The Subway Chronicles

A cultural essayist specializing in tales of personal adventure, Anastasia M. Ashman co-edited Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey (Seal Press 2006). She has appeared in publications worldwide, from the Asian Wall Street Journal to the Village Voice. Currently living in Istanbul with her Turkish husband, she is at work on a travel memoir Berkeley to Byzantium: The Reorientation of a West Coast Adventuress. When in New York, she’s loyal to the N and the R.

Lawrence Block's novels range from the urban noir of Matthew Scudder (All the Flowers are Dying) to the urbane effervescence of Bernie Rhodenbarr (The Burglar on the Prowl), while other characters include the globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner (Tanner On Ice) and the introspective assassin Keller (Hit List). He has published articles and short fiction in American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times, and 84 of his short stories have been collected in Enough Rope. In 2004, he became executive story editor for the TV series TILT. Several of his novels have been filmed, though not terribly well. His newest bestsellers are All the Flowers are Dying (February 2005 in hardcover), the sixteenth Matthew Scudder novel, and The Burglar on the Prowl, his tenth Bernie Rhodenbarr novel now available in paperback. Larry is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of both MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and, most recently, the Cartier Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Spain, and, as if that were not enough, was presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. Larry and his wife, Lynne, are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers.

Garrett Chaffin-Quiray was educated at the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television and has sponsored film festivals, taught writing and media history, and published work in various newspapers, magazines, books, and on-line journals. He now lives in, and writes from, San Diego County.

David Ebershoff is the author of two novels, The Danish Girl and Pasadena. He is an editor-at-large at Random House, and is finishing a new novel, The 19th Wife. He can be reached at www.ebershoff.com.

Mayor Rudolf Giuliani named Stan Fischler one of a select group of One Hundred Distinguished New York Historians, in honor of Fischler’s work as the most prolific subway historian. His first such book, Uptown, Downtown – A Trip Through Time On New York’s Subways, was highly-acclaimed by critics and remains the most celebrated book on the subject. Since then, Fischler has written several landmark books on subways including Moving Millions, a definitive history of transit world-wide, and Subways of the World. His most recent book, The Subway and the City was designated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority as an official Centennial volume honoring the New York underground’s 100th birthday in 2004.

Boris Fishman is the editor of Wild East: Stories From the Last Frontier. He has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The Nation, and other publications.

Patrick Flynn, formerly of the Bronx, lives in upstate New York. His essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New York Daily News, culturefront, Modern Bride and other publications. He is the author of a novel, Agnes Among the Gargoyles.

Vivian Gornick writes memoirs, essays, and literary criticism. Among her books are Fierce Attachments, The End of the Novel of Love, The Situation and the Story. Her newest book is a biographical essay: The Solitude of Self: Thinking About Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She lives in New York City.

Amy Holman is the author of An Insider's Guide to Creative Writing Programs, published with Perigee in 2006, and the poetry collection, Wait For Me, I'm Gone, published with Dream Horse Press. She teaches writers how to get published at The New School University, Spalding University, Hudson Valley Writers Center, Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and others. She is a poet and prose writer living near the F Line in Brooklyn, NY, and her writing been published in The Best American Poetry 1999, The History of Panty Hose in America, AWP JobLetter, Poets & Writers Magazine, and many print and online literary journals.

Elise Juska grew up outside Philadelphia and received her Master's in fiction writing from the University of New Hampshire in 1997, where she won the graduate writing awards for best short story and overall body of fiction. Her short stories have since appeared in several magazines, including the Harvard Review, Salmagundi, Seattle Review, Black Warrior Review and The Hudson Review. She teaches fiction workshops at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the New School in New York City. Currently she is working on her third novel forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.

Jessie Koester is the director of Information Services at Poets & Writers. She has an MFA from The New School and recently received a fellowship from Yaddo, where she worked toward completing her first novel.

