Festival Authors | Columbus Book Festival

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E.M. Anderson

The Keeper of Lonely Spirits

E.M. Anderson (she/they) is a queer, neurodivergent writer and the author of The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher and The Keeper of Lonely Spirits. Her work has appeared in SJ Whitby’s Awakenings: A Cute Mutants Anthology, Wyldblood Press’s From the Depths: A Fantasy Anthology, and Dark Horses: The Magazine of Weird Fiction. They have two master’s degrees and a feral passion for trees, birds, pole fitness, and Uncle Iroh.

elizmanderson.com

Gina María Balibrera

The Volcano Daughters

Gina María Balibrera earned an MFA in Prose from the University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. She’s been awarded grants from Aspen Words, Tin House, the Rackham Foundation, and the Periplus Collective, as well as a Tyson Award, the Aura Estrada Prize, and the Under the Volcano Sandra Cisneros Fellowship. The Volcano Daughters is her debut novel.

ginabalibrera.com

Wes Blake

Pineville Trace

Wes Blake has been called a “writer to watch” by Pulitzer Prize finalist Lee Martin. His fiction and essays have been featured in Louisiana Literature Journal, Electric Literature, Blood & Bourbon, and Book of Matches, among others. He holds an MFA from the Bluegrass Writers Studio and lives in Nonesuch, Kentucky with his wife and cats.

wesblake.com

Katherine Bryant

Give My Love to Berlin

Katherine Bryant is a queer author and the mother of a transgender child. Her interest in LGBTQ history, and in particular, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld and The Institute of Sexual Science in Berlin, led her to write her debut novel, Give My Love to Berlin.

katherinebryantfiction.com

V.M. Burns

The Next Deadly Chapter

Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Award finalist. She is an adjunct professor in Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction MFA program and a mentor in the PocketMFA program. Originally from Indiana, Valerie now lives in northern Georgia.

vmburns.com

Colleen Cambridge

A Fashionably French Murder

Colleen Cambridge is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the American in Paris Mysteries and the Phyllida Bright Mysteries, the first of which, Murder at Mallowan Hall, was an Agatha Award finalist and an Indie Next Pick. The first American in Paris Mystery, Mastering the Art of French Murder, was both an Indie Next Pick and a LibraryReads selection. An accomplished historian whose meticulously researched novels appeal to fans of historical fiction and mysteries alike, she also writes under the pennames C.M. Gleason and Colleen Gleason. She lives in the Midwest.

colleengleason.com/colleen-cambridge

Savannah Carlisle

The Summer of Starting Over

Savannah Carlisle writes heartwarming romance novels with idyllic beach settings. Her stories transport readers to fun and quirky small towns where friends feel like family. In her other life, she writes about sports business as Kristi Dosh. She lives on Amelia Island with her husband, German Shepherd and three cats.

savannahcarlisle.com

Emily Carpenter

Gothictown

Emily Carpenter is a bestselling author of suspense novels including Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, The Weight of Lies and Gothictown. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she graduated from Auburn University and worked in New York City as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for the CBS shows As the World Turns and Guiding Light. She now lives with her family outside Atlanta, Georgia.

emilycarpenterauthor.com

Nat Cassidy

When the Wolf Comes Home

Nat Cassidy is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of the acclaimed novels Mary (named one of the Best Horror Novels of All Time by Audible), Nestlings, and Rest Stop. Esquire described him as one “of the best horror writers of this generation” and among those “shaping horror’s next golden age.” His award-winning plays have been produced across the country, including Off-Broadway and the Kennedy Center. Nat has guest-starred on shows like Law & Order, Blue Bloods, Bull, Quantico, FBI, and many others. His newest novel, When the Wolf Comes Home, was called “a classic” by Stephen King.

natcassidy.com

Tracy Clark

Echo

Tracy Clark is the acclaimed author of the Cass Raines Chicago Mystery series and the Detective Harriet Foster series. Clark received Anthony Award and Lefty Award nominations for her series debut Broken Places, which was shortlisted for the American Library Association’s RUSA Reading List and named a CrimeReads Best New PI Book of 2018, a Midwest Connections Pick, and a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. A Chicago native, Clark is a member of Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime and sits on the boards of Bouchercon National and the Midwest Mystery Conference.

