Ana Castillo - Castillo’s books include the novel, The Mixquiahuala Letters (Bilingual Review Press, 1986; Doubleday, 1992), for which she received the Before Columbia Foundation’s American Book Award in 1987.  Sapogonia (Bilingual Review Press, 1990), is a complex and engaging novel and a literary triumph, according to the renowned Chicano novelist Rudolfo Anaya who calls Castillo “one of our finest Chicana novelists.”  Her more recent books include the novel So Far From God (Norton, 1993), which earned her both the Carl Sandburg Literary Award in Fiction of 1993 and the Mountains and Plains Bookseller Award of 1994, and a work of non-fiction, Massacre of the Dreamers: Reflections on Mexican-Indian Women in the United States 500 Years After the Conquest (University of New Mexico, 1992). www.anacastillo.com

Jean Auel (February 18, 1936 – present). Born Jean Marie Untinen. Jean Auel’s best-selling novels, a six-part series set during the Ice Age, have sold over 34 million copies. Her first novel, “Clan of the Cave Bear” was made into a movie starring Daryl Hannah. Ms. Auel holds a master’s degree in business administration has been named an Officer of the Order of Arts & Letters by the French Minister of Culture and Communication and is a member of Mensa.