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CHECK OUT OUR 2022 SPEAKERS!
James River Writers is pleased to announce the accomplished slate of presenters for our 20th Annual James River Writers Conference. We are adding confirmed speakers daily, so be sure to check back…
Confirmed Speakers
Beth Macy | KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Beth Macy is the author of the critically acclaimed and New York Times-bestselling books, Factory Man, Truevine, and Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company That Addicted America (2018). Macy serves as an Executive Producer and writer on the acclaimed Hulu limited television series Dopesick, which is based on her book. Growing out of three decades of reporting from the same Virginia communities, as her prior books did, Dopesick unpacks the most intractable social problems of our time: the opioid crisis, set against a landscape of job loss, corporate greed and stigma, along with the families and first responders who are heroically fighting back. A longtime reporter who specializes in outsiders and underdogs, Macy has won more than a dozen national journalism awards, including a Lukas Prize for Factory Man, multiple shortlist and best-book-of-the-year honors for Truevine, and a Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard for her newspaper writing. A frequent speaker, teacher and essayist, Macy has been published in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Oprah magazine, and Parade. Her approach to storytelling: report from the ground up; establish trust; be patient; find stories that tap into universal truths; get out of your zip code. To do good journalism, be a human first. Macy’s latest book, Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America\’s Drug Crisis (August 2022), focuses on solutions to the opioid crisis and the heroic efforts of frontline workers who are applying harm reduction practices on the streets of America.
Stacy Hawkins Adams
Stacy Hawkins Adams is an author, journalist, and essayist whose writing infuses readers with confidence in their own stories. She has penned nine women’s fiction novels and two inspirational nonfiction books. Her novel Watercolored Pearls has been a featured title in college coursework; Lead Me Home was a Target stores \”Recommended Read\” and The Someday List was an Essence magazine bestseller. Along with penning books, Stacy curates an inspirational blog at LifeUntapped.com
Ryka Aoki | MASTER CLASS INSTRUCTOR
| Ryka Aoki is a novelist, poet, musician, and teacher. Her latest novel, Light From Uncommon Stars, was released in Sept 2021 by Tor Press, and is a finalist for the Hugo, Locus, Ignyte, and Mythopoeic Awards. Ryka is also a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for her collections Seasonal Velocities and Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul. She has an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University, and is currently a professor of English at Santa Monica College. |
Kristi Tuck Austin | MODERATOR
Kristi Tuck Austin waded through New York City sewers, ran from trains, and slid through a water pipe to the Harlem River while researching her novels. She’s celebrated Thanksgiving in the Paris catacombs, wading (again) and dining by candlelight. In her daily life, which is dry and aboveground, she’s a producer for the pilot of America\’s Next Great Author, a TV show for writers by writers. Her childhood philately hobby led to meeting Mikhail Gorbachev.
Catherine Baab-Muguira
Catherine Baab-Muguira is a writer and journalist who\’s contributed to, among others, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, Lit Hub, CNBC and NBC News. Her first book, Poe for Your Problems: Uncommon Advice from History\’s Least Likely Self-Help Guru, came out from Hachette in 2021 and is a finalist for the Library of Virginia\’s People\’s Choice Award for Nonfiction. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and young son.
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Bill Blume | MODERATOR
Bill Blume‘s love for the written word started in high school with an addiction to comic books that was later hijacked by novels such as Frankenstein and Dragonflight. His short stories have been published in many fantasy anthologies and ezines. He’s the author of the Gidion Keep, Vampire Hunter series. Like the father figure in his novels, he’s worked as a 911 dispatcher for more than 15 years.
Breeze the Poet
Breeze The Poet is a spoken word artist and battle rapper from Richmond, VA. Making his name mostly through competitive artistry, he is heralded as one of the most decorated slam poets in the nation. He is the last official Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, the last official National Poetry Slam Champion, the Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam Champion (Indie), and the 7x King of the South Slam Champion as well as many other noteworthy wins and top placements. He has performed in places ranging from the Historic Apollo Theater and Radio City Music Hall w/ Jill Scott to national television appearances on Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade (Charlotte) and TV1\’s Lexus presents Verses and Flow.
Rosa Castellano | MODERATOR
Rosa Castellano is a writer and teacher whose work has been supported with a year-long fellowship from the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and by Tin House. She received an MFA in poetry from Virginia Commonwealth University and in 2021 was a finalist for Cave Canem’s Starshine and Clay Fellowship. Her work can be found or is forth coming at the South Hampton Review, Alternating Current Press and EcoTheo Review.
