Conversation-Leading Fiction Authors
PATRICIA ENGEL
New York Times BestSelling and INTERNATIONALLY AWARD-WINNING NOVELIST
Born to Colombian parents and raised in New Jersey, Patricia has been awarded the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, her books have been translated into many languages and selected as an NEA Big Read.
Sequoia Nagamatsu
Experimental Writing Visionary | National Bestselling Author | Art of Hope Storyteller
Sequoia is the author of the National Bestselling novel, HOW HIGH WE GO IN THE DARK. The novel was also a New York Times Book Review Editor's’ Choice, a Roxane Gay Audacious Book Club pick, and was a finalist for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize.
susan abulhawa
Palestinian writer + human rights activist + poet + Essayist
Her debut novel, Mornings in Jenin, translated into 30 languages, has sold over a million copies worldwide and is considered a classic in Palestinian literature. Her most recent novel, Against the Loveless World, won the 2020 Palestine Book Award.
john jennings
#1 New York Times bestselling author |Award-winning graphic novelist | Harvard Fellow
A remarkable visionary and Black culture champion, John examines the visual culture of race in various media forms including film, illustrated fiction, and comics and graphic novels. He is also the director of Abrams ComicArts imprint Megascope, which publishes graphic novels focused on the experiences of people of color.
matthew salesses
Leading Voice on Writing | Bestselling Novelist | Workshop Visionary | Asian American Cultural Critic
A leading voice on storytelling, Korean adoptee Matthew Salesses upends Western notions of creativity by challenging how the cultural values of those who created our processes inform the experience. He is also the author of the national bestseller Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping, "A significant contribution to discussions of the art of fiction." —The New York Times Book Review
Danielle Evans
Award-Winning Author + Professor of Creative Writing + Cultural Critic
Danielle is the author of the story collections The Office of Historical Corrections and Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self. Her first collection won the PEN American Robert W. Bingham Prize, the Hurston-Wright award for fiction, and the Paterson Prize for fiction; her second won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and was a finalist for The Aspen Prize, The Story Prize, and The Los Angeles Times Book prize for fiction.
Kai Harris
Storyteller Centering Black Women and Girls | Mental Health Advocate
Kai Harris is a writer and educator from Detroit, Michigan, who uses her voice to uplift the Black community through realistic fiction centered on the experiences of Black girls and Black women.
“I believe the role of a writer is to be honest. To write the truth that the world needs to hear. We can’t fix everything with our words, nor should we be expected to. Yet, there is a power in our words that we shouldn’t shy away from.”
Gloria Muñoz
Multilingual Literacy Advocate | Award-winning Poet and Author |St. Pete's first Latina poet laureate
As a Colombian-American, I speak and write because I can; I have a voice in a world where many people do not. Through my stories, I aim to illuminate the spaces between circumstance, culture, and gender for you and your community.
ladee hubbard
AWARD-WINNING Novelist + Scholar
Ladee’s novel The Talented Ribkins received a 2017 Hurston-Wright Legacy Award and the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Her second novel, The Rib King, was named one of Time magazine's 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 and was a finalist for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. In 2022 she published The Last Suspicious Holdout, a collection of short stories which was long listed for the Aspen Words Literary Prize.
helon habila
AWARD-WINNING MEMOIRIST AND FILMMAKER | JOURNALIST | ADVOCATE for Black Women’s Stories
An acclaimed Nigerian novelist, poet, and a professor of Creative Writing at George Mason University, Helon Habila speaks nationally and internationally on the subjects of immigration, art and activism.
kristen arnett
Kristen is a darkly funny and unabashedly queer NYT bestselling author.
Meet the author of Mostly Dead Things, With Teeth, and Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One and hear about the incredible journey she took from a Southern Baptist raised teen mom to public librarian to famous Floridian author. She also speaks on writing well without an MFA, and how to guide your own craft.