We have selected the following authors to honor in Sirens's fourth year, as we examine and celebrate female storytellers and the many brilliant retellings of myths, folklore, and legends that women have created. Each author has re-written familiar tales, and some unfamiliar tales as well, and the work of each reinvents those tales in unexpected ways. We encourage you to familiarize yourself with their writing; please see our reading list for a selected list of their work and other fantasy works by and about women. Our guests of honor will speak both during a series of keynote events during Sirens and at our Bedtime Stories evening. Conference registrations include admission to all keynote events and Bedtime Stories.

Kate Bernheimer is an academic and an author and editor of fairy tales. She has published novels, stories, children's books, creative nonfiction, and essays on fairy tales, and has edited three influential fairy-tale anthologies, one of which, My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, won the 2011 World Fantasy Award for best anthology. Her works as an author include Horse, Flower, Bird, which Booklist said is "a collection readers won't soon forget, one that redefines the fairy tale into something wholly original," and a trio of novels about three sisters: The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold, The Complete Tales of Merry Gold, and the upcoming The Complete Tales of Lucy Gold. She has written works for children as well, including The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum (illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli), which Publishers Weekly named one of the Best Books of 2008. In 1995, Kate founded, and remains editor of, Fairy Tale Review, the leading literary journal dedicated to fairy tales as a contemporary art form. Kate also holds both BA and MFA degrees and serves as Associate Professor of English and Writer in Residence at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette.

For more information about Kate, please visit her website.

Nalo Hopkinson has published four novels and numerous short stories, and has edited or co-edited four anthologies, most in the realms of science fiction and fantasy. She is a recipient of the Locus Award for Best New Writer, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Award for Emerging Writers. Her works have won a World Fantasy Award, a Gaylactic Spectrum Award, an Aurora Award, and the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic (twice), and have been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, the James R. Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award, the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and the Nebula Award for Best Novel. Brown Girl in the Ring was also a finalist in Canada Reads. Nalo holds an MA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, and is currently an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. She has served as faculty for Clarion East, Clarion West, and Clarion South, and she is a founding member of the Carl Brandon Society.

For more information about Nalo, please visit her website, which includes her blog, or her Twitter.

Malinda Lo's first novel, Ash, a retelling of Cinderella with a lesbian twist, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, and the Lambda Award for Children's/Young Adult, and was a Kirkus 2009 Best Book for Children and Teens. Her second book, Huntress, a companion to Ash, was published in April 2011 and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Her two-book young adult science fiction series, beginning with Adaptation, will be published in fall 2012. Prior to her work as an author of fiction, Malinda was an entertainment reporter, and was awarded the 2006 Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Journalism by the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and has master's degrees from both Harvard and Stanford.

For more information about Malinda, please visit her website, which includes her blog, or her Twitter.