Larry Crandell ( Presenter ) has for more than 40 years used laughter to loosen purse strings, getting the rich and powerful to part with their money for charity. He's helped hundreds of nonprofits as a volunteer leader and as an emcee/ auctioneer. Now 84, he continues to preside over more than 50 community events a year. No wonder people call him Mr. Santa Barbara.

Steven Crandell (Presenter )has been a journalist for more than two decades and has spent 10 years as the producer of several national news programs for Television New Zealand. He has four children. He is now working for peace as director of development and public affairs for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in Santa Barbara.

Karen Lee Stevens ( Moderator ) is the award-winning author of All for Animals: Tips and Inspiration for Living a More Compassionate Life and is the founder and president of ALL FOR ANIMALS, INC., a non-profit, educational organization. She writes a pet column for the Santa Barbara Daily Sound and the Montecito Journal. She lives in Santa Barbara with Miss Bella, her 3-year-old rescued British Shorthair cat. www.allforanimals.com

Christopher Ameruoso ( Panelist ) has done it all when it comes to photography, boasting over 40 magazine covers to his credit with more than 1,000 celebrities photographed. Christopher has produced two books: Pets and Their Stars and Pets and Their Celebrities. He is also the editor-in-chief of PawPrint, “the coolest little pet magazine on the planet.” Christopher and his Chinese crested canine, Stella Blue, live in Toluca Lake. www.pawprintmag.com

Porter Evans ( Panelist ) is a professional member of the Cat Writers Association, Inc., and her literary gift book, The Well-Lettered Cat, won the 2006 Certificate of Excellence Award. She and her husband, designer Edward Fierro, founded Lines Rampant Press, and recently launched The Arts and Cats Movement. They live in Santa Barbara with their feline family. www.linesrampantpress.com

Audrey Pavia ( Panelist ) is former editor of Horse Illustrated, former managing editor of Dog Fancy, and former senior editor of the AKC Gazette. Now an award-winning freelance writer, Audrey has authored more than 700 articles on various animal topics in a number of publications. She has also written 19 books on animals. She and her husband live in Norco with a menagerie of animals. www.audreypavia.com

Michael Simonsen ( Panelist ) is a former police officer for the Los Angeles Police Department. He and his partner, “Officer Byrd” are the authors of The Adventures of Officer Byrd: Get Help, a children’s book whose mission is to educate kids on how to safely deal with dangerous situations. Proceeds from the sale of the book will be used to support the Officer Byrd Non-Profit Organization’s objective of building a sanctuary for abused children. www.OfficerByrd.org

Doc Searles ( Moderator )is Senior Editor of Linux Journal and co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto (a business bestseller published in nine languages). He has fellowships at both the Center for Intformation Technology and Society at UCSB and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Doc is also one of the most widely read and quoted bloggers, and in 2005 received the Google-O'Reilly Open Source Award for Best Communicator. He lives in Santa Barbara with his family, splitting time between there and his work at Harvard.

Jeramy Gordon (Panelist ) 24, is the editor and publisher of the Santa Barbara Daily Sound, a free-daily newspaper he started here in Santa Barbara in March of 2006.  Gordon got his start in journalism working for a chain of newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Gordon worked his way through the ranks and eventually became Managing Editor of the entire chain before leaving to pursue his dream of being a newspaper owner and publisher.

Matt Kettman ( Panelist ) is Senior Editor at The Independent. He began as an intern in 1999 while an anthropology major/professional writing minor at UCSB and was then hired as a proofreader, then worked as news reporter for five years and two years as pop culture editor. He also covered the Michael Jackson trial for The Independent, which was much like visiting a foreign land.

Jerry Roberts ( Panelist ) is a veteran journalist who has produced and presided over award-winning work in a long career, including positions as Managing Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and Executive Editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press. Over the last year he and colleagues from the News-Press received the Payne Award for Ethics from the University of Oregon journalism school, and the national Ethics in Journalism award from the Society of Professional Journalists.  Jerry is also author of Never Let Them See You Cry, a biography of California Senator Dianne Feinstein. He currently serves as publications director of the Daily Nexus at UCSB.

Peter Sklar ( Panelist ) is the publisher of Edhat Online Magazine, a source of Santa Barbara news and community since 2003. Previously Peter ran a successful online community for web developers, and an online mapping service. He has an MA in Statistics from UCSB and holds three patents on user interface design.

Craig Smith ( Panelist )is the author of a popular Santa Barbara blog that is creatively called Craig Smith's Blog. On the blog he writes about anything that is local to Santa Barbara, provided there's a punchline somewhere in there. He also writes a weekly column that appears in the Santa Barbara Daily Sound. Trained as a lawyer, he has lived in Santa Barbara for over 30 years.

Melodie Johnson Howe ( Moderator )turned to writing after a career in acting,   Her first novel, The Mother Shadow, featuring Claire Conrad and Maggie Hill, was nominated for an Edgar, Anthony, and Agatha Awards.  Howe’s second novel, Beauty Dies, soon followed.  Her numerous short stories have been published in Ellery Queen Magazine, The Best Short Fiction of the Year, and other anthologies.  In 2005 her short story, Facing Up, was nominated for the Barry Award.  Her work has been published worldwide.  She has taught at the UCLA Writers Program and the Santa Barbara Writers Conference.

