Emanuel Bergmann was born in Germany in 1972. He (meaning me) came to LA in '92 to study film at UCLA Extension. Since then, I got married, worked a real job, survived gunfights, got divorced, and considered relocating to Bombay, where I briefly found a job as a Bollywood extra and had my evil spirits exorcised. Now I’m back in LA, working as a translator, writer, and independent publisher, hoping to make enough dough to feed my cat and my bunny. Last, but not least, a big shout-out to the brilliant folks at 826LA, who make time travel possible!

Yes, Adriane Jones is pursuing her PhD in marine biology, but no, she doesn't work with dolphins. Her love, instead, is for plankton, the microscopic, yet vastly important life-force of the ocean. Those familiar with Adriane's work will no doubt remember her appearance on Al-Jazeera and certainly look forward to seeing her on the wildly popular television show Nova. When she is not sampling on the high seas in exotic locales such as Baja California and Antarctica, she relishes building pterodactyls out of florist's foam and plumbing the depths of her imagination, all to benefit the children of 826LA East. Adriane recently rediscovered the joys of bicycling and hopes you will too. Meanwhile, Adriane utilizes her free time to read voraciously and dream vividly, and she looks forward to helping with future workshops.

Amanda Krieg is a recent transplant to Venice from the Far East—Connecticut, to be exact. Less than a year ago, before setting out on an epic cross-country road trip to seek fame and fortune in the crazy business we call show, she was still living in blissful ignorance as a theatre major at Northwestern University in Illinois. Currently, she works in the Music Department at Lionsgate, where she enjoys an abundance of free music. Most weekends she can be found biking along Venice beach, trying to write a screenplay, or somewhere between the 101 and the 10 on her way up to 826LA East in Echo Park.

Lauren Varner's biography is brought to you by the letter L. L is the first letter of the two locations Lauren has lived—Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Lauren's learning is localized in Linguistics and Library Science. In her leisure, she likes to lollygag around Laveta Terrace loosening lemons and loquats from their leaves. Her favorite Tetris piece is even the L-shaped one. Lauren is an L 7 square.