JANE ROPER is the author of the novel The Society of Shame, which was a finalist for the Thurber Prize in American Humor, and the memoir Double Time: How I Survived–and Mostly Thrived–Through the First Three Years of Mothering Twins. Her writing has appeared in Salon, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Millions, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, Cognoscenti, Writers’ Digest and elsewhere. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Jane currently lives just north of Boston with her husband, rad teenage twins, and two cats, one of whom sucks.

HIGHWAY HOSIERY is the duo project of Elizabeth Steen (accordion, keys) and Jude Heichelbech (cello, stompbox.) Steen is a seasoned accordionist/keyboardist who has played and toured along Natalie Merchant, Tanya Donelly, and Billy Bragg among others, and Heichelbech is a mostly self-taught multi-instrumentalist and visual artist. Together, they pen catchy tunes about trial, love and other oddities that span pop, jazz, rock and roots, with a slant born out of their deep Pennsyltucky upbringings. Both are the daughters of English professors and musicians and have occupied the same seat at the keyboards for Count Zero. They are at work on an album to be released later this year.