Karen A. Chase
Karen A. Chase is an author, speaker, and brand designer. Her latest book, Brand the Author (Not the Book) is a branding/marketing workbook for authors. Her first novel, Carrying Independence, is historical fiction about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was a nominee for the 2020 Library of Virginia Literary Awards, and was awarded #12 of the 100 Best Indie Books of 2019. She also published Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log, and a short food-themed story (with recipes), Mary Angela’s Kitchen. Originally from Canada, Karen is now chasing histories from Richmond, VA.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Shawna Christos | MODERATOR
Shawna Christos, with great brainstorming, tenacity, and research skills, has successfully tackled many things including eclectic writing projects published local anthologies. A long-time supporter of the James River Writers community, she has served in many supporting roles, including on the board of directors. With dreams of being a well-known reclusive writer, she feels destined to read as many books as possible, and encourage writer friends to finish so she can also read theirs.
Marissa DeCuir | MASTER CLASS INSTRUCTOR
Marissa DeCuir is the president and partner of Books Forward publicity and Books Fluent publishing. As a former journalist, she’s always looking for the best hooks to utilize in author publicity and book marketing and believes in taking a personal and strategic can-do approach to help authors reach their goals.
Books Forward Website | Books Fluent Website
Wendy DeGroat | MODERATOR
Wendy DeGroat is a poet and librarian whose work has appeared in a variety of journals and magazines, and who periodically teaches community workshops about using archival artifacts as sparks for creative expression. Headmistress Press published her chapbook Beautiful Machinery, and she has also written an as-yet unpublished manuscript of documentary poetry that imagines the inner life of Grace Evelyn Arents, an influential Progressive-era educator and philanthropist who lived in Richmond.
Aran Donovan
Aran Donovan works with the Virginia Center for the Book, where she supports both the Virginia Festival of the Book and Book Arts. Prior to joining the Center for the Book, she worked with a variety of New Orleans nonprofits, including Friends of New Orleans Public Library and Tulane University’s Center for Public Service. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas and MA in Italian from Middlebury College.
M.K. England
M. K. England grew up on the Space Coast of Florida watching shuttle launches from the backyard. These days they call rural Virginia home, where their house is full of video games, dogs, plants, Star Wars memorabilia, and one tiny human. M.K. is the author of six novels for kids, teens, and adults, including The One True Me & You, Player vs. Player, and Firefly: What Makes Us Mighty.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Anjali Enjeti
Anjali Enjeti is a former attorney, organizer, journalist, and MFA instructor based near Atlanta. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed books Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change, and The Parted Earth. Her other writing has appeared in Oxford American, Boston Globe, Poets & Writers, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and elsewhere.
MM Finck
MM (Peggy) Finck is a novelist, essayist, and niche editor specializing in queries, pitches, opening pages, & overall story analysis as the Query Quill. Finck oversees The Agents\’ Corner and Author Interviews segments of Women Writers,Women[\’s] Books, and is a two-time Vice-President of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Peggy has also served as past-chair advisor for the Rising STAR Award for Unpublished Women’s Fiction. Founder of Penning Suspense, a group for suspenseful & thriller fiction writers, and togetHER, a Facebook group for women, she is active in James River Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Writer Unboxed. Represented by Katie Shea Boutillier.
Jessica Felleman
Jessica Felleman began her publishing career in Los Angeles after receiving her MFA in writing from CalArts. She relocated to New York in 2015, where she spent five years at a mid-sized agency before joining the Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency in 2020. She represents a range of fiction and nonfiction authors, and loves fresh stories about magic and books that make readers think differently about themselves or the world around them.
Stephanie Foo
Stephanie Foo is the author of What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma. She has written for Vox, The New York Times and The Atlantic. She worked as a radio producer for This American Life and Snap Judgment, and her stories aired on Reply All, 99% Invisible, and Radiolab. A noted speaker and instructor, she has taught at Columbia University and has spoken at venues from Sundance Film Festival to the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
Terry Menefee-Gau | MODERATOR
Terry Menefee-Gau is an accomplished actor & writer, as well as a non-profit professional for the past twenty years. She has a varied theatre and film resume, spanning over twenty-five years as an actor, producer, writer, and director. Terry is a proud member of the Virginia Screenwriters’ Forum and has several award-winning scripts under her belt. As a Richmond native, Terry advocates strongly for her local arts and culture community, and her work on VPM’s Education & Engagement team is an extension of her passion for a strong local arts ecosystem.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Dr. Amina Gautier | MASTER CLASS INSTRUCTOR
Dr. Amina Gautier is the author of three award-winning short story collections: At-Risk, Now We Will Be Happy, and The Loss of All Lost Things. More than one hundred and forty of her stories have been published. She is the recipient of the Blackwell Prize, the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s 21st Century Award, the International Latino Book Award, the Letras Boricuas Fellowship, and the PEN/MALAMUD Award for Excellence in the Short Story.