tracyclarkbooks.com

Amanda Cox

Between the Sound and Sea

Amanda Cox is the Christy Award–winning author of The Edge of Belonging, The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery, and He Should Have Told the Bees. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Bible and theology and a master’s degree in professional counseling, but her first love is communicating through story. Her studies and her interactions with hurting families over a decade have allowed her to create multidimensional characters that connect emotionally with readers. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with her husband and their three children.

amandacoxwrites.com

Matt Dinniman

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Matt Dinniman is a writer and artist from Gig Harbor, Washington. He is the author of the best-selling Dungeon Crawler Carl series along with several other books about the end of the world. He doesn’t really hate Cocker Spaniels, and he plays bass in two bands.

mattdinniman.com

Schedule Update

10 a.m.

Library opens. Line for Matt Dinniman signing begins on the 3rd floor. Festival staff will direct the line.

10:30-11:30 a.m.

Panel: Choose Your Own Adventure
Author Stage 2 (outdoor)
First-come, first served beginning no earlier than 9 a.m.

11:45 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Matt Dinniman signing on the 3rd floor. One book per person.

3 p.m.

Matt Dinniman will not participate in the Author Speed Matching session.

Matt Dinniman’s Sunday book signing will be open to all: first come, first served. The line for Matt’s signing will form on the third floor when the library opens at 10 a.m. Matt will begin signing after finishing the 10:30-11:30 a.m. outdoor panel session and will sign until 3:30 p.m. One book per person.

Attendees of the Choose Your Own Adventure panel with Matt, Rebecca Thorne and Nicole Collier may join the signing line after the panel ends. Panel attendees will not have priority for this signing, (e.g., signing tokens for entry, etc.)

Instead of joining the Author Speed Matching session at 3 p.m., Matt will continue signing for fans.

Joseph Finder

The Oligarch’s Daughter

Joseph Finder is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen suspense novels, including House on Fire, The Fixer, and Suspicion. Two of his novels have been adapted into major motion pictures—Paranoia (starring Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman) and High Crimes (starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman). Four more have won the industry’s top best novel awards—Killer Instinct (the International Thriller Writers Award), Buried Secrets (the Strand Critics Award), Guilty Minds (the Barry Award), and Company Man (the Barry Award). Finder lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

josephfinder.com

Lauren Marie Fleming

Because Fat Girl

Lauren Marie Fleming (xe/her) is an author, story coach, and founder of SchoolForWriters.com, where she helps diverse storytellers thrive. During her 20 year writing career, Lauren has been featured in prominent media outlets including Good Morning America, Glamour, xoJane, Autostraddle, and Cosmo, and has had columns for Curve Magazine, Vice Magazine, and the Huffington Post. Because Fat Girl is her debut novel.

laurenmariefleming.com

Lauren Francis-Sharma

Casualties of Truth

Lauren Francis-Sharma is the author of Casualties of Truth, Book of the Little Axe, a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the critically acclaimed novel ’Til the Well Runs Dry. She was a MacDowell fellow and is the Assistant Director of Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College. She lives near Washington, D.C. with her family.

laurenfrancissharma.com

Dianne Freeman

A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder

Dianne Freeman is the USA Today bestselling author of the Agatha and Lefty award-winning Countess of Harleigh Mystery series. She is also a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark and the Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award. After thirty years of corporate accounting, she now writes full-time. Born and raised in Michigan, she and her husband split their time between Michigan and Arizona.

difreeman.com

Ann H. Gabhart

The Pursuit of Elena Bradford

Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling author of many novels, including The Song of Sourwood Mountain, In the Shadow of the River, When the Meadow Blooms, Along a Storied Trail, An Appalachian Summer, River to Redemption, These Healing Hills, and Angel Sister. She and her husband live on a farm a mile from where she was born in rural Kentucky. Ann enjoys discovering the everyday wonders of nature while hiking in her farm’s fields and woods with her grandchildren and her dogs, Frankie and Marley.

