Sarah Henderson photographed the cover. You can see more of her work at www.sirenapictures.com.

Deesha Philyaw (“Ain’t I a
Mommy?") is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Essence, Wondertime, PMS (poemmemoirstory), and The Washington Post, and has been anthologized in Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined (Seal Press, 2005) and Just Like a Girl: A Manifesta! (GirlChild Press, 2008). Deesha holds a BA in economics from Yale University and a master’s degree in teaching. In her pre-mommy, prewriting life, she was a management consultant and an elementary-school teacher. These days, she’s working on her first novel as well as a nonfiction book project, and she blogs at Mamalicious! (www.deeshaphilyaw.com) A native of Jacksonville, Fla., she currently lives in Pittsburgh, Pa., with her two daughters.

A graduate of the science-illustration program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Katura Reynolds (“Birthing the Monster”) has a passion for the pen-and-ink techniques of the 18th and 19th centuries. Her illustration work has been published in many extremely obscure scientific journals. She finds that reading and writing about sci-fi is a wonderful way to procrastinate on her illustration duties. Revel in her pictures of dead bugs and saber-tooth cat teeth at www.katura-art.com.

Veronica I. Arreola (“Mommy & Me”) is an aging young feminist from Chicago. She has been a fish researcher, pizza-puff fryer, and canvasser for Greenpeace. Currently, she runs an academic support program for women in science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She also serves on the boards of the Chicago Abortion Fund and Women in Media & News. When not reading, writing, or blogging, Veronica can be found with her husband of nine years, raising a precocious kindergarten-aged daughter, and watching her beloved Cubs. Read more of her work at vivalafeminista.blogspot.com, where she writes about feminist motherhood and rediscovering her Latinadad.

Claire Christiansen (origami, cover) began learning origami in middle school from her best friend, a Japanese exchange student. Her love of paper folding quickly blossomed and, after graduating from Albion College with a double major in art and anthropology, she formed Clairigami, a one-woman origami business. She uses her own hand-drawn paper, as well as recycled books, to create one-of-a-kind geometric pieces. Claire currently lives in Jackson, Mich., at the Armory Artswalk, a former state prison converted into artists’ apartments and galleries. View her work at Clairigami.etsy.com.