April Dávila is an award-winning author, speaker, and writing coach. Publishers Weekly called her debut novel, 142 Ostriches, a “vivid, uplifting debut” and the book went on to win the WILLA Award for Women Writing the West.

Writer’s Digest listed her blog (at aprildavila.com) as one of the Best 101 Websites for Writers and her forthcoming nonfiction debut (Sit Write Here: 6 Mindfulness Practices to Help You Write More and Suffer Less) will be published by St. Martin’s Press in July of 2026. Her next novel is also forthcoming. Dávila lives in a suburb of Los Angeles with her husband and two children. She is a practicing Buddhist, half-hearted gardener, and occasional runner.

At the 2026 LA event, she is teaching a class.

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Chuck Sambuchino (@chucksambuchino) is a freelance editor, bestselling book author, and former longtime staffer for Writer’s Digest Books. For many years he edited the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and the CHILDREN’S WRITER’S & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET. His Guide to Literary Agents Blog was one of the largest blogs in publishing, and he wrote the platform guidebook CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM.

He is the co-director of Writing Day Workshops writers conferences, and he has taught at more than 175 writers conferences throughout his career. He is the co-coordinator of the Writing Workshop of Chicago.

His humor book, HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK, was optioned by Sony Pictures. Chuck’s books have been mentioned in Reader’s Digest, USA Today, the New York Times, The Huffington Post, Variety, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, Mental Floss,New York magazine, and many more media outlets. All his latest books are about pickleball, including ULTIMATE PICKLEBALL, a 2026 tear-off desk calendar due out in August 2025 (Sellers Publishing). His picture book, GOODNIGHT, PICKLEBALL, releases from Hachette in August 2025, as well, and will be carried in Target.

He is a successful freelance editor of queries, synopses, and manuscripts—seeing dozens of clients get agents or book deals following his consultations/edits. He loves meeting new writers.