Jayne Atkinson is best known for her long-running roles on the television series 24, Criminal Minds, Bluff City Law, and House of Cards. A two-time Tony nominee, she has appeared on Broadway in All My Sons, The Rainmaker, Ivanov, Enchanted April, for which she won an Outer Critics Circle Award, and Blithe Spirit, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Additional film and television credits include Death and Other Details, Clarice, Baby Ruby, The Good Wife, Law & Order, The Education of Max Bickford, Syriana, Recount, Free Willy, and The Village. On stage, Atkinson was honored with an Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in Lea Romeo's Still at DR2 Theatre in 2024.
Joanne Harris is the internationally renowned and award-winning author of eighteen novels, plus novellas, scripts, short stories, libretti, lyrics, and articles, including a self-help book for writers, Ten Things About Writing. In 2000, her 1999 novel Chocolat was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and is Chair of the Society of Authors. Her latest novel, Vianne, was published in September.
Marin Ireland is a Theatre World and Obie Award winner and has been nominated for multiple Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critic, and Broadway League awards. She was also nominated for a Tony for Neil LaBute’s Reasons to Be Pretty. She recently starred in Queens with the Manhattan Theatre Club. Her film credits include Glass Chin and Eileen—she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for both, Hell or High Water, The Irishman, The Man in the Woods, The Dark and the Wicked, Light from Light, The Empty Man, 28 Hotel Rooms, The Boogeyman, Birth/Rebirth, Somewhere Quiet, and Materialists. On television, Ireland has been featured on Sneaky Pete, Y: The Last Man,The Umbrella Academy, Girls, Masters of Sex, Homeland, Feud, Justified: City Primeval, Dope Thief, The Terror, and Devil in Disguise:John Wayne Gacy. In 2026 you can see her in the Netflix original His & Hers.
Hannah Kingsley-Ma is a writer and audio producer living in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in The Drift, The New York Times, The New Republic, ZYZZYVA, The Believer, and more.
Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times bestselling author of The Female Persuasion, The Interestings, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, and The Wife, among other novels. A musical of The Interestings is in development. Wolitzer was the guest editor of The Best American Short Stories 2017, and also writes books for young readers. She is a faculty member in the Creative Writing Program at Stony Brook University, where she co-founded and co-directs BookEnds, a yearlong intensive for emerging novelists.
CREDITS
“The Ugly Sister,” by Joanne Harris, from Jigs & Reels (William Morrow, 2004). Copyright © Frogspawn Ltd. Reproduced by permission of the author ℅ Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd., 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN.
“Underwater,” by Hannah Kingsley-Ma, as published in The Drift (Issue 13, July 19, 2024). Copyright © 2024 by Hannah Kingsley-Ma. Adapted version of the text used by permission of the author and The Wylie Agency, LLC.
