We started as 20 writers

Meet Our Founder

Kyra Wilson Cook is a mother, entrepreneur and sometimes-preacher. She spends her time gathering community, contemplating the possible, discerning truth, and imagining the future—as much as she can in fiction. A native Marylander who has spent her adult life in Massachusetts, Kyra sets her stories in New England, but writes them with her Southern cadence and Mid-Atlantic worldview. In her fiction, she seeks to write stories featuring children of color who can traverse many worlds with the savvy to code-switch, challenge, and triumph as they go. She writes under multiple pen names, including K. Onley for middle-grade and K. W. Onley for adult fiction.

Kyra is a proud graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She studied Nonprofit Leadership at the University of Maryland, College Park’s Do Good Institute. She is a graduate of Grub Street’s Short Story Incubator and has enjoyed taking many workshops through Grub Street. She’s also attended workshops through One Story and the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Kyra is a member of the We Need Diverse Books Black Revisions Workshop 2022 cohort and the Viable Paradise 2022 Cohort.

Kyra currently serves on the Advisory Board of the upcoming Gertrude Conference in California in 2024. She is also a former board member of The Writers’ Loft, a writing community in Hudson, Massachusetts.

When she is not leading or writing, Kyra knits, quilts, and embroiders.

Photo credit: Jessica Cronin Photography

Cynthia Lin is a native East Coaster, a four-time marathoner, and an outdoors lover. Much of the fodder for her podcast (Taiwanese Diaspora) and writing (ancestral autobiography WIP) is from channeling the bilingual thoughts running through her head and heart about cultural heritage, identity, and breaking expectations. Also a freelance consultant focusing on sustainability, supply chain, and social impact initiatives, Cynthia is thrilled to serve on several nonprofit organizations in the Boston area supporting the arts and AAPI. She’s knitting her first sweater and packing for her next globe-trotting adventure.

Lu Cao reads and writes in both English and Chinese, primarily focusing on literary fiction and genre fiction experimental enough to qualify as literary fiction. Currently residing in Wellesley, she is in the midst of a career transition after spending 7 years programming, 3 years teaching and creating art, and 6 years devoted to the completion of her debut novel. 

Shawn P Zimmerman’s D&D character sheet would require at least 6 multi-classes.  Husband, father, reader, writer, software tester, cook. He is interested in learning all the things he doesn’t know, so that list will continue to grow.

John Walters is a science fiction writer, part-time sustainability professional, parent, and a writer. When he’s not writing, parenting, or writing, you can find him playing tabletop games, hiking, exercising, or playing pickleball.

Steff Higgins makes media and writes for kids. They directed and produced the documentary The Gay Marriage Thing and are currently working on an LGBTQ themed middle-grade novel. Steff is committed to creating media for and about underrepresented young people. Steff serves as the Guild’s clerk.

Sonia Grace spends a lot of time yelling about injustice. In her spare time she writes novels, goes on adventures, and tries to get kidnapped by faeries. She has never commandeered a Greek fishing boat in the dead of night.