Katya Apekina is a novelist, screenwriter, and translator. Her second novel, Mother Doll, was named a Best Book of 2024 by Vogue and was a finalist for the Balcones Prize. Her debut, The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish, was named a Best Book of 2018 by Kirkus, Buzzfeed and others and was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize. Katya translated poetry and prose from Russian for Night Wraps the Sky: Writings by and about Mayakovsky (FSG, 2008), short-listed for the Best Translated Book Award. She has done residencies at VCCA, Ucross, Art Omi, Jan Michalski Foundation, and Playa, and received an Elizabeth George grant. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter and dog.

Sarah LaBrie is a TV writer and the author of No One Gets to Fall Apart: A Memoir (Harper, 2024), a New York Times Editor’s Pick and Notable Book of the Year. She has written for television series including Minx, Blindspotting, Made for Love, and Love, Victor. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, the Ucross Foundation, Yaddo, Sewanee, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and was nominated for Best Television Comedy Script at the 2024 Women’s Image Network Awards for her work on Blindspotting. LaBrie earned her BA from Brown University in Comparative Literature and Literary Arts and an MFA from New York University.