Catharine Hamm has been part of The Los Angeles Times Travel section since 1999, serving as travel editor since 2003. She launched the “On the Spot” travel consumer column early in 2007, and it now appears in newspapers and on websites across the country. She was born in Syracuse, N.Y., but counts Virginia, Hawaii, the Philippines, Kansas, and, of course, California as among the 34 places she has called home.

Peter Rudiak-Gould’s first travel book, Surviving Paradise: One Year on a Disappearing Island, was published in November of 2009 by Union Square Press. He is a doctoral student in Anthropology at Oxford University, conducting research on Marshallese reactions to the threat of devastating sea level rise caused by global warming. Originally from Berkeley, California, he now lives in Oxford, England.

Peter Ferry is an editor, writer and teacher. His travel pieces have appeared in the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times. His short fiction has appeared in StoryQuarterly, Fiction, the New Review of Literature and McSweeney’s. His first novel, Travel Writing, which is built around five travel pieces, was published in 2008 by Harcourt. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

Pauline Frommer is the creator of the Pauline Frommer Guidebooks, a new series for budget-conscious travelers. She also co-hosts The Travel Show heard on over radio stations nationwide; appears weekly on CNN.com to discuss travel; and authors a bi-weekly column on MSN.com.

Robert Reid has updated updated 21 Lonely Planet guidebooks — including New York City, Central America, Trans-Siberian Railway and Myanmar (Burma) — and created his own experimental free guidebook to Vietnam. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, World Hum and Wanderlust.

David Farley is the author of An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church’s Strangest Relic in Italy’s Oddest Town and the co-editor of Travelers’ Tales Prague and the Czech Republic: True Stories. His writing appears in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, New York, and Slate.com, among other publications.

Eve Brown-Waite was born and bred in New York until she joined the Peace Corps, fell in love with her recruiter and then, in an effort first to win his heart (and then, because she was married to him) lived in Ecuador, Uganda and Uzbekistan. First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life, published by Broadway Books, tells the story of what ensued.

Eric Weiner the is author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World. He has reported from more than 30 countries, and served as a correspondent for National Public Radio in New York, Miami and Washington. A former reporter for The New York Times, his commentary has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Slate and The New Republic, among other publications.

A three-time Emmy award-winning writer, reporter and host, Karen Schaler is the author of Travel Therapy: Where Do You Need to Go? Karen has written for publications such as The New Yorker, the Boston Globe, Town and Country, Elite Traveler, and Islands, and she has appeared on television shows such as Good Morning America, The Today Show, FOX & Friends, and CNN.

David Grann is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He has written about everything from New York City’s antiquated water tunnels to the hunt for the giant squid to the presidential campaign. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, published by Doubleday, is his first book and is being developed into a movie by Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company and Paramount Pictures.

Stephanie Pearson is a freelance writer and contributing editor to Outside magazine. Stephanie grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, and has lived in Chicago, Santa Fe, Quito, and Bogota. During her 13-years on staff at Outside Stephanie wrote “The Wild File,” a column about science and nature, and numerous features, three of which received honorable mentions in The Best American Travel Writing series.