Ralph Pezzullo is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and copywriter as well as a published author and poet. He has written articles for The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, Connoisseur, GQ, Sports, Men’s Health, New Woman, USA Weekend, The Miami Herald, and other publications. His poetry and short stories have been published in Visions, American Writing, Slant, and Poet's Sanctuary. He was also the recipient of several awards for writing advertising copy and is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Writer’s Guild, Author’s League of America, Mystery Writer’s Association, and the Art Student’s League.

The son of a Foreign Service Officer, Pezzullo has lived all across the globe, including Nicaragua during the Sandinista Revolution, the subject of his non-fiction book At the Fall of Somoza.

Ralph Pezzullo lives in Manhattan with his wife Jessica, and their four children.

Edward J. Perkins

Edward J. Perkins, a career diplomat, currently serves as the William J. Crowe Chair and Executive Director of the International Programs Center at the University of Oklahoma. He previously served in the U.S. Army, Marine Corps and in numerous positions in the Department of State and Foreign Service. He has served as ambassador to Liberia, South Africa, Australia, the United Nations and U.S. Representative to the U.N. Security Council. On August 31, 1996, Ambassador Perkins retired with the rank of Career Minister in the United States Foreign Service.

He earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Maryland and Masters and Doctor of Public Administration degrees from the University of Southern California. He served three years in the U.S. Army and four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He speaks French, Japanese and Thai.

Ambassador Perkins lives with his wife Lucy, and they have two daughters, Katherine and Sarah, and four grandchildren.