Viva Hammer escaped to New York two days after finishing Economics/Law at the University of Sydney. She couch surfed in New York while learning how to be a lawyer. Then she escaped to Washington DC and stayed in one home till her children grew up. Then she couch surfed on Capitol Hill while advising the US Congress on the first major tax reform in thirty years. After tax reform was signed by the President, Viva moved back to Sydney to sleep on a real bed and write stories about her American couch-surfing life. She can be contacted at http://www.vivahammer.com and vivahammer@gmail.com
Michal Bar-Or Karro is an Israeli poet currently resides in Cape Town South Africa. She is the author of the book 'אבי משוטט בארץ' supported by "The Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts" and the "Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sports". Her recent work is forthcoming or has appeared in Israeli magazines, journals and websites. Inspired by her Jewish identity and spiritual roots, her poetry relates and reflects the feminine kabalistic ideas, the Shechinah, Jewish mysticism and the relationship between us humans and what is Devine.
Michal is a freelance creative content writer, web designer, brand development, strategic consultant and a co-founder of an Israeli dance company named Con-Calore. She studied psychology, architecture, international trade and digital marketing management. Worked in the Israeli high-tech field, in the art and music industries and spent a few years managing social justice programs for disadvantaged populations in several NPO's. She also initiated and implemented a verity of projects in the artistic eco-system of Israel in the fields of music & dance.
An award-winning journalist, Sue has written for Australia’s biggest and most respected titles. Her career has taken her around the globe interviewing a who’s who of celebrities, newsmakers, colourful identities, sports stars and politicians. Sue has worked on and off camera with A Current Affair and Sunrise, and spent five years as a weekly commentator with Neil Mitchell on 3AW. Sue is a best-selling author with book sales in excess of 100,000 copies, specialising in non-fiction. Her books include 'The Clothesline Diet' series, 'Behind Closed Doors' 'Blood on the Rosary', 'A Diamond In The Dust' and the recently published The Freedom Circus.
I am a former Actress, Dancer, Choreographer, Director, High Fashion Model, Las Vegas Showgirl, Playboy Bunny, Broadway Producer, (until this year) and, for the last five years, the very proud president of The Actors' Temple in New York City. My book, POEMS FROM MY PAMDEMIC PEN, by Carol Ostrow, was published this November by the publisher THREE TOMATOES.
Robin Bidner grew up on Long Island, attended Binghamton University and became an attorney for New York City, focusing on child welfare and homeless services. After leaving the City, she began writing personal essays and studying memoir at the Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute. Her work has been published in Kveller https://www.kveller.com/how-the-margin-notes-in-my-family-haggadahs-tell-our-story/ and she has appeared in Writes and Bites in Rye, New York. Robin lives in Larchmont, New York with her husband Andy, and they love when their adult children come home to visit them and Dusty, their dog.
Sharon Kirsch is a writer and editor living in Toronto. She is the author of two books of creative non-fiction, more recently The Smallest Objective, a family memoir set in the Jewish community of mid-century Montreal. Sharon has also published travel stories, which have appeared in The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, among others. The Smallest Objective is available as a paperback and an e-book.
Flutist/singer/songwriter Suki Rae has been performing internationally for over thirty years including: Alice Tully Hall, San Francisco Womens's Festival;Michigan Womens' Music Festival;New York City's Women in Jazz; Jerusalem Womens’Music Festival,Makor,JCC, and MUNY’s Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival. She has won numerous awards such as: ASCAP;Finalist in Hoiellart,Belgium Jazz Festival,and last year a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and been a musician in residence at Cornell univesity, In Israel,Spain,New Mexico,Colorado, and Florida among others.. She has acted,written and directed for film and TV; and been on radio and TV. In 2005 she wrote lyrics,music,text, directed,acted in and produced an autobiographical musical at the Writer’s Voice in New York City.She appears in a documentary with the rock band,”OASIS”. She has released seven recordings,six of original music. Her music is on: itunes,spotify,amazon,you tube,vimeo,sound cloud and CD Baby. Suki has taught in the NYC Schools for thirty years. She is also an ordained interfaith minister since 2004. She has a BA from the University of California Berkeley and an MA from NYU in Music and Film.
Her main website is http://www.sukiatry.com
Carol Bergman is a journalist and co-owner of Mediacs, an independent publishing company. She lives in New Paltz, NY. Carol's short stories, poems and creative nonfiction have been published in many publications in the US, UK and Canada. Her articles, essays, reviews and interviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Times (of London), The Christian Science Monitor,, and Salon.com. She is the author of “Searching for Fritzi,” a Holocaust memoir. A founding faculty of Gotham Writers’ Workshop, she has been teaching in the NYU/SPS/CALA writing program since 1997. Find: http://www.carolbergman.net for more information.
Carolyn Cohen, a native Northwesterner, lives in Seattle, WA. She enjoys time with family and friends, gardening, and relentless political advocacy. Carolyn is actively engaged in the Seattle Jewish community. In her worklife, she provides strategic guidance to organisations committed to justice and social change.