Emily Huey

Chair

Emily Inouye Huey writes historical fiction for children and teens. Her first novel, BENEATH THE WIDE SILK SKY, released with Scholastic in 2022. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and teaches at Salt Lake Community College. Besides books, her passions include education, the arts, the outdoors, and her family. You can visit her on Instagram @emily_inouye_huey or at www.emilyhuey.com.

Tiana Smith

Co-Chair

Tiana Smith is a web designer turned novelist who grew up in the Rocky Mountains. She graduated from Westminster College with double degrees in Honors and English with a focus in creative writing. In her spare time she’s learning sign language with her hard of hearing husband and she volunteers with special needs individuals attending the bi-weekly activities for Utah County’s SNAP program. She is the author of MATCH ME IF YOU CAN and HOW TO SPEAK BOY, both from Macmillan. Her latest book, THE SPY AND I, just released from Berkley / Penguin Random House.

Rachel Schieffelbein

Assistant to the Chairs

Rachel Schieffelbein has been attending Storymakers for over ten years. She writes YA and MG, and also poetry as Cate McMinn. She coaches high school speech and theatre, shows Arabian horses, and raises sled dogs.

Jessica Salyer

Assistant to the Chairs

Jessica Salyer is a certified life coach and YA author. She has been writing for over fifteen years and has been attending Storymakers since 2013. She is addicted to escape rooms (90% success rate) and makes all her friends do them with her.

Tifani Clark

Registration

Tifani Clark loves to write in many genres, but has a special love of suspense for both YA and Adults. She grew up on a potato farm in Idaho where she had a lot of space to imagine and daydream, and often pretended to be characters from her favorite books. She is the host of the weekly podcast “Additional History: Headlines You Probably Missed,” where she tells little known stories from history. Tifani is married to the love of her life and is the mother of four fabulous children. When not writing, she enjoys playing the violin in her community orchestra and traveling to new places on her quest to see the world.

Elesa Hagberg

Registration

Elesa Hagberg is the creative director of Splinter Press, and the author of The Dissection and Reassembly of Cohen Hoard. She loves cookies, board games, collecting and remodeling travel trailers, laughing louder than other people, and hanging out with her family.

She also loves the gospel of Jesus Christ and tries to be a good person and sometimes she really sucks at it. Sorry. She lives in Utah, sleeps in a bed, wears a lot of socks, and quotes Star Wars with her husband. Sometimes she’s an accountant and always she is a mom to two boys whose feet are now bigger than hers.

Stacey Leybas

Instruction

Stacey Leybas writes kidlit stories ranging from picture books to middle grade fiction. She has a degree in Recreation Management from Brigham Young University. Stacey owns 73 musical instruments, designs home-based escape rooms, and loves reading aloud to her five kids.

Benjamin Inouye

Instruction

Ben Inouye is a middle school English teacher in West Jordan. He has degrees from BYU, University of Texas: Arlington, and Colorado University. He likes to eat, cook, write, and be with his family (not necessarily in that order).

Adi James

Instruction

Adi M. James became a bibliophile at a young age and never recovered. As most people would guess, she became enchanted with writing at the same time. In an effort to spend as much time reading and writing as possible, she received her Bachelor of Arts in English: Professional Writing and now works managing programs, projects, and people. When she escapes her dark corporate office, she writes Upper Middle Grade & Space Fantasy in her dark author corner at home, where she lives with her husband, two children, and the neighbor’s cat, Schrödinger, who frequently sneaks in.

Emily Paxman

First Chapters

Emily Paxman is an author and artist from Vancouver Island in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. She’s a huge fan of gardening, cats, watercolour, and several other hobbies that befit an octogenarian. She has her Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Chatham University, has written for indie video game company Wizard Games, and splits her time (unevenly) between creating comics and writing novels. Her debut novel, DEATH ON THE CALDERA, is releasing May 27, 2025.

Risto Snow

First Chapters

Through a childhood of pranks, sneaking, and framing his six siblings, Risto learned early on how to sell a whopper of a story. While his parents’ worries that he’d end up leading an adult life of crime thankfully never came true, he never stopped scheming.
“Always up to something,” Risto’s current hobbies include special-effects makeup (making monster prosthetics and body art), fire breathing and dancing, pantomiming, and creating escape rooms (full of unique puzzles, ciphers, and traps whose storylines have multiple possible endings). All of these pursuits, of course, feed his writing, making him an eclectic, but powerful emerging voice in fiction.

Lindsay Hiller

First Chapters

LINDSAY HILLER grew up in Seattle hating creative writing—but she loved to read. At age 23 her husband dared her to write a book of her own and her entire world changed. After dabbling in YA fantasy and romance, she finally settled happily into upmarket adult fiction. Lindsay and her husband are dedicated entrepreneurs, so logically she jumped head-first into Indy Publishing. She’s an obsessive plotter and an avid book collector, a mother of six, and president of the Typewriters chapter of the League of Utah Writers.