Nick George the Poet
Nick George the Poet is an educator, advocate, nonprofit founder and poet. As an artist, Nick has taken his talents to multiple stages and platforms, including 2017 TedXCharlottesville, where he performed an original piece, “Revenge of the Snap.“ Nick has contributed to various campaigns and organizations around Central Virginia, and has been recognized for his community impact over the past ten years. Through advocating for mental health and recognizing the utility of the performing arts, Nicholas uses his voice and skills to ignite social impact, challenge stigmas, and develop deep community.
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Jessica Ronky Haddad
Jessica Ronky Haddad is the editorial director of Richmond Magazine. She began her career as a features reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and formerly served as the arts and culture editor for alternative weekly Style Weekly. She enjoys writing about artists and creators and introducing readers to topics they never knew they were interested in.
Dawn Michelle Hardy | AGENT
Dawn Michelle Hardy is an award-winning book publicist and highly sought-after publishing consultant who was recently featured in Forbes Women and the Access and Opportunity podcast hosted by Carla Harris. She has served on the NAACP Image Award Literary Committee and will celebrate her 20th year advocating for authors and their debut books this fall. Called a “powerhouse who shares industry truths” in Upscale magazine, Dawn is a frequent podcast guest and conference presenter who teaches platform building, proposal writing, and best practices for securing a traditional book deal. Some of her past clients include: New York Times Bestselling authors Clint Smith and D. Watkins, and women’s fiction authors Sadeqa Johnson, Tia Williams and Jayne Allen. Affectionately known as The Literary Lobbyist, Dawn continues to passionately champion for BIPOC writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books, and memoir.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Alix E. Harrow
A former academic and adjunct, Alix E. Harrow is a New York Times-bestselling and Hugo award-winning writer living in Virginia with her husband and their two semi-feral kids. She is the author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, The Once and Future Witches, and various short fiction.
Saritza Hernández | AGENT
A Literary Agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Saritza Hernández is a self-professed geek who loves escaping into worlds and stories from all walks of life. A passionate advocate of the BIPOC & LGBTQ+ communities, she enjoys fresh voices in Adult and KidLit genre fiction, and select non-fiction.
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Katharine Herndon
As the Executive Director of James River Writers for almost ten years, and a volunteer for eight years before that, Katharine Herndon has helped bring hundreds of literary superstars to the JRW stage. She has looked at countless author websites and can tell you the main things the JRW team looks for when inviting someone to speak, how to up your chances of getting your inquiry answered, and what orgs really want when they ask for your bio.
GG Renee Hill | MASTER CLASS INSTRUCTOR
| GG Renee Hill is an author and facilitator who believes in the power of storytelling. GG creates transformative workshops that show individuals and organizations how to use emotional intelligence and creative writing to reframe their stories. Through her books and workshops, she advocates for self-care and personal growth through writing, as she provides tools for authentic storytelling and inclusive conversations. She’s currently working on a book of essays about her mental health journey. |
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Phil Hilliker | MODERATOR
Phillip Hilliker is a creatively restless writer and illustrator with credits spanning many fields and genres. Formerly JRW\’s membership coordinator, he is currently a script writer for a video production and marketing firm in central Virginia.
Bruce Holsinger
Bruce Holsinger is the USA Today and Los Angeles Times-bestselling author of The Gifted School, which won the Colorado Book Award, and The Displacements, both with Riverhead/Penguin Random House. He teaches at the University of Virginia and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. The Displacements is his fourth novel.
Chioke I\'Anson | MASTER CLASS INSTRUCTOR
Chioke I’Anson is the Director of Community Media at Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Institute of Contemporary Art, which provides workshops, training, and studio space for podcast development and execution. He is also a professor of African American studies at VCU. Chioke provides sponsorship/underwriting messaging for NPR and can also be heard on the crowd favorite Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me, where he occasionally fills in as a guest scorekeeper. Mr. I’Anson holds a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion from FAMU and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of South Florida.
