Paris Writers News is honored to welcome

the twelve distinguished Judges for the Short Story Contest

Nicola Keegan's debut novel, Swimming, was named one of 2009's top ten novels by Time. Nicola divides her time between Ireland and France with her husband and three children.

Penelope Fletcher is from an island off the west coast of Canada. She opened her first bookshop at 19 on the island and worked in bookshops in Vancouver and Montreal, before moving to Paris in 1990. She runs The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore in the marais district in Paris.

Anne Korkeakivi’s short fiction has been published by The Atlantic, The Yale Review, The Bellevue Review, and other magazines. Her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Times (UK), the Village Voice, Ms., Gourmet, and Travel & Leisure, among numerous other periodicals in North America and Europe. She lived in France for ten years.

Born in Moline, Illinois, Johnson's recent books include Lulu in Marrakech (2008), L'Affaire (2004), Le Mariage (2000), and Le Divorce (1997) for which she was a National Book Award finalist and the winner of the California Book Awards gold medal for fiction.

She has been a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books since the mid 1970s. With filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Johnson co-authored the screenplay to The Shining (1980) based on the horror novel of the same name written by Stephen King.

In 2003, a movie version of her comedy of manners novel Le Divorce was released, directed by James Ivory and starring Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts.

Johnson currently divides her time between homes in Paris and San Francisco.

Elizabeth Bard is an American journalist and author based in Paris. Her first book, Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes has been a New York Times and international bestseller, and was selected as a Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" pick for Spring 2010. Bard's writing on food, art, travel and digital culture has appeared in The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune, Wired, Haper's Bazaar and The Huffington Post. You can follow Elizabeth's continuing culinary adventures on her blog,facebook and twitter pages: www.elizabethbard.com, www.facebook.com/LunchinParis, www.twitter.com/ElizabethBard

Janet Skeslien Charles' debut novel Moonlight in Odessa (Bloomsbury) was chosen by Publishers Weekly as one of their top ten debut novels of Fall 2009 and received for the Melissa Nathan Award. It was chosen as Book of the Month by National Geographic Traveler. BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime featured Moonlight in Odessa. Language rights have been sold in 12 countries. Janet has led writing workshops at the American Library in Paris, WICE, and Shakespeare & Co and is currently working on her second novel.

Heather Stimmler-Hall is an American-born travel writer, tour guide and editor living in Paris since 1995. She created the monthly Secrets of Paris Newsletter in 1999, and is a freelance contributor for many guidebooks, magazines and websites including Fodor's Guides, France Magazine, easyJet inflight magazine, and Michelin Green Guides. She is

the author of the award-winning guide "Naughty Paris: A Lady's Guide to the Sexy City" and editor for the upcoming guide in the series, "Naughty New York".

Robert Stewart is the Editor of the literary journal New Letters. Robert teaches creative and professional writing at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is the author of Outside Language: Essays (Helicon Nine Editions, 2003) and the poetry collection Plumbers (BkMk Press, 1988), among other publications. His poetry, feature articles and travel essays have appeared in journals such as Nimrod, Prairie Schooner, and Notre Dame Review, as well as numerous anthologies. He has been editor-in-chief of New Letters since 2002.

Charles Trueheart has been director of the American Library in Paris since 2007. He is a former cultural affairs writer and Paris correspondent of the Washington Post, and a former associate director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. His articles have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly and the American Scholar, among other publications. He is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Amherst College.

After earning an MBA from the Harvard Business School, Charles de Groot worked in finance until founding a real estate company, which he listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He has served on the broads of directors of several for-profit and nonprofit organizations and lectured at international business schools.

Clydette de Groot holds a doctorate in psychology and has done post doctoral work in organizational development. She spent much of her career as director of behavioral sciences in family medicine residency training programs affiliated with the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. In addition to serving on a number of non-profit boards, she had an international corporate consulting business.

Charles and Clydette currently co-chair of The de Groot Foundation. They divide their time among France, Switzerland and the US and are active in the Paris literary community.

Cara Black is a bestselling American mystery writer, best known for her Aimée Léduc mystery novels featuring a female Paris-based private investigator. Black is included in the Great Women Mystery Writers by Elizabeth Lindsay 2nd edition. Her first novel, Murder in the Marais, was nominated for an Anthony Award for best first novel, and her third novel in the series, Murder in the Sentier, was nominated for an Anthony Award as Best Novel.

For more information about Paris Writers News' short story contest.