Serene Heiner

Agents & Editors

Serene Heiner is the creative soul behind the growing Instagram and TikTok accounts @magicalbooknook. When she’s not writing, drawing, sewing, taking book photos, making videos, or crafting, (deep breath) she can be found either participating in her workout group or training for her next Spartan race. Serene is a diehard fantasy reader but can be caught cheating on the genre from time to time. She’s a proud mother to seven readers and lives with them and her husband in their home in Idaho where books are stacked to the ceiling. Where does she find the time to write? The world may never know.

Amanda Kanno

Agents & Editors

Amanda Kanno is a Japanese American writer, who also works as an editor, proofreader, and sensitivity consultant. She homeschools her children while also pursuing a degree in English/Creative Writing, resulting in many gray hairs which she covers up every 3-4 weeks. She is the author of multiple academic papers covering topics from Aristotle’s Rhetoric to World War II Anti-Japanese Hysteria and was recently invited to present at the Utah Conference for Undergraduate Research. She lives in Eagle Mountain with her husband, children, two goats, a bunny, and the world’s okay-est dog.

Maren Sommer

Agents & Editors

Maren is an accidental book lover. The only reason she started reading was because her mother banned her from playing board games until she read one book each morning. When life unexpectedly got hard, books unexpectedly became her favorite escape. Now she hates board games, but has started writing and editing others books, which is her greatest joy. When not surrounded by books, you can find Maren at musicals, symphonies, and trying not to scream when she opens a can of cinnamon rolls.

Mengxi (Margaret) Seeley

Outreach

MENGXI (MARGARET) SEELEY is an immigrant born in China and raised in Utah. She has a BA in international relations from Brigham Young University and an MA in East Asian studies from Stanford University, where she studied history, culture, and languages (Chinese, Korean, and Japanese) to varying degrees of proficiency. A professional academic translator married to a history professor, she enjoys a domestic life brimming with nerdy conversations. Many of Mengxi’s published translations can be found in the journal Chinese Studies in History. She also writes fantasy based on the history and mythology she encounters through her work and heritage.

Katia Combe

Outreach

Katia Combe moved to the United States from Peru at the age of six. Her passion for learning led her to obtain a nursing degree and a master gardening certificate, which she uses as a professional volunteer at Thanksgiving Point. Born in a haunted house, her intrigue with the supernatural world started early, further piqued by an encounter with a ghoul—a tale for another time. Today she spends her days with her family, writing books, tending to her garden, or playing with her dogs, basically enjoying life.

Brandon Chambers

Community

BRANDON CHAMBERS was born and raised in Utah, where he developed a love for reading at a young age. He began his first manuscript when he was twelve and has been writing Middle Grade and Young Adult stories ever since. He’s been attending Storymakers since 2019, and taught his first class in 2024. He is also an accomplished martial artist with over twenty years of experience, and Black Belts in Karate and Taekwondo. He teaches outdoor karate classes and enjoys balancing that with his love of writing. He and his wife, Eleanore, live in Utah with their daughter and puppy.

Bonnie Jo Pierson

Community

Gifted with a short attention span, American romance author, Bonnie Jo Pierson, wants to experience and do as much as she can. As a member of Romance Writers of America, the Storymakers Guild, Idaho Sisters in Crime, Idaho Writers Guild, and Manuscript Academy, she’s won the Heart of Denver’s Molly contest, placed third in the Orange Rose contest, was a finalist in the Sheila and Four Seasons contest, and placed multiple times in the first chapter contest at Storymakers. She also earned a spot in the RAMP mentorship program. She and her Navy veteran husband have four children and spent several years as military nomads. Now she’s made her home in small-town Idaho, where she’s attempting to resurrect her great-grandparent’s one-hundred-year-old farm.

Emily Adams

Thursday Workshops

Emily Ann Adams is the author of “Is There No Other Way? Exploring Growth Through Grief” and the “Loss for Littles: A Guide for Families Dealing with Death” children’s picture book series. She is the creator of Ministering Moms of Missing Multiples, a bereavement support group for LDS mothers who have lost one or more of their multiples and gave a TEDx Talk focused on finding purpose in the sorrows of our lives. Emily holds a bachelor’s degree in English Education and has had the privilege of marrying her teaching background with her writing experience as a faculty member and instructor at the annual Storymakers Writing Conference since 2021. An advocate for exploring the world and embracing diversity, Emily has taught English in southern Mexico, volunteered with a nonprofit helping leprosy colonies in India, and studied in Paris, France. She and her husband currently live in Southern Utah and are the parents of four living children and one angel son.

Kiri Patterson

Thursday Workshops

She taught herself to read before Kindergarten and has loved reading ever since. Especially books with lots of kisses, strong characters, and lots of witty banter—ingredients she hopes to have in all her stories.