Jan Burke’s ( Panelist ) bestselling novels include Kidnapped, Bloodlines, and Edgar-winning Bones. She is also an award-winning short story writer.  Kidnapped is the most recent to feature Irene Kelly, a newspaper reporter in Southern California. Burke is the founder of the nonprofit Crime Lab Project.  Visit www.janburke.com for more information about her.

Dick Lochte ( Panelist ) is the author of the award-winning Sleeping Dog (recently named one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century ), the short story collection Lucky Dog and Other Tales of Murder, and the co-author of several legal thrillers including The Last Defense. His lastest novel is Croaked!, a thriller that recalls Dick's own days working for Playboy.

Allan Folsom ( Panelist ) is best known for his blockbuster book The Day After Tomorrow and The Exile. His Latest book The Machiavelli Covenant was a New York Times bestseller. He lives in Santa Barbara and is happy to support his hometown festival.

Andrew Klavan ( Panelist )has been nominated for the Edgar Award five times and has won it twice.  He is the author of such bestselling crime novels as True Crime, filmed by Clint Eastwood, and Don't Say A Word, filmed starring Michael Douglas.  His latest novel is Damnation Street.

Mary Hershey ( Moderator ) is the author of young adult novel The One Where the Kid  Nearly Jumps to His Death and Lands in California, Razorbill 2007, and the humorous middle grade novel, My Big Sister is So Bossy She Says You Can't Read this Book, Random House 2005. Her third novel is due out Summer 2008. When she is not tied up writing extremely long titles, she works as a certified coach and a medical administrator for the VA. She says she is living the life of her dreams.

Cecil Castellucci ( Panelist ) has published four novels for young adults, Boy Proof, which was a 2006 American Library Association BBYA and Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, The Queen of Cool, Beige and the graphic novel The PLAIN Janes. In addition to writing books, she writes plays, makes movies and occasionally rocks out. She lives in Los Angeles, California. For more information go to www.misscecil.com

Debra Garfinkle ( Panelist ) is a recovering attorney and mother of three. She is the author of the humorous teen novels Storky: How I Lost My Nickname and Won the Girl and Stuck in the 70s, as well as the teen trilogy The Band. She also writes an award-winning humorous newspaper column. Visit her at www.dlgarfinkle.com.

Francisco Jiménez ( Panelist ), nationally renowned author and educator, immigrated with his family to California from Mexico, and as a child he worked alongside his parents in the fields of California. His autobiographical books, The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child and Breaking Through,have won several national literary awards. Prof. Francisco Jimenez is the Fay Boyle Professor of Modern Languages and Literature and the Director of Ethnic Studies at Santa Clara University.  He is the author of two prize winning autobiographical novels, The Circuit and Breaking Through. www.scu.edu/fjimenez

Kerry Madden ( Panelist ) is the author of the Smoky Mountain trilogy of the Weems Family published by Viking Children's Books. Gentle's Holler (starred Kirkus and Publishers Weekly, Mark Twain Nominee, PEN USA Finalist) was published in 2005, to be followed by Louisiana's Song in May 2007 and the upcoming Jessie's Mountain in 2008. She is now working on Up Close: Harper Lee (2009) a new Young Adult biography series with Viking. Gentle's Holler was also a New York and Chicago Public Library Pick and was recently released as a Penguin Puffin paperback. Her website is: www.kerrymadden.com

Maybe Leigh Rubin ( Presenter ) is a sit-down comedian. With Rubes syndicated in a fistfulof in-flight magazines and over 400 newspapers worldwide, he makes plenty of people laugh. As an artist, where does he find the inspiration 365 days a year for those slightly off-center cartoons that always provide a refreshing slant on our world? Leigh will present a viewgraph (overhead projector) gallery of his work for discussion with the group.

Diana M. Raab’s ( Moderator) award-winning poems and essays have appeared in national publications. Her latest memoir is Regina’s Closet: Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal. Her article on journaling will be featured in the October 2007 issue of The Writer. She has one poetry collection and teaches writing at UCSB Extension.  http://www.dianaraab.com.

James Brown ( Panelist ) is the author of several novels, a collection of stories, and most recently The Los Angeles Diaries: A Memoir.
His essays have appeared in Gentleman's Quarterly, The New York Times Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
He teaches at California State University, San Bernardino.

Philip F. Deaver ( Panelist ) has won the Flannery O'Connor Award, has edited a volume of baseball essays and authored a collection of poetry, and is now finishing a memoir about his marriage, entitled Cyndie.  He directs the writing program at Rollins College and teaches in Spalding University's brief residency MFA program.

Dinah Lenney ( Panelist ) aka Nurse Shirley on NBC’s ER, teaches acting and writing at the University of California, Los Angeles. She’s the co-author of Acting for Young Actors (Watson-Guptill), and the author of Bigger than Life: A Murder, a Memoir (University of Nebraska Press).

