August Norman
(known as Norm Thoeming at SBWC) is originally from central Indiana. Thriller and mystery author, August Norman has called Los Angeles home for two decades, writing for and/or appearing in movies, television, stage productions, web series, and even, commercial advertising. A lover and champion of crime fiction, August is an active member of the Mystery Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Sisters in Crime, and regularly attends the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference. August's debut thriller, Come and Get Me - A Caitlin Bergman Novel, was released by Crooked Lane Books on April 9, 2019. For more info: augustnorman.com.

Deborah Gaal abandoned her love of theater to take over the family flooring business and ended up running a wholly-owned subsidiary of DuPont.  After leaving DuPont, she coached entrepreneurs and corporate execs in addition to creating and guiding leadership seminars for women. Finally, she returned to her dream of living a creative life by writing.  For years she honed her craft by attending many writing conferences.  SBWC remains her favorite.  Her first novel, The Dream Stitcher, won the 2019 IndieReader Discovery Award in Literary Fiction. Dream was also selected as a finalist of the 2018 National Jewish Book Awards, Goldberg Prize, Debut Fiction.  Deborah is a repeat recipient of the San Diego State University Writer's Conference "Editor's Choice Award”.  

She has raised four children and resides in Southern California with her husband, two feral cats, and an exuberant chocolate Lab.  

 John Reed is the author of five novels, Mountain of Ashes, Thirteen Mountain, Dark Thirty, Shadow White as Stone and The Kingfisher’s Call. His short story, “The Third Hurricane” appears in Hurricanes and Swan Songs from  Borda Books. More information at www.johnreedbooks.com       

For more than 20 years, he’s conducted writing workshops and seminars in the U.S. and abroad. His presentations are characterized by humor and high energy.  His experience as a writer and teacher has helped many writers find their voice, polish their prose and market their work.

His poetry has appeared in over 50 literary magazines and journals throughout the U.S. and Canada.He won the New England Review/Breadloaf Quarterly’s National Narrative Poetry Competition in 1985.

K.N. Crighton is a longtime attendee at SBWC. She drew on the feedback from several workshop leaders in the preparation of her first novel, The New Normal, set in post-Katrina New Orleans. A graduate of the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, she worked as a magazine editor for twenty years.