Robert Lanham is the author of the beach-towel classic The Emerald Beach Trilogy which includes the titles Pre-Coitus, Coitus, and Aftermath. More recent works include Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees and Other Creatures Unique to the Republic, and The Hipster Handbook. Lanham’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, Nylon, The Washington Post, Playboy, and Time Out. He is currently working on a new book about Evangelical Christianity in America. He is the editor and founder of www.freewilliamsburg.com and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Jonathan Lethem is the author of six novels, including The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is also the author of two short story collections, Men and Cartoons and The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye, and the editor of The Vintage Book of Amnesia. His essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Granta and Harper’s. He lives in Brooklyn and Maine.

Megan Lyles grew up in Brooklyn near the Fort Hamilton Parkway stop on the B line. She has fond memories of the time when trains were decorated with graffiti and cooled naturally by open windows. Now a travel writer based in Manhattan, she still sometimes stands at the door in the very front of the train to watch the tunnel rush at her, but she manages to resist the temptation to swing around the poles. Visit her web site at www.meganlyles.com.

Tim McLoughlin's debut novel, Heart of the Old Country, was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program, and has been optioned for a film. He is the editor of the Brooklyn Noir anthology series, and his short fiction has been included in the Best American Mystery Stories 2005.

Daniels Parseliti is a writer living in Queens, New York. He spends his time making fiction, philosophy, and pasta sauce, though only the sauce yields income. He has co-written a play that was produced twice in NYC, and is currently working on a novel. Daniels can be reached at intuitconcept@hotmail.com.

Francine Prose's most recent books are A Changed Man, a novel, and Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles, which is part of the Eminent Lives series. Her novel, Blue Angel, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Reading Like a Writer, a book about learning to write by reading literature, will appear from HarperCollins in fall 2006. She is a contributing editor at Harper's and writes frequently for numerous other publications.

April Reynolds has taught at New York University and is currently teaching creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. Her short stories have appeared in several anthologies. Published by Metropolitan Books/ Henry Holt in 2003, her first novel, Knee-Deep in Wonder won the Zora Neale Hurston/ Richard Wright Foundation Award and the PEN American Center: Beyond Margins Award. Her second book is forthcoming with Free Press/ Simon and Schuster.

Lucinda Rosenfeld is the author of the novels, What She Saw . . . and Why She Went Home. Her fiction and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, the Sunday Telegraph, New York Magazine, and Glamour.

Tim Steffen is a writer, illustrator, spoonerist, and early childhood teacher at a private school in Manhattan. He plays ragtime piano on Fire Island in the summers and is an occasional violinist. His work can be viewed at www.timsteffen.com.

Leigh Stolle worked as a journalist before earning an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College. She currently lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and is working on a collection of short stories.

Johnny Temple is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Akashic Books, an award-winning New York-based independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction. He won the American Association of Publishers™ 2005 Miriam Bass Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing. Temple plays bass guitar in two bands, Girls Against Boys and New Wet Kojak; both bands have toured extensively across the globe and released numerous albums. Temple has contributed articles and political essays to various publications, including The Nation, Publishers Weekly, AlterNet, Alternative Press, Poets & Writers, and Bust.

Jennifer Toth is the author of The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City (Chicago Review Press, 1993), Orphans of the Living: Stories of America’s Children in Foster Care (Simon & Schuster, 1997), and What Happened To Johnnie Jordan? The Story of A Child Turning Violent (The Free Press, 2002). She is currently living in Berlin with her husband Craig Whitlock, a reporter for The Washington Post, and her son Kyle.

Calvin Trillin has been writing for The New Yorker for over 30 years. His many books include Tepper Isn’t Going Out, Travels With Alice, Remembering Denny, Family Man, The Tummy Trilogy, Deadline Poet and Too Soon to Tell.

Ken Wheaton was born and raised in Opelousas, Louisiana. There, he drove a 1985 Honda CRX. He now calls Brooklyn his home and the 2 train his ride. He writes for Advertising Age magazine, dabbles in fiction and wastes hours blogging at http://kenwheaton.blogspot.com.

Colson Whitehead was born and raised in New York City. He is the author of The Intuitionist and John Henry Days and is a recipient of a Whiting Award and a MacArthur Fellowship. He lives in Brooklyn.

Yona Zeldis McDonough is the editor of the essay collections The Barbie Chronicles: A Living Doll Turns Forty and All the Available Light: A Marilyn Monroe Reader and the author of the novels The Four Temperaments and In Dahlia’s Wake.