Creative Process and Writing Life
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.
ANNABELLE TOMETICH
Award-Winning Author | food writer | restaurant critic | journalist
“I just wanted to say thank you again SO much for being a part of our book club discussion today. Your writing truly resonated with so many of us, and it was such a joy to hear even more from you... I meant it when I said – you could see the look of pride on the faces of those of us in person at hearing you share how the book's success is providing so many great opportunities for you!
—Arthrex Women's Network Book Club
hafizah augustus geter
Winner of the PEN Open Book Award and the Lambda Literary Award | A New Yorker Best Book of the Year
Hafizah is an award-winning author, poet, and literary advocate whose work focuses on identity and intersectionality. She is also literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit, where she represents a diverse range of literary fiction and narrative nonfiction writers.
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. He teaches creative writing at Saint Olaf College and the Rainier Writing Workshop Low-Residency MFA program.
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
wilbert l. cooper
Award-winning Author | Narrative Journalist | Documentary filmmaker
Wilbert is an award-winning narrative journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker. His debut memoir, The Black Shield: An American Memoir of Family and Power, won an NABJ Outstanding Book Award before it was published to much acclaim. In his talks he gives techniques and tools for excavating memories and turning them into storytelling.
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.
“It was lovely! Gloria was great and very personable and knowledgeable. We were thrilled to be able to host her!”
—Brown Summer High School Program
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.
Bridgett m. Davis
AWARD-WINNING MEMOIRIST AND FILMMAKER | JOURNALIST | ADVOCATE for Black Women’s Stories
“On what would’ve been my sister’s 65th birthday, I wrote a letter to her, and in it I explored some of the milestones in her life. That’s when I realized she’d lived through so many cultural touchstones; her life’s events were resonant beyond their individual impact on her, but also more broadly as markers of Black life from the mid-to-late 20th century. That’s when I committed to writing this memoir, with two goals in mind: To honor my sister, and to highlight what America’s structural racism looks like through the lens of a personal, lived experience.”
Joel Christian Gill
Award-winning Cartoonist, Author, and Educator | Bestselling Illustrator
Joel a cartoonist and historian who speaks nationally on the importance of sharing stories. Joel has dedicated his life to creating stories to build connections with readers through empathy, compassion and, ultimately, humanity.
susan abulhawa
Palestinian writer + human rights activist + poet + Essayist
Susan Abulhawa’s debut novel Mornings in Jenin, translated into 30 languages, is an international bestseller and is now considered a classic in Palestinian literature. Its reach and sales have made Susan the most widely read Palestinian author in the world. Her second novel, The Blue Between Sky and Water, was also an international bestseller, and her latest novel Against the Loveless World was an Arab American Book Award Winner and a Palestine Book Awards Winner.
jezz chung
Inclusive Wellness Advisor | Multidisciplinary Artist | Disability Advocate
Jezz gives talks on the power of disability & neurodivergence and how being neurodivergent affects their daily life and creative practices, along with tips to create more accessible, inclusive environments.
Tony keith jr.
Award-winning Poet | Spoken Word Artist | Educational Leader and yA Author
Tony is an award-winning Black American gay poet, spoken word artist, and Hip-Hop educational leader from Washington DC. Or, you can just call him an “Ed Emcee”.