She survives on chai tea, Dr. Pepper, and dark chocolate. Other guilty pleasures include marathons of the Great British Baking Show, BBC period dramas, Harry Potter anything, and French Fries.

She lives in Star, Idaho, with her hot husband, four rapidly growing children, a strong belief in happily ever afters, and pink laptop—a nod to her belief that everything is just a little better in pink.

Wendy Jessen

Thursday Workshops

Wendy Jessen use to be young and semi-carefree. Then she became an adult and it was all panic, no disco. Somehow, she wrote a book about recovering from sexual abuse. She plans to write more books, but squirrel! She took a detour and got a job as a victim advocate. Later, Wendy agreed to co-chair this writer’s conference and decided to finish her degree in criminal justice at the same time. When she thought she was done, she wasn’t and went on to pursue her master’s degree in professional communication (now while being the chair of this conference). A month into her master’s, she changed jobs and became the director of a child advocacy center. Oops. She has plans to write again. Soon. In the meantime, she keeps practicing her author skills by drinking caffeine daily and thinking up new ideas to write about. Good job, Wendy. She also has 6 kids, 1 husband, a dog and a cat. Favorite things: Dr Pepper Zero, deep conversations and connections, murder podcasts, gummy bears, and clean sheets.

Don Carey

Tech

Don Carey is an author and writing conference addict who lives in the Kansas City area. He writes futuristic romcoms under the pen name Leslie Dacapo and is the author of AN ENGINEER’S GUIDE TO KISSING and KISS OF THE BIONIC MERMAID. Don supports his writing habit by working as a software team leader. He is also an amateur musician, an aspirational cyclist, and a bedtime story reader who can do all the voices.

Erik Kendall

Tech

I am deeply passionate about education. I currently teach high school courses in cybersecurity and programming. Helping others gain knowledge and skills is my primary passion in life. “I have served. I will be of service.”

Amy Bell

Tech

Amy Bell was born and raised in Utah, where she currently lives with her husband and 2 year old son. She is a system administrator by day and an aspiring writer by night. She’s been writing since she was in elementary school and could be found staring out the window during long road-trips, writing stories in her head. As an aspiring fantasy-romance author, she loves creating relatable characters that are changed and shaped through adventure, hardship and love. She hopes to create characters that inspire others and help them believe in the world around them and in themselves. When she’s not writing, Amy loves to go on epic adventures with her husband and son, play boardgames, go on long walks while listening to Harry Potter, and eat ice cream while snuggled up with a good book.

Megan Walker

Tech

Megan Walker was born and raised in Utah, where she currently lives with her husband, their son and their fun-loving German Shepherd. She began writing at a young age and can be found writing epic action scenes in her head before she falls asleep. As an avid reader and aspiring fantasy and science fiction author, she is particularly fond of all things adventure and anything epic involving magic. When she’s not working or writing, she can be found biking in the mountains, playing dungeons and dragons with her husband and friends, or traveling the world and collecting mugs. She is also a co-host on the podcast How to Survive Until You’re Published, where she and fellow writer Amy Bell discuss all things writing and interview other authors about their writing journeys.

Rebecca Lamoreaux

Vendors / Book Signing

Rebecca loves to read, write, dance, and sing. But mostly she loves her baby girl, Jen, and her husband more than anything else in the world. Also, she can be bribed with licorice, root beer, and milkshakes.

Tracy Tyler

Vendors / Book Signing

Tracy Tyler has been coming to Storymakers for four years and will one day get published. She loves teaching and helping people and talking about writing. She is married with four children and three cats. She lives along the Wasatch front.

Cassie Mae Cook

PR / Social Media / Giveaways

Author. Nerd. Hufflepuff. Cassie Mae is a fan of chocolate, writes romance, and reads horror. She has been published by Random House and owns an editing company, CookieLynn Publishing Services. She’s been writing, editing, and just barely keeping her head above water since 2012. She loves hugs, talking forever about Harry Potter, and any fuzzy animal.

Tiffini Knight

PR / Social Media / Giveaways

Tiffini is a homeschooling mother of four who loves to write and create as often as time allows. She has co-authored four sweet romance novels alongside her husband under the pan name M.T. Knights. Her and her husband are also responsible for the Starved series, written under the pen name Anne McCoy. When Tiffini is not writing, editing or homeschooling, she loves to hike, fish and watch her children play soccer or perform on stage.

Tara Lundmark

Volunteers / New Attendee Guides

Tara Lundmark has been writing YA novels since 2014 when she discovered her passion for storytelling after participating in NaNoWriMo on a dare. Determined to become a traditionally published author, she has spent the last ten years learning the ins and outs of the writing industry. Tara grew up as a bilingual, third culture kid in vibrant communities in Europe and Latin America. She draws from her cultural background and experience in theatre, music, and art to craft meaningful and layered stories with universal coming-of-age themes. Tara is represented by Cathie Armstrong of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

Julia Allen

Volunteers / New attendee Guides

Having been an editor for the past twenty years, Julia loves all things editing, from strengthening plots and characters to fixing pesky grammar issues, like the differences between affect/effect or how to use a semicolon.

