Dan Schifrin is an award-winning short story writer, whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, McSweeney’s, San Francisco Chronicle, Ayin, and other publications.

He is the author of the plays “Sweet and Sour” and “Marie Kondo and Martin Buber Walk into a Bar,” and of the forthcoming book of essays, “Here You Are.” In 2012 he co-curated the exhibition “Beyond Belief” with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and for seven years was Writer in Residence at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

He has taught creative writing and business communication at Stanford, UC Berkeley, and San Francisco State, and as the founder of StoryForward he consults with organizations and companies around the world in the areas of narrative design, storytelling, and creativity. 

Sophie Herxheimer is an artist and poet. Her work has been commissioned by The British Library and The Royal Society of Literature, and has been shown at Tate Modern, The Museum of Liverpool and on a giant mural along the sea-front at Margate. Her collection Velkom to Inklandt (Short Books, 2017) was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her book 60 Lovers to Make and Do, (Henningham Family Press, 2019) was a TLS Book of the Year.

She has illustrated six collections of mythology and fairy tale, most recently The Mighty Goddess (The History Press, 2023.) with Sally Pomme Clayton. She has an ongoing project where she listens and draws stories live with members of the public. Her latest collection is INDEX (zimZalla, 2021) 78 poems made from found text, published as a tarot deck. She is currently working on a graphic novel to be published by Pushkin Press in 2026.