Robert Kurson is the author of Shadow Divers and Crashing Through: A True story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See. “Robert Kurson’s Shadow Divers, about the divers exploring sunken shipwreck off the new Jersey coast, is a gripping account of real-life adventurers and a real-life mystery,” said Scott Turow, and Publisher’s Weekly predicted a best-seller with this “superlative journalistic narrative.” The predictions came true. His Shadow Divers became a critically acclaimed bestseller revealing new depths of World War II history, as well as friendship and compulsion. Kurson is currently adapting Shadow Divers for the screen. Kurson’s latest book is another thrilling adventure. Crashing Through is the stunning true story of one man’s heroic odyssey from blindness into sight. Robert Kurson is also a contributing editor at Esquire.

Dawn Turner Trice is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune and the moderator of its online forum, "Exploring Race," at www.chicagotribune.com/race. Trice has been a regular commentator for WTTW's "Chicago Tonight" show and has written commentary for National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" program. She is currently a regular contributor to NPR's "Talk of the Nation" show. She is the author of two novels, Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven, which is being made into a movie, and An Eighth of August. The recipient of the 2008 Studs Terkel Media award, she has won two Illinois Arts Council awards, an American Library Association Alex award and a 2006 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Author and prolific columnist that she is, Dawn nevertheless admits: “Though I love writing, it still scares the hell out of me. Nothing makes my stomach seize like the blank page. Still, I can’t imagine doing anything else, in any other city.”

Tim Kazurinsky got his show biz start at Chicago's own Second City Theatre. Movie appearances include "Neighbors", "Somewhere in Time", and three "Police Academy" films. A former cast member of NBC's "Saturday Night Live", Tim returned home to Chicago to co-write such screenplays as "My Bodyguard", "About Last Night…" "The Cherokee Kid" and "For Keeps". He was nominated for a Writers' Guild Award for his screenplay for "Strange Relations," starring Paul Reiser, Julie Walters and Olympia Dukakis. But Tim still loves performing and has recently done guest star roles on "CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM", "STILL STANDING", "ACCORDING TO JIM", "ROLL BOUNCE" and Jeff Garlin's "I WANT SOMEONE TO EAT CHEESE WITH.". Tim lives in Chicago with his wife, Marcia, their two amusing children, and way too many pets.

Tom Brennan has had his fiction and non-fiction writing published in England, New Zealand and the United States in magazines and journals such as Critic, London Alternative Magazine. TNT, Aethlon, Essence, Takahe and Chicago's Daily Herald. He is a prize-winning short story writer and a veteran teacher and presenter. Brennan divides his time between Christchurch, New Zealand, and Chicago, where he is an adjunct faculty member at National Louis University, teaching a graduate level class in short story writing.