Sari Botton’s memoir in essays, And You May Find Yourself…Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo, was chosen by Poets & Writers magazine for the 2022 edition of its annual “5 Over 50” feature. An essay from it received notable mention in the Best American Essays 2023, edited by Vivian Gornick. For five years, she was the essays editor at Longreads. She edited the bestselling anthologies Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York and Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York. She publishes Oldster Magazine, Memoir Land, and Adventures in Journalism. She was the writer-in-residence in the creative writing program at SUNY New Paltz in spring 2023.

Melissa Giberson is the award-winning author of Late Bloomer: Finding My Authentic Self at Midlife (She Writes Press). She has published articles in numerous online and print publications, including the Boston Globe, Salon, Kveller, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, the Gay & Lesbian Review, and Writer’s Digest. Her essay, “Art is the Antidote,” appears in the anthology Art In The Time of Unbearable Crisis.

Giberson, her partner, and their two cats split their time between New Jersey and Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Some might know Lyn Slater better as her prophetic Instagram handle, @iconaccidental. With over 750,000 followers, collaborations with iconic brands such as Hermés and Dior, and features by “TODAY,” Cosmopolitan, W Magazine, The Cut, and more, it’d be easy to think that she’s done this her entire life. Yet, 10 years ago—at age 61—Slater was a full-time professor with a PhD and a long career in activism and social work. After taking a night school class about upcycling vintage fashion, she decided to start a fashion blog called “Accidental Icon.” This was the beginning of her risky reinvention as a fashion influencer. In her new memoir, How to be Old: Lessons in Living Boldly from the Accidental Icon, Slater shares her rebellious path to finding success as an iconoclast, battling narrow expectations of aging along the way, and ultimately reckoning with influencer culture when her role becomes more about encouraging consumption than culture change.

Abigail Thomas’s new memoir, Still Life at Eighty: The Next Interesting Thing, was published this winter by Golden Notebook Press. Thomas worked as both a book editor and book agent before writing her own first collection of short stories, Getting Over Tom. Her second and third books An Actual Life, and Herb’s Pajamas, were works of fiction. Thomas’ memoir, A Three Dog Life, was named one of the best books of 2006 by The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. It received the 2006 Inspirational Memoir Award given by Books for A Better Life. She is also author of the memoirs Safekeeping, Thinking About Memoir and What Comes Next and How to Like It. In her new book, Still Life at 80, Thomas ruminates on aging during the confines of COVID-19 with her trademark mix of humor and wisdom, including valuable, contemplative writing tips along the way. She lives in Woodstock, New York.

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