If there’s ever a time when she’s not editing or working on her own historical romance novels, she’ll be throwing movie quotes from into conversation every chance she gets. Julia lives near the Oquirrh Mountains with her husband, four kids, and crazy dog.

Abby Annis

Website

Abby has been writing for sixteen years and loves reading and writing YA speculative fiction. She studied software engineering at Brigham Young University-Idaho and is the webmaster and software administrator for a large school district in Idaho. One of her favorite things is finding new ways to use technology to simplify and streamline the writing process. Abby lives in Idaho with her husband, daughter, and their Great Dane, Beau. She is the mother of three amazing adults and grandma to the world’s two most perfect grandkids.

T.J. Bronley

Finance

Originally from So Cal, but currently lives in Utah. T.J. and his wife have been married for 19 years and have four children. In his day job, T.J. is an accountant who really likes numbers, but has been known to correct grammar for an occasional email for one of his managers.

Taryn Skipper

Finance

Taryn Skipper started writing and illustrating picture books a decade ago after a previous decade selling commissioned art and portraits in watercolor and oil. She’s won contests with her science novels for young adults. She’s a Storymakers Conference superfan and served as webmaster for the Whitney Awards and as the Whitney Awards President.

Shari Phippen

Contracts

SHARI PHIPPEN has believed in the power of story, ever since she played the lead role in High Plains Elementary’ s version of “The Little Rabbit with Red Wings.” She loves reading a perfect first kiss after pages and pages of “why won’t they talk to each other???” and has been known to throw books out of frustration. When she’s not pounding the pavement in downtown SLC, she is working on getting all of the words out of her head and on to the page. She loves travel, naps and Diet Coke. And yes, her great great grandfather really did steal someone’s identity in the Civil War.

Jaime Theler

Facilities

Jaime Theler is the author of two non-fiction books with a small press. She loves the power of the written word, and has embraced and explored that for many years as an author, a newspaper writer and proofreader, corporate social media coordinator, freelance content writer and editor, and she now manages a whole team of writers and editors at a digital marketing agency. She has also helped to run Storymakers for the last fifteen years. She’s addicted to running, reading, and watermelon. Her family might argue that she has workaholic tendencies, but she asserts that she simply isn’t good at sitting still.

Jessica Kendall

Facilities

Jessica Kendall has a BFA in creative writing with minors in both English and History. She is an editor for CookieLynn Publishing and lives in Meridian Idaho with her hunky, science nerd husband and four brilliant, creative, and crazy kids. She is a self-proclaimed reading omnivore who loves to read and write in multiple genres, so long as someone is kissing… or stabbing. She is a world class hugger and an enthusiastic procrastibaker who loves experimenting with new flavors and ruining diets. When she isn’t baking, hugging, or chasing her kids, she spends “quality time” with the Leverage team, Buffy Summers, Michael Scott, or Fran Fine.

Mary Bronley

Green Room

Mary loves to read and has no set genre or age range she’ll read from. She’s a strong supporter of all authors: published and pre-published alike. Mary wants authors to do their best and loves finding ways to help where she can. While a busy wife and mom of four active children, Mary has joined her husband’s critique group  just to read and give reader-based feedback. When Mary isn’t leisurely reading, she works as a reading aid at her kids’ elementary school as well as a consistent volunteer for the local high school marching band. (Go Crimson Regiment!)

To Come

Photographer

Bio to come.

Kaushay Ford

Emcee

Kaushay Ford is a self-published author, wedding planner and designer, business owner, actress, singer, former broadcast journalist, avid reader, and, and, and. She finds joy in every type of story telling endeavor possible and lives for the vibrant moments (and clothing) of life!

Gracie Marsden

Emcee

Gracie is a proud Taiwanese-American with a Master’s in teaching from Idaho State University. She’s an avid collector of very fat cats from the pet shelter and enjoys spending her free time knitting/crocheting, writing, and putting together puzzles with cats on them.  
 
Basically, she’s an old lady. 

Julie Whipple

Whitney President

Bio to come.

Scott & Julie Wright

Bookstore

Julie Wright is the author of over twenty novels, including Lies Jane Austen Told Me and Lies, Love, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s with Shadow Mountain’s Proper Romance line.She is a Whitney Awards winner and a Crown Heart recipient. She is represented by agent Sara Crowe. She loves reading and writing, playing on the beach or hiking with her kids, and watching her husband make dinner.

Visit her at her website.

Dwight Mendenhall

Bookstore

Bio to come.