Hallie Koontz

Hallie Koontz is a lifelong Geneva native and now works as a freelance writer and editor. Alongside her writing career, she performs on the award-winning fiction podcast Quest Friends! as washed-up reporter Sparky Malarkey, or, as her friends refer to the character, “Hallie’s future.” She has been published in the literary magazine The Macguffin and was recently a finalist in the 2024 NYC Midnight 100-Word Microfiction Challenge. This year she is launching her own writing contest, Jerboa Lit, with her friend and business partner David Semonchik.

Chris Sarcletti

Chris Sarcletti is a Chicagoland area based author and risk management professional who has a passion for learning. His lifelong experiences have helped him accumulated knowledge and broaden his perspectives on a wide variety of topics. His experiences have brought him to countries on numerous continents as well as across much of North America. This includes National Parks and big cities, but he also enjoys exploring less visited and off the beaten path locations where he can “really” get local. He enjoys spending time with family, particularly when they are being active outside and amidst nature and enjoys finding the aspect of every place that is unique. In addition to traveling and exploring, he loves concerts and all things music and enjoys listening to podcasts on a wide variety of topics, often listening along while taking long walks, exercising and cooking.

David Semonchik

David Semonchik is a short fiction writer from Batavia, IL. He holds a B.A. in Creative Writing and Spanish from Knox College; an M.A. in English from UC Davis; and an M.F.A. in Fiction and Screenwriting from the Michener Center for Writers at UT Austin. He is currently working on a collection of stories, and, with Hallie Koontz, is one half of Jerboa Lit, which is holding its first writing contest this coming January.

Joanne Zienty

In 2014, Joanne Zienty won the first Soon to Be Famous Illinois Author contest, sponsored by the Illinois Library Association and RAILS Library System for her debut novel, The Things We Save. She was a finalist for the 2016 BookLife Prize sponsored by Publishers’ Weekly and in 2017 was named an “Emerging Voice” by the College of DuPage. Her second novel, Children of the Revolution, a revenge tale set in a dystopian Midwest, was published in 2020. A sequel, The Night Prophet, was just released. She’s given presentations at libraries and book clubs across the Chicago metropolitan area.

https://www.joannezienty.com