Presenters

Antony was born in England and raised on a balanced diet of fish and chips and bizarre British comedies. To annoy his parents, he decided to pursue a career in classical music. After teaching music at university, he became a stay-at-home dad and began writing—the only other job besides composing that allows him to wear sweatpants all day. He has written several books for middle grade and young adult readers, including Mascot and Five Flavors of Dumb. Having lived in St. Louis for many years, he now calls Philadelphia home, although he still misses City Museum and good barbeque. Visit him online at www.antonyjohn.net. 

Joshua Johnston is a writer and novelist. He's the author of the Chronicles of Sarco series, a science fiction trilogy published through Enclave Publishing. He also is the co-founder, along with his wife, of Paratus Publishing, which operates a collection of nonfiction blogs reaching millions of readers every year. In addition, Mr. Johnston is a longtime educator in the Hazelwood School District: he spent his first 22 years as a social studies teacher at Hazelwood Central High School before taking over in the fall of 2022 as the librarian at Hazelwood West Middle School. You can learn more about him at joshuaajohnston.com. 

Matthew Maxey hails from Decatur, Georgia and currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Born with a severely profound hearing loss, and outfitted with hearing aids at 2 years old, it became apparent at an early age that life would be anything but ordinary. Fast forward and Matthew attended the prestigious Gallaudet University in Washington, DC where he began to learn sign language in an attempt to balance the struggle of developing his identity as a double minority in terms of ability and race. In 2014, DEAFinitely Dope was founded as an idea based on providing support to those that felt marginalized and ignored by mainstream America. DEAFinitely Dope started as a brand, and slowly blossomed into a movement, attracting the likes of educational institutions nationwide, CNN, ESPN The Undefeated, GQ, Cole Haan, ABC news, Chance The Rapper, MTV Video Music Awards, and countless more! With both hearing and deaf partnerships in play, Matt strives to continue to break barriers and defy the norms with a fresh perspective on interaction, inclusion, accessibility and equality, as awareness continues to grow!

Instagram: @deafinitelydope

Hobie Wolff is a Saint Louis spoken word poet. Under the title, Saint Louis Youth Poet Laureate run through the Urbstetiks program, she performs around the city and helps run workshops. 

Sahara "Sista SOLS" Scott is a writer and migrant from the Southeast that currently resides in Kansas City, MO. She was awarded the 2021 Artist of the Year award from UrbArts. Sahara released her first collection of plays and poetry My Last Words... Not Really in 2016. Her poetry has also appeared in Enclave, WusGood, Poetry Potion, and F.A.C.E.S Magazine. Her One Woman Show, The Family Cookbook toured nationally and was a part of the 2016 St. Louis Fringe Festival. Sahara wears many hats as a playwright, director, and fellowship recipient but at her core, she is an artist that hopes to break bread and barriers with stories.

Twitter: @sistasols

Judge Krista S. Peyton was appointed associate circuit judge in St. Louis County by Governor Michael L. Parson in 2021.

Prior to her appointment, Peyton served as the General Counsel and Chief Contracting Officer for the St. Louis Housing Authority. Ms. Peyton is a former staff attorney for the St. Louis County Family Court, and represented the St. Louis County Juvenile Officer in all phases of prosecution of juvenile delinquency and child protection matters and appellate matters involving termination of parental rights. Ms. Peyton is a former Assistant St. Louis City Counselor.  Ms. Peyton has worked as a Guardian ad Litem advocating for abused and neglected children in foster care in the 22nd Judicial Circuit. She has served as an Administrative Hearing Officer for the City of St. Louis Parking Commission presiding over hearings for contested parking violations. Ms. Peyton served as a Regional Hearing Officer for the State of Missouri Department of Social Services and presided over administrative hearings for the benefit programs. Ms. Peyton completed her undergraduate work at Southeast Missouri State University and earned a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. She completed her legal studies in 1995 at Syracuse University. During law school, Ms. Peyton completed a Masters Degree in Political Science at the Maxwell School of Government at Syracuse University. 

Ms. Peyton resides in St. Louis County with her husband and two children.

Judge Krista S. Peyton was appointed associate circuit judge in St. Louis County by Michael L. Parson in 2021.

Sioux Roslawski is a middle school ELA teacher. She teaches 6th-8th graders during the school year, and co-teaches the Summer Institute at the Gateway Writing Project. Sioux freelance writes, and has gotten many memoir pieces published in anthologies, but her proudest writing accomplishments are 1) finishing the creation of a novel despite being a "pantser" 2) getting the manuscript edited and then having the determination to start--again--from scratch 3) finding a traditional publisher who said yes to her story 4) finally seeing her baby "born" when the FedEx guy delivered a case of her books, hot off the printing press. In her spare time she hones her procrastination skills... 

George is the Lebanese-American author of the Shad Hadid fantasy series as well as the upcoming graphic novel, Tarik’s Bazaar Adventure, both with HarperCollins. He has also written short stories published in collaboration with UNICEF. When not writing, George enjoys scouring the world for tasty Arabic pastries, messing with new yoga poses, and meeting other readers and writers.

LinkTree: https://account.beacons.ai/account/home/home 

Michele Lee Rausch is a storyteller, an educator, and a believer in the possibilities. She started as a sports writer many years ago and began blogging in 2005. She has been published in newspapers, magazines, and book collections and recently self-published her first book. She writes relatable narratives, life lessons, and the things of relationships. Michele loves dogs, an adventurous road trip, and Diet Dr. Pepper.

Website: www.micheleleerausch.com 

Growing up with a fascination for space and things that fly, Jamie turned that love into a career as an Aerospace Engineer. Combining her natural enthusiasm for Science Fiction and her love of reading, she now spends a lot of her time writing Middle Grade and Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Jamie is the author of Tracker220, a young adult science fiction novel about the intersection of Judaism and advanced technology in a futuristic St. Louis. She also has two female in STEM short stories published in the Brave New Girls anthologies and two engineering-centered nonfiction pieces that published in Writer’s Digest’s Putting the Science in Fiction.

Jamie lives in St. Louis, Missouri with her husband, Andrew, their son, and their dog Rogue (after the X-Men, not Star Wars, although she loves both). When she isn’t being a Rocket Scientist by day and a writer by night, she can be found catching up on the latest sci fi TV, books, and movies as well as spending time on Twitter (maybe a little too much time :-P). And no, the rocket science jokes never get old!

Twitter - @Rockets2Writing
Instagram - @jamiekrakover
Blog - https://jamiekrakover.blogspot.com/

Alex is an Emmy-nominated journalist/producer, recognized for work on NBC’s Access Hollywood. Pivoting from tv, she founded HybridHouse Productions for speaking, coaching, and consulting. Alex is Communications & Content Lead for UpSmith, a tech startup focused on solving the skilled labor shortage in the U.S. Alex is originally from St. Louis but currently lives in NYC with her fiancé, Joe, and pug, Busy.

IG & TikTok: @a_hudge
Website: www.alexhudgens.com

April-Dawn Gladu (A.D.) is a writer and director with over 25 years of experience in live theater, special events, and storytelling. She currently works in media, museum and theme park story design for PGAV Destinations in St. Louis. Before coming to STL, she spent years writing shows and special events for Walt Disney Entertainment in Orlando, FL and developing theme parks around the world with ITEC Entertainment. 

A.D.'s love of language was honed during her eight years writing, directing and teaching with the Orlando Shakespeare Theater, as well as time in New York City working with theater companies such as Women’s Project & Productions and INTAR.