Derek Kannemeyer | MODERATOR
Derek Kannemeyer is from Richmond, Cape Town, and London. His most recent book is the September 2022 novel The Memory Addicts. Other works since 2018 include a poetry chapbook contest winner; the five act Play of Gilgamesh; the poetry collection Mutt Spirituals; and the hybrid photography/non-fiction tome Unsay Their Names, whose photographs became the fall 2021 main exhibit at Richmond\’s Black History Museum. |
Sally Kilpatrck
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TJ Klune
TJ Klune is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Extraordinaries, and more. Being queer himself, Klune believes it\’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate and positive queer representation in stories.
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Tracey Livesay
Tracey Livesay’s latest release, American Royalty is a dangerously sexy rom-com that evokes the real life romance between Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle, and is one of the most buzzed about books of 2022. She’s the 2021 Emma Award winner for Best Interracial Romance for Like Lovers Do, which was also named one of the 100 Best Fiction Books of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews. A former criminal defense attorney, Tracey lives in Virginia with her husband and their three children. |
Steve Majors
Steve Majors is a writer and the author of High Yella: A Modern Family Memoir published by the University of Georgia Press. His writings on race, class and identity have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe and other outlets. He currently serves as Chief External Affairs Officer at Teach For America. Steve resides in Takoma Park, MD with his husband and two daughters. |
Annette Marquis | MODERATOR
Annette Marquis is the author of Resistance: A Memoir of Civil Disobedience in Maricopa County, and co-author of over twenty-five software books. Her writing has been anthologized in The Women of Katrina: How Gender, Race, and Class Matter in an American Disaster, Struggling in Good Faith: LGBTQI Inclusion from 13 American Religious Perspectives, and other collections. Annette works as Director of Operations for the Living Legacy Project, Inc., a non-profit organization that educates people about the enduring lessons of the American Civil Rights Movement. She lives in Richmond with her poet-librarian wife Wendy DeGroat. |
Alethea McCollin
Alethea McCollin is a playwright, producer, director, and shoe addict. She has produced her work locally and has presented them at various theatre festivals nationally. Her most recent production is of The Stilettos Monologue – a show that celebrates women – runs for three nights September 30 – October 01, 2022. Alethea is a member of the Dramatist Guild, and Virginia Screenwriters Forum, and also serves on several local boards. Alethea loves working out, is a passionate gardener, and loves to bake, though she says, she still hasn’t mastered either pastime.
Angele McQuade
Angele McQuade is the author of two books about investing, including Investment Clubs for Dummies, with a third under contract. A 20+ year columnist for BetterInvesting magazine, Angele has published more than 400 cover and feature articles, speaks often on the deep connection between money and creativity, and teaches writers (and others) how to become financially organized. Angele also writes children’s picture books and novels and is represented by Jennifer Laughran of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
Sharvette Mitchell
Sharvette Mitchell helps high achieving service based women entrepreneurs position their expertise with a polished visual brand, increase visibility with speaking opportunities, build authority with a published book and convert more customers with elevated content marketing. She does this with her signature Platform Builder group coaching program. Sharvette is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. For over 14 years she has hosted a weekly internet talk radio show – The Sharvette Mitchell Radio Show. She has been seen on CBS 6, The CW Network and featured in publications such as Huffington Post. She is the visionary author of four book collaborations: PROPEL – The Essential Handbook for Emerging Women in Business & Leadership; POUR – The Secret Effects of Serving and Giving in Business & Leadership; PURSUE – Chase Your Goals and Run After Your Passions in Business, Life and Leadership; and the upcoming PEARLS – Wisdom and Advice from Emerging Women Leaders.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
A.D.Newman
A.D. Newman writes novels, short fiction, and screenplays. A long-time resident of Richmond, Virginia, they earned their BA in English from Virginia Commonwealth University and have been a member of James River Writers for several years. Their top writing routine involves getting cold brew coffee from one of their favorite coffeeshops and typing as much as they can on their phone in thirty minutes. In their non-writing spare time, they enjoy playing the guitar, watching movies, and spoiling their cat.
Catie-Reagan Palmore | MODERATOR
JRW Membership guru Catie-Reagan Palmore is an experienced designer and editor with a passion for theatre and art education. She has broad international experience having worked and studied in London, England; Verona, Italy; New York, NY, and her home base Richmond, VA. Her passion for storytelling started at a young age where she explored acting and photography at Trinity Episcopal School. She went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from Virginia Tech before completing a master’s program in Strategic Design and Management at Parsons School of Design. She’s joined by her two savvy assistants, Olivia, a tortoiseshell cat, and Junie B. Jones, a calico cutie.