Louise Steinman ( Panelist ) is the author of the award-winning memoir The Souvenir: A Daughter Discovers Her Father’s War (“…an intimate and powerful story of the effects of war.”- James Bradley).  She is also the author of The Knowing Body: The Artist as Storyteller in Contemporary Performance.  She curates the ALOUD at Central Library speakers series for the Los Angeles Public Library and is co-director of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at USC.

Kirsten Kemp(Moderator), host of the hit TLC series PROPERTY LADDER is an actress,realtor, real estate developer and mom who also owns and manages asuccessful design company. Kirsten’s on-air persona provides professionalinsight on and valuable guidance for at-home viewers looking to tackle theirown home improvement projects. This year, she released her much-anticipatedtell-all, Flipping Confidential: The Secrets of Fixing Property for Profitin any Market (John Wiley & Sons, 2007).

Megan Crane ( Panelist ) is a New Jersey native who graduated from Vassar and got her MA and PhD in literature from the University of York in England.  She is the author of Everyone Else’s Girl and English as a Second Language.  Her third book, Frenemies,  was a July 2007 Book Sense Notable, and her fourth book is due out in April 2008. She currently lives in Los Angeles. 

Cathryn Michon ( Panelist ) is an award winning actress, writer and stand-up comic. She has been featured at the Montreal Comedy Festival, The Toyota Comedy Festival and the Marshall’s Women in Comedy Festival. Her stand-up show The Grrl Genius Club has played at the Hollywood Improv, Carolines, and Madison Square Garden to sold-out audiences . She is one of the few Hollywood writers to succeed in writing both comedy and drama for television, as well as feature films. Her TV writing credits include Designing Women, China Beach, Sisters, South Park and Diagnosis Murder. She performed at Chicago’s Second City, which led to multiple roles in regional theaters, Off Broadway and on TV. She has guest starred on television series on ABC, CBS, HBO and AMC.

Katherine Stewart ( Panelist ) was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She moved to New York City in the 1980s and contributed to numerous publications including Rolling Stone, Elle, The New York Observer, and Newsweek International. She has published several works of nonfiction and two novels, including The Yoga Mamas and Class Mothers (Berkley Publishing Group). She currently lives in Santa Barbara with her husband, Matthew, and two children.

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez ( Panelist ) is a journalist, screenwriter, movie producer and the bestselling author of several novels, including The Dirty Girls Social Club, soon to be a major motion picture, and Haters, soon to be a television series. Credited with creating the "Chica Lit" genre in American publishing, Alisa was named one of the 25 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States by Time magazine. A former staff writer for the Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times, she was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing. In 2008, she'll publish On Top With the Dirty Girls Social Club and the young-adult novel, Biters. She lives with her husband and son in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Prof. Mario T. Garcia ( Moderator ) is Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies and History at UCSB.  He is the editor of the recently published The Gospel of Cesar Chavez: My Faith In Action.  He is also the author of several other books including Padre: The Spiritual Journey of Father Virgil Cordano.

Edwina Barvosa-Carter ( Panelist ) is an Associate Professor of Social and Political Theory in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCSB. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University, her M.A. in social and political science from Cambridge University, and her B.A. in government from Pomona College. Her areas of specialization are political philosophy, intellectual history, and Latina/o and gender politics with current research interests in identity and extremism, race and multicultural democracy, and Latina/o immigration politics.

Francisco Jiménez ( Panelist ), nationally renowned author and educator, immigrated with his family to California from Mexico, and as a child he worked alongside his parents in the fields of California. His autobiographical books, The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child and Breaking Through,have won several national literary awards. Prof. Francisco Jimenez is the Fay Boyle Professor of Modern Languages and Literature and the Director of Ethnic Studies at Santa Clara University.  He is the author of two prize winning autobiographical novels, The Circuit and Breaking Through. www.scu.edu/fjimenez

Fr. Luis Quihuis, S.J. ( Panelist ) is pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic church in Santa Barbara.  He is a longtime community activist and a student of liberation theology. He teaches classes on Latino Religions at UCSB.

Relly Nadler ( Moderator ) is a licensed psychologist, executive coach, corporate trainer and author. His books Leaders' Playbook: How to Apply Emotional Intelligence-Keys to Great Leadership and Leadership Keys Field Guide provide hands-on tools and resources for individuals to be star performers, performing in the top 10%. He has coached CEOs and their teams and developed leadership training for companies such as: DreamWorks Animation, Anheuser-Busch, BMW, EDS, MCI and Baxter Health. www.truenorthleadership.com

Bella DePaulo (Ph.D., Harvard)( Panelist ) is the author of Singled Out: How Singles Are Stereotyped, Stigmatized, and Ignored, and Still Live Happily Ever After (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). She is a visiting professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a contributor to the Huffington Post. Her op-ed essays have appeared in papers such as The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Newsday. Visit her website at www.BellaDePaulo.com.