annhgabhart.com

Jonny Garza Villa

Futbolista

Jonny Garza Villa is a product of the Great State of Texas, a Sagittarius sun and Capricorn everything else, and an award-winning author of contemporary stories that reflect their own Tejane, Chicane, and queer identities. Their work includes Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun, Ander & Santi Were Here, Canto Contigo, and Futbolista, their debut new adult romance. They live in San Antonio.

jonnygarzavilla.com

Varun Gauri

For the Blessings of Jupiter and Venus

Varun was born in India and raised in the American Midwest. After studying philosophy in college and public policy in graduate school, he worked for more than two decades on global poverty and human rights, publishing academic articles and books on development economics and behavioral economics. He now teaches at Princeton University and lives with his family in Bethesda, Maryland. His short fiction was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and recognized in Best American Nonrequired Reading. He was a Summer Writer-in-Residence at Washington, DC’s The Inner Loop. His debut novel, For the Blessings of Jupiter and Venus, was selected for NPR’s Books We Love 2024, chosen as a Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Winner in Adult Fiction, and won the 2024 Carol Trawick Fiction Prize.

varungauri.com

Miriam Gershow

Closer

Miriam Gershow is the author of Closer, Survival Tips: Stories and The Local News, a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. Her writing is featured in The Georgia Review, Gulf Coast, and Black Warrior Review, among other journals. She is the recipient of an Oregon Literary Fellowship and a Fiction Fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing.

miriamgershow.com

Megan Giddings

Meet Me at the Crossroads

Megan Giddings is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. Her novel, Lakewood, was one of New York Magazine’s 10 best books of 2020, one of NPR’s best books of 2020, a Michigan Notable book for 2021, a nominee for two NAACP Image Awards, and a finalist for a 2020 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction category. Her second novel, The Women Could Fly, was named one of the Washington Post’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy novels of 2022, one of Vulture’s Best Fantasy books of 2022, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Her work has received support from the Barbara Deming Foundation and Hedgebrook. She lives in Minneapolis.

megangiddings.com

Alex Grecian

Rose of Jericho

Alex Grecian is the national bestselling author of Red Rabbit, The Yard, The Black Country, The Devil’s Workshop, The Harvest Man, Lost and Gone Forever, and The Saint of Wolves and Butchers, as well as the critically acclaimed graphic novels Proof and Rasputin, and the novellas The Blue Girl and One Eye Open. He lives in the Midwest with his wife, his son, their dog, and a tarantula named Rosie.

alexgrecian.com

Amy Lynn Green

The Codebreaker’s Daughter

Amy Lynn Green has always loved history and reading, and she enjoys speaking with book clubs, writing groups, and libraries all around the country. Her debut novel, Things We Didn’t Say, was nominated for a 2021 Minnesota Book Award and won two Carol Awards. Things We Didn’t Say and The Blackout Book Club received starred reviews from both Booklist and Library Journal. Amy and her family make their home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

amygreenbooks.com

Michelle Griep

Of Silver and Secrets

Michelle Griep has been writing since she first discovered blank wall space and Crayola. She is a Christy Award–winning author of historical romances that both intrigue and evoke a smile. She’s an anglophile at heart, and you’ll most often find her partaking of a proper cream tea while scheming up her next novel . . . but it’s probably easier to find her online.

michellegriep.com

Darci Hannah

A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor

Darci Hannah grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, is a graduate of Indiana University, and currently lives in a small town in Michigan with her husband, three sons, and two dogs. She has lived around the Great Lakes all her life and considers them a source of inspiration. When she’s not engaged in a rollicking family adventure, walking her dogs, or working at the historic Howell Carnegie District Library, she’s either baking up a storm or hard at work on her next Beacon Bakeshop Mystery.

darcihannah.com

Bob Johnson

The Continental Divide

Bob Johnson is an award-winning short story writer and graduate of the lowa Writers’ Workshop. His work has been published by The Common, Philadelphia Stories, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Barcelona Review, and elsewhere. His story “The Continental Divide” was named Short Story of the Year in The Hudson Review. He lives in South Bend, Indiana.

bobjohnsonwriter.com

Adib Khorram

I’ll Have What He’s Having

Adib Khorram is a USA Today bestseller and award-winning author of Darius the Great is Not Okay, which was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best YA Novels of All Time. When he isn’t writing, you can find him exploring Kansas City or playing his Fender Stratocaster. I’ll Have What He’s Having is his adult debut novel.

adibkhorram.com

Carolyn Korsmeyer

Riddle of Spirit and Bone

Carolyn Korsmeyer turned her hand to fiction after a career as a university professor teaching and publishing in philosophy. Her previous two novels include a historical narrative and a mystery set at the turn of the last millennium. Riddle of Spirit and Bone features the spiritualist movement, a topic that prompts reflection on belief and knowledge, illusion, delusion, certainty, and doubt.

carolynkorsmeyer.com

Jennifer K. Lambert

Never the Roses

Jennifer K. Lambert lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband of over thirty years, his chocolate-lab assistance dog, two Maine coon cats who assist no one, and plentiful free-range lizards. She also writes as the multi-award-winning and bestselling author of 64 published titles, Jeffe Kennedy, primarily in epic fantasy romance.

jeffekennedy.com

Nora Lange

Us Fools

Nora Lange’s debut novel Us Fools was awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction by the Academy of Arts & Letters, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction, was named a best book of 2024 by The Boston Globe and NPR, a Los Angeles Times bestseller, and a New York Times Editors’ Choice. Nora’s short writing has appeared in The Believer (forthcoming), BOMB, Hazlitt, Joyland, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere. She is a fellow at USC’s Los Angeles Institute of the Humanities. She comes from a long line of Midwestern farmers and recently moved to Salt Lake City with her family.

noralange.com

Ashton Lattimore

All We Were Promised

Ashton Lattimore is an award-winning author, journalist, and former lawyer. Her debut novel, All We Were Promised, was a Book of the Month Club pick and one of People Magazine’s Best New Books for April 2024. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Slate, CNN, and Essence. She grew up in New Jersey, and now lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband and their two sons.

ashtonlattimore.com

Jared Lemus

Guatemalan Rhapsody

Jared Lemus is the author of the 2025 story collection, Guatemalan Rhapsody, and a forthcoming 2027 novel. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, Story, The Pinch, The Kenyon Review Online, PANK, Cleaver, and Joyland, among others. He holds an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh and is the 2024-2025 Kenan Visiting Writer at UNC-Chapel Hill.

jaredlemus.com

P. H. Low

These Deathless Shores

P.H. Low is a Rhysling- and Locus-nominated Malaysian American writer and poet whose debut novel These Deathless Shores is now out from Orbit Books (US) and Angry Robot (UK). Their shorter work is published in Strange Horizons, Reactor, Fantasy Magazine, and Diabolical Plots, among others. P. H. has a bad habit of moving cities every few years, but can always be found online.

ph-low.com

Arkady Martine

Rose/House

Arkady Martine is the Hugo Award-winning author of A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace. She is a speculative fiction writer and, as Dr. AnnaLinden Weller, a historian of the Byzantine Empire and a city planner. She currently works on clean energy policy and utility regulation in New Mexico. Under both names, she writes about border politics, rhetoric, propaganda, and the edges of the world. Arkady grew up in New York City and, after some time in Turkey, Canada, Sweden, and Baltimore, lives in Santa Fe with her wife, the author Vivian Shaw.

arkadymartine.net

Clémence Michallon

Our Last Resort

Clémence Michallon is the author of Our Last Resort and The Quiet Tenant, a USA Today and international bestseller and nominee for the Dashiell Hammett Prize. She’s also a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Time Magazine, The Independent, and more. Clémence was born and raised near Paris, has lived in New York since 2014, and became a US citizen in 2022.

clemencemichallon.com

Vanessa Miller

The Filling Station

Vanessa Miller is a best-selling, award-winning author and playwright. Her writing has been centered on themes of redemption and books about strong Black women in pivotal moments of history. Miller’s book, The American Queen won the prestigious Christy Award and was the 2024 American Fiction Award winner for Historical Fiction. The American Queen was also the Woman Evolve Book Club Pick for October 2024 and is a North Carolina Reads pick for 2025. Her latest novel, The Filling Station, has received starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist.

vanessamiller.com

Megan Murphy

Fake It Like You Mean It

Megan Murphy grew up in small-town Kentucky, aside from a short stint in northern Indiana, which became the basis for her debut novel. When she’s not writing (or reading) swoony, laugh-out-loud contemporary romances, Megan works as a business analyst. She’s most at home, well, at home, with her husband and rescue dog Captain, or enjoying a concert or local festival.

meganmurphywrites.com

Katie Naymon

You Between the Lines

Katie Naymon lives and writes in Stockholm, Sweden. Originally from Northeast Ohio, she got her BA in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University and her MFA in poetry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. You Between the Lines is her debut novel.

katienaymonbooks.com

Shirlene Obuobi

Between Friends & Lovers

Shirlene Obuobi is a Ghanaian-American physician, cartoonist, and author. She currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where she practices as a general cardiologist. Her novels, On Rotation and Between Friends & Lovers, have been featured on multiple national outlets such as Teen Vogue, The Washington Post, and Good Morning America. She is a former regular contributor at The Washington Post, and has garnered a wide audience for her comics, which discuss healthcare access, identity and equity.

shirleneobuobi.com

Ehigbor Okosun

Exiled by Iron

Ehigbor Okosun, or just Ehi, is the #1 International Bestselling author of The Tainted Blood duology, an action-packed adult epic fantasy. Raised across four continents, she now resides in the US, where she writes speculative fiction, mystery thrillers, and contemporary novels for adult and YA audiences. She writes in hopes of doing justice to the myths and traditions she grew up steeped in, and to honour her large, multiracial and multiethnic family. She is a graduate of UT Austin with degrees in Plan II Honors, Neurolinguistics, and English, as well as Chemistry and Pre-Medical studies. When she’s not reading, you can catch her bullet journalling, gaming, baking, singing, doing yoga and spending time with her loved ones.

ehiokosun.com

Cynthia Pelayo

Vanishing Daughters

Cynthia Pelayo is the Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Forgotten Sisters, Children of Chicago, and The Shoemaker’s Magician. In addition to writing genre-blending novels that incorporate fairy-tale, mystery, detective, crime, and horror elements, Pelayo has written numerous short stories, including the collection Lotería, and the poetry collection Crime Scene. The recipient of the 2021 International Latino Book Award, she holds a master of fine arts in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives in Chicago with her family.

cinapelayo.com

Joanna Davidson Politano

The Curious Inheritance of Blakely House

Joanna Davidson Politano is the award-winning author of Lady Jayne Disappears, A Rumored Fortune, Finding Lady Enderly, The Love Note, A Midnight Dance, The Lost Melody, and The Elusive Truth of Lily Temple. She loves tales that capture the colorful, exquisite details in ordinary lives and is eager to hear anyone’s story. She lives with her husband and their children in a house in the woods near Lake Michigan.

jdpstories.com

Cynthia Reeves

The Last Whaler

Cynthia Reeves is the author of three books of fiction: the novel The Last Whaler, the novel-in-stories Falling Through the New World (winner of Gold Wake Press’s Fiction Award), and the novella Badlands (winner of Miami University Press’s Novella Prize). Her award-winning short stories, essays, and poetry have appeared widely and earned numerous Pushcart nominations. Most recently, her short story “The Last Glacier” was featured in If the Storm Clears, an anthology of speculative fiction that concerns the sublime in the natural world. A Hawthornden Fellow, Cynthia earned an MFA from Warren Wilson College and taught creative writing at Bryn Mawr and Rosemont Colleges.

cynthiareeveswriter.com

Ruben Reyes Jr.

Archive of Unknown Universes

Ruben Reyes Jr. is the son of two Salvadoran immigrants and the author of There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Harvard College, his writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Lightspeed Magazine, and other publications. Originally from Southern California, he now lives in Brooklyn.

rubenreyesjr.com

Helena Rho

Stone Angels

Helena Rho is a four-time Pushcart Prize nominated writer and the author of American Seoul. A former assistant professor of pediatrics, she has practiced and taught at top ten children’s hospitals: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She earned her MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Pittsburgh.

helenarho.com

Kaira Rouda

Jill Is Not Happy

Kaira Rouda is the USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author of contemporary fiction exploring what goes on beneath the surