Christine Renee Miller fancies herself an expert. Perhaps it’s because she always seems to play one on screen. You can see her recurring on the CBS hit show, Blue Bloods as the snarky M.E. who constantly schools Donny Wahlberg. She also stars opposite Jim Parsons as the head cancer nurse in the Michael Showalter feature film, Spoiler Alert. And of course, playing an expert wouldn’t be replete without her role as the face of Lubriderm, where she got to be a quirky dermatologist who even wore a light blue lab coat (obviously she’s a real skin expert). Apart from these and other TV/Film roles (where she genuinely plays the character who knows most about the thing…it’s weird), she is a real-life expert in writing. Her solo shows Baby Cow and Such Nice Shoes, both garnered rave reviews in the New York City independent theater world as well as receiving a New York Innovative Theater award nomination. She teaches Playwriting at Wilkes University and is a writing coach to clients across the globe.

Jessica Goudeau is a journalist, professor, producer, and advocate. Her first nonfiction book, After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America, won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and a Christopher Award, was named a New York Times Editors’ Choice book, among other accolades. Her second nonfiction book, We Were Illegal, is a deep exploration of pivotal moments in Texas history through multiple generations of her own family, and a ruthless reexamination of our national and personal myths. It was named by The New York Times one of “19 Nonfiction Books to Read This Summer” and an Editors’ Choice book; NPR selected it as a “Book of the Day.” Goudeau has been a columnist for Catapult, and has written for The New York Times, Time, The Atlantic, and Washington Post, among other places. She has a PhD in US and South American literature from the University of Texas and speaks fluent Portuguese and Spanish. She currently teaches Creative Nonfiction at Wilkes University.