Rebekah Pierce | MODERATOR
A veteran of the armed forces, educator, and prolific writer, Rebekah Pierce is a lover of mystery novels that feature protagonists fight their personal demons as they save the day. She is the author of two historic fiction novels, Murder on Second Street and The Secret Life of Lucy Bosman. In February 2019, Rebekah released, I Love Me More, her memoir on the freeing power of self-love.
Rebecca Podos | MASTER CLASS INSTRUCTOR
Rebecca Podos is a graduate of the MFA Writing, Literature and Publishing program at Emerson College. Her Young Adult fiction is published by Balzer+Bray/ HarperCollins. She is thrilled to represent books by authors like Ashley Herring Blake, Rin Chupeco, Margie Fuston, Felicia Grossman, Sonia Hartl, London Shah, Brianna Shrum, Rebecca Kim Wells, and more. A complete list of her authors’ published and upcoming projects can be found on her website.
Cristina Dominguez Ramirez
Central Virginia\’s only (heavily) tattooed multilingual Latina library manager, Cristina Dominguez Ramirez is an academic author of D,E, & I topics in library & information science, a professor of LIS, a librarian, and a lifelong student. Ella serves on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, the Board of Trustees of the Science Museum of Virginia, and is the Vice President of the Asian & Latino Solidarity Alliance of Central Virginia.
Kathleen Reid
Kathleen Reid is an award-winning author who has published four works of fiction: Paris Match, A Page Out of Life, Sunrise in Florence and Secrets in the Palazzo. She loves art history and carefully weaves her extensive research into the storylines of her her novels. Kathleen writes to inspire, educate and entertain her readers. Sunrise in Florence won five Indie Awards in Romance and Romantic Suspense. Kathleen is a wife, mom of two girls, and avid runner.
Website | Facebook | Instagram
Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts | AGENT
Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts joined HG Literary in 2017 after agenting at Writers House and the Susan Golomb Literary Agency, where she was also Foreign Rights Director. At HG Literary, she represents literary novels and collections, upmarket fiction, and non-fiction, both narrative and prescriptive. Though she is primarily seeking Adult genres, she also represents select, realistic middle-grade and YA. She is a board member of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) and serves on their International Rights Committee. Originally from the California Bay Area, Soumeya now lives in Brooklyn with her family.
William Roberts | AGENT
Will Roberts is the Associate Director of Foreign Rights and a literary agent at The Gernert Company. He joined the team in 2008 after working at Vintage Books, and, before that, at a newspaper in Jackson, WY, covering the courts and police department. He is looking for suspense novels, both literary and commercial, that are original and unpredictable, as well as nonfiction projects focused on current affairs, politics and history. A graduate of Middlebury College, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife and children.
Dr. DaNika Robinson | MODERATOR
Dr. DaNika Neblett Robinson is the author of The Metamorphic Journey, a novella that explores three teenage mothers’ quest to succeed. This fictional work is based on her experiences of becoming a teen mom, first-generation college student, and ultimately the recipient of multiple academic degrees, including master’s and doctoral degrees. The Metamorphic Journey is also the name of a movement that DaNika founded to foster individuals’ personal growth. Additionally, she is the founder of Wailing Women Ministries, a nonprofit organization that provides book scholarships to female high school seniors. DaNika is a higher education administrator and expert in transformational leadership who speaks widely about the benefits of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, justice, and leadership in the workplace. She also coauthored an anthology, On Womanhood: Connecting and Thriving in Every Season, featuring personal essays penned by women ages 21 to 72.
Melissa Scott Sinclair | MODERATOR
Melissa Scott Sinclair is a fiction writer and award-winning journalist. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, Streetlight, Parhelion, and Richmond magazine, and will appear in the forthcoming Wild Life book published by Atlas Obscura. She also has contributed to the Life In 10 Minutes and Richmond Macabre anthologies.
Patty Smith | MODERATOR
Patricia (Patty) Smith is the author of The Year of Needy Girls, a 2018 Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her nonfiction has been published in several anthologies and literary magazines and has received a Notable Mention from Pushcart. She teaches at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School in Petersburg, VA where she is also Chair of the English Department.
Kris Spisak | MASTER CLASS INSTRUCTOR
Kris Spisak wrote her first three books—Get a Grip on Your Grammar: 250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused (Career Press), The Novel Editing Workbook (Davro Press), and The Family Story Workbook (Davro Press)—to help writers of all kinds sharpen their storytelling and empower their communications. Her debut novel, The Baba Yaga Mask (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing), was inspired by her family’s experience in the post-WWII Ukrainian diaspora. Kris is an active speaker, workshop leader, and fiction editor, who is also on the James River Writers advisory board.
