former creative writing professor in the College of New Rochelle’s Graduate School, Adele is founding director of the Carriage House Poetry Series and has been poetry editor of TIFERET since 2006. Adele is active in readings and conducts both agency-sponsored and private poetry workshops.

Lisa manages Tiferet’s subscriber database, event calendar, website updates, monthly newsletter, and analytics. She also assists with issue distribution, community relations, social media marketing, administrative tasks, managing interns, and more. Learn more about the services Lisa provides at: https://about.me/lisasawyer317

Tracy Brooks is the creator of Soul Beckons (https://www.facebook.com/soulbeckons/) and has been walking between worlds since she was little. Devoted to helping people reconnect with their soul’s callings, she believes words have the power to heal. As a shamanic practitioner, intuitive empath/medium and channeled writer she journeys for others, offers intuitive poems and leads workshops guiding people to connect with their Spirit and animal guides. 

A homeschooling mom and oma (grandma), she enjoys making messes and memories, as well as meditating with her dog.

Laura Weiss is an author, journalist, and fiction writer. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, NPR, Saveur, Travel + Leisure, Publishers Weekly, Interior Design, The New York Daily News, Food Network, AOL Travel, Fineliving, and Edible Brooklyn.

She is the author of the well-reviewed Ice Cream: A Global History (Reaktion Books/University of Chicago Press 2011).  Ice Cream has been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Laura was a reporter for CQ Weekly, covering Congress and national politics. She was a writer for TIME’s school edition and a director at AOL, where she oversaw content development for PBS, Teen People, Cartoon Network and other news and entertainment brands. She was also as an adjunct professor of journalism at NY, a news editor at School Library Journal, and an editor of Zagat Long Island Restaurant Guide 2009-2011.

Laura is currently a Publishers Weekly book reviewer. She’s also working on a novel about a woman bootlegger set in Jazz Age New York.

Joanna Laufer is the author of Inspired (Doubleday) and the co-creator of the best-selling Inspired classical music series on RCA. She has written for SheKnows, Brain, Child, Child Magazine, Dance Spirit, and more, and her essays have been anthologized. Her fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals. Joanna is the creator and executive producer of the television series Dancers: Just Plain Dancing. She is a freelance manuscript editor and writing coach.