Mary Gordon is the author of the acclaimed novels Final Payments, The Other Side, and Spending. Her most recent work includes a biography of Joan of Arc and a collection of autobiographical essays, Seeing Through Places. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and won the 1997 O. Henry Award for best short story. Her new novel, Pearl, explores the role of art, beauty and religion in our daily lives, the pitfalls of political action, and the overwhelming, sustaining bond between mother and child.

Meg Wolitzer's highly praised books include Sleepwalking; This Is Your Life; Surrender, Dorothy;and most recently, The Wife. A recipient of a Pushcart Prize whose short fiction has also appeared in The Best American Short Stories, Wolitzer is a frequent contributor to NPR's The Next Big Thing. Her seventh novel, The Position, brings to life a home and family replete with sexual overtones and long-term emotional damage.