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Lori Steel | AGENT
Lori Steel began her career in young people’s literature, first as an educator and school librarian, and later as a freelance editor and writing instructor. She has an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and approaches her work from these diverse industry experiences and perspectives. She’s a long-time member of AALA, SCBWI and ALA, and continues to seek diverse perspectives, literary approaches, and unique story experiences to add to her list.
Sheree Renée Thomas
Sheree Renée Thomas is a New York Times bestselling, two-time World Fantasy Award-winning author and editor. A 2022 Hugo Award Finalist, her collection, Nine Bar Blues, is a Locus, Igynte, and World Fantasy Finalist. She wrote Marvel’s Black Panther: Panther’s Rage novel (Oct ’22), collaborated with Janelle Monáe on The Memory Librarian and is the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. She lives in her hometown, Memphis, Tennessee, near a river and a pyramid.
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Julie Valerie | MODERATOR
Julie Valerie, the bestselling author of Holly Banks Full of Angst and The Peculiar Fate of Holly Banks, Books 1 & 2 in the Village of Primm series by Lake Union Publishing, co-founded the Bookish Road Trip and is a past board member for James River Writers. She has a master’s degree in education and a certificate in editing from the publishers of the Chicago Manual of Style. She is a Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 3 Award in Wines candidate.
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Abby L. Vandiver
Abby L. Vandiver, also writing as Abby Collette and Cade Bentley, is a hybrid author who has penned more than thirty books and short stories. She has hit both the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller list. Abby spends her time writing, facilitating writing workshops at local libraries, and hanging out with her grandchildren, each of whom are her favorite.
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Susan Velazquez Colmant | AGENT
Susan Velazquez Colmant is a literary agent and the subsidiary rights director at JABberwocky Literary Agency. She manages the agency\’s translation and audio rights in addition to her own growing client list. In general, she gravitates toward any story that details a complicated family dynamic, illustrates a transformative coming-of-age experience, and features unique voices like multicultural and LGBTQIA+ characters. She represents adult and YA fiction and the occasional nonfiction.
Fran Wilde | MASTER CLASS INSTRUCTOR
Two-time Nebula Award-winner Fran Wilde has (so far) published seven novels, a poetry collection, and over 50 short stories for adults, teens, and kids. Her stories have been finalists for six Nebula Awards, a World Fantasy Award, four Hugo Awards, three Locus Awards, and a Lodestar. They include her Nebula- and Compton Crook-winning debut novel Updraft, and her Nebula-winning, Best of NPR 2019, debut Middle Grade novel Riverland. Her short stories appear in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Shimmer, Nature, Uncanny Magazine, and multiple years\’ best anthologies. Fran serves as MFA faculty at Western Colorado University (Genre Fiction) and at Vermont College of Fine Arts (Kids and Young Adults) and also writes nonfiction for publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Tor.com. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and at franwilde.net.
Allison K. Williams | MASTER CLASS INSTRUCTOR
Allison K Williams is the author of Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro From Blank Page to Book and leads the \”Rebirth Your Book\” writing retreat series. She has edited and coached writers to publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Knopf, Mantle, Spencer Hill, and St. Martin’s Press as well as hybrid and independent presses. She’s guided essayists and humorists to publication in media including The New Yorker, Time, The Guardian, The New York Times, McSweeney’s, Refinery29, Hippocampus, The Belladonna, and TED Talks. As Social Media Editor for Brevity, she inspires thousands of writers with weekly blogs on craft and the writing life.
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Kyle Lucia Wu
Kyle Lucia Wu is the author of Win Me Something (Tin House Books 2021), an NPR Best Book of the Year, and the co-author of the forthcoming A is for Asian American: A Children\’s Guide to Asian American History (Haymarket Books 2023). A former Asian American Writers’ Workshop Margins Fellow, Kyle is the Managing Director at Kundiman and teaches creative writing at Fordham University and Catapult.
Michael Zapata
Michael Zapata is the author of the novel The Lost Book of Adana Moreau, winner of the 2020 Chicago Review of Books Award for Fiction, finalist for the 2020 Heartland Booksellers Award in Fiction, and a Best Book of the Year for NPR, the A.V. Club, Los Angeles Public Library, and BookPage, among others. He is on the core faculty of StoryStudio Chicago and the MFA faculty of Northwestern University. He currently lives in Chicago with his family.