This page will be updated as more faculty members are
confirmed for the 2026 Kansas City Writing Workshop.
FACULTY LIST FORTHCOMING
Chuck Sambuchino (@chucksambuchino) is a freelance editor, bestselling book author, and former longtime staffer for Writer’s Digest Books. For many years he edited the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and the CHILDREN’S WRITER’S & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET. His Guide to Literary Agents Blog was one of the largest blogs in publishing, and he wrote the platform guidebook CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM.
He is the co-director of Writing Day Workshops writers conferences, and he has taught at more than 175 writers conferences throughout his career. He is the co-coordinator of the Writing Workshop of Chicago.
His humor book, HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK, was optioned by Sony Pictures. Chuck’s books have been mentioned in Reader’s Digest, USA Today, the New York Times, The Huffington Post, Variety, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, Mental Floss,New York magazine, and many more media outlets. All his latest books are about pickleball, including ULTIMATE PICKLEBALL, a 2026 tear-off desk calendar due out in August 2025 (Sellers Publishing). His picture book, GOODNIGHT, PICKLEBALL, releases from Hachette in August 2025, as well, and will be carried in Target.
He is a successful freelance editor of queries, synopses, and manuscripts—seeing dozens of clients get agents or book deals following his consultations/edits. He loves meeting new writers.
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Tiffany Killoren is a storyteller. The stories may have come in all shapes and sizes over the years, but in her heart, she simply loved to tell them. As an attorney, she understood that each case is a story, full of facts that will shape the opinion of the person who hears it based on how it’s told. As a magazine writer, she enjoyed diving into complex topics that required her to challenge herself, interviewing experts and educating herself to craft a finished product that she felt fortunate and honored to be a part of. As a magazine editor, she was drawn to the obscure, the stories that aren’t often told, but which have so much to say. And, as an author, she shapes her own fictional worlds, creating characters with beautiful flaws that she wishes she could sit down and get to know over a latte.
After graduating from the University of Iowa with majors in Journalism and Russian, Tiffany studied in St. Petersburg, Russia before earning a Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School. Working as a litigator for 15 years, she left the practice of law to pursue her dream of becoming a professional writer. Good Will, Tiffany’s second novel, was released in February 2020 by Amphorae Publishing. Her first novel, Six Weeks in Petrograd, was published in 2013. Tiffany has regularly appeared on local morning shows to discuss parenting tips and life lessons, and enjoys any opportunity to speak to young people about writing their own stories in life. Now working in internal communications with three additional novel manuscripts in the works, Tiffany embraces the new and creative chaos that she has welcomed to her life, sharing it with her husband, two boys and a crazy pup named Dover Floyd in their home near Kansas City.
At the KCWW, Tiffany is offering in-person add-on manuscript critiques.