Brad Kessler is a critically acclaimed novelist whose work has been translated into severallanguages. He won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in Fiction for his novel Birds in Fall (2006), ARome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as a Whiting Writer’sAward.He is an educator and farmer and author of the literary non-fiction Goat Song: A Seasonal Life,A Short History of Herding, and the Art of Making Cheese. His other books include: North, anovel (2021) a finalist for 2022 Dayton Literary Peace Prize in fiction and the 2022 VermontBook Award; Lick Creek (2001), a novel, and The Woodcutter’s Christmas (2001). He is theeditor and co-creator of Deep North: Stories of Somali Resettlement in Vermont (2023). Hiswork has appeared in many publications including the New York Times Magazine, The KenyonReview, The New Yorker, and Lit Hub. He’s received a National Endowment for the ArtsFellowship and the Lange-Taylor Prize from Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies.He teaches creative writing at the MFA program at Antioch University, Los Angeles, and haslectured at, among other places, Northwestern University, Smith College, the New SchoolUniversity, and the Kenyan Writer’s Workshop. He is a graduate of the Harvard Program inRefugee Trauma and runs a small goat dairy in Southwestern Vermont alongside thephotographer and activist, Dona Ann McAdams.Dona Ann McAdams studied photography at the San Francisco Art Institute and has an M.F.A. inVisual Arts from Rutgers University and a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Empire StateCollege.McAdams has exhibited at many places, nationally and internationally, including the Museumof Modern Art, NYC; The Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC; The International Center forPhotography; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The Library for Performing Artsat Lincoln Center, Robert Miller Gallery and La Primavera Fotographica, in Barcelona, Spain,Her photos are in the collections of, among other places, the Museum of Modern Art; TheMetropolitan Museum of Art; The Print Club, and the Pompidou Center.She is the author of Black Box: A Photographic Memoir (Saint Lucy Books 2024), a book ofperformance photography, Caught in the Act (Aperture 1996) and The Woodcutter’s Christmas(Council Oak Book, Fall 2001). Her work has appeared in numerous publications including TheNew York Times, The Washington Post, The London Times,The Chicago Tribune, Time,Newsweek, Stern, Doubletake, and Aperture.Her awards and honors include the Meredith S. Moody Residency at Yaddo (2019), a VermontArts Council Grant (2019), a 2018 Movement Research Honoree, an “Angel Honor” from theEric Carle Museum (2018); grants from the The Charles Lawrence Keith and Clara MillerFoundation (2011, 2010), a Dorothea Dix Award from the city of Glens Falls, NY (2006), aMacDowell Residency (1999), the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation (1997, 2000, 2004), an ObieAward (1997), the Dorothea Lange/Paul Taylor Prize from the Center for Documentary Studiesat Duke University (1996), and a Bessie Award (1993).Since 1983, she has been committed to bringing cameras and photography into marginalizedand under-served communities. She has built community darkrooms and taught photography inplaces as diverse as New York City homeless shelters, Appalachian farming communities,thoroughbred race tracks, and day programs for people living with severe mental illness.In 2009 she worked closely with Maurice Sendak in establishing the Sendak Fellowship, anaward-winning residency fellowship for people who tell stories with illustration, which she ranas the director until 2017.She has taught and lectured at, among other places, Rutgers University, New York University,The American Center in Barcelona, Spain, and Hostos Community College in the South Bronx,New York City.