Chris Baty, Program Director
A resident of Oakland, California, Chris has been heading up NaNoWriMo since founding the escapade in 1999. With his startlingly mediocre prose style and complete inability to write credible dialogue, Chris has set a reassuringly low bar for budding novelists everywhere. Chris is a freelance writer by trade; his work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Believer, and Lonely Planet guidebooks. When not bossing strangers around, Chris spends debilitating amounts of time in coffee shops. His mercilessly pants-kicking book, No Plot? No Problem!, is available at your favorite bookstore.
Russell Uman, Rind Wearing Slave of Word Warring Barbarians
Eschewing alliteration this time around, and ashamed at having failed to update these words since 2004, Russ would like you to know that it never gets any easier, but it just keeps getting better. Russ is responsible for everything technical about NaNoWriMo. He likes Los Angeles as much as he likes San Francisco. Los Angeles makes him laugh harder; San Francisco tastes better. Please let Russ know what's on your mind over at the Site Feedback Forum. (photo credit: SUN Zu-Yi)
Tavia Stewart, Managing Editor and Young Writers Program Director
Tavia is not only able to hold down the fort as the Managing Editor and the Young Writers Program Director at the Office of Letters and Light, she is also able to write novels, plan events for Watchword Press, and run a reading series for the More Cowgirl Writers Collective. She's worked with the genius minds that make up both ZYZZYVA and McSweeney's Publishing, has taught her cat to play fetch, is currently looking to purchase an old bicycle, and is planning to write her 2007 NaNo-novel based on what she finds at weekly garage sales in her neighborhood.
Erin Allday, Municipal Liaison Headmistress
Erin's stalker tendencies and the great pleasure she takes in asking strangers intimate questions about their lives makes her a natural choice to run NaNoWriMo's Daily Q&A feature. Trapped in Berkeley for 12 years, she has worked for several daily newspapers in the Bay Area. When not working 12-hour days writing articles about the global economy that nobody wants to read, Erin spends as much time as possible watching bad television, beating her best time at Minesweeper, taking apart small electrical appliances, and avoiding phone calls.
Cybele May, Hawk-Eyed Forums Moderator
One of NaNoWriMo's far-flung staff members, Cybele lives in Los Angeles where she has ample access to internet at all hours of the day and night. '07 year marks Cybele's third year on staff and possibly the year of her seventh novel. Fear not, she'll have plenty to do in November in addition to noveling and moderating the forums; she also holds down a full-time job and is getting her re-certification as a whale watching naturalist this fall. When not obsessively noveling, she's obsessively writing plays, blogging for candyblog.net.
Zach Mercer, Store and Donation Station Captain
Having fled the Midwestern summer with much glee, Zach is a recent transplant to the Bay Area. Possessed of all of his limbs and quite liking boxes and tape, he quickly obtained a job as one of the Office of Letters and Light's shipping minions. He has always wanted to be a captain of industry, be it a local cottage's or the Krupp's: he views this position as the ideal first step on his path to becoming a modern robber-baron.
Sarah Ciston, Store and Donation Station Captain
After a year spent poking her 2005 NaNo-novel with a stick, Sarah took a leap into the unemployed unknown to Finish with a Capital F. Now she's back to being gainfully employed—packing a little extra love into each package sent from NaNo-HQ. When she's not fulfilling your every customer service desire, she books author appearances at Black Oak Books in Berkeley, pretends to be a freelance writer, and tries not to jump the gun on her 2007 novel, which she insists will not be about bobbleheads, not again.
Drew Patty, NaNoWriMo Email Ambassador
Drew currently resides in the East Bay in the little, (mostly) rectangular, city of Albany. He has been assimilated by the NaNoWriMo crew to shore up the position of NaNoWriMo Email Ambassador—a title that is basically an administrative role with a fancy dress. In his free time, Drew enjoys being the captain of his bowling team (Strikes for Beer), learning German to impress his beautiful wife (who is from München), and playing poker (low stakes). He has been accused of (somewhat) overusing parentheses. He is pretty sure he has been on every mile of Interstate 70.
Candace Cunard, Intern and Press Liaison
From a young age, Candace's career goals have destined her for poverty. A freshman English major at UC Berkeley, her greatest ambition is to make a living as a published novelist. She refuses to admit that this is an unreasonable goal, because it isn't. On days when she acknowledges that making money as a writer will be difficult, she considers the idea of teaching English -- which, coincidentally, also doesn't pay. When not reading or writing, she releases her energies by knitting scarves, traveling with her family, and obsessing over musical theater.
Eujin Park, Intern and Spanish Translator
Originally hailing from Southern California, Eujin is currently a third-year student at UC Berkeley majoring in Comparative Literature. Her very first NaNoNovel is going to be based on her odd family history. When not working with the awesome NaNoWriMo staff, or stressing over her schoolwork, Eujin likes to read, watch the Food Network (it's all about Giada!), and cook...and eat everything she cooks...
Sonali Maulik, Intern and Translation Coordinator
When not basking in the glory of her NaNoWriMo employment, Sonali enjoys doing crossword puzzles, butchering the French language with other like-minded francophones, and bragging about how she once played rugby. She also enjoys complaining about the weather. A third-year college student, Sonali aspires to be either a lawyer or a creator of rugby-themed crossword puzzles in French.
Tanya Sirkin, Intern
Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Tanya escaped to the Bay Area a few years ago to go to Berkeley, where she graduated with a doubly-useless degree in English and Anthropology. She hopes one day to be an editor at a small book publisher or literary magazine, but in the meantime is thrilled to be working with the great folks over at NaNo. She enjoys reading, watching arguably trashy television shows, and spending much more time online than is healthy playing games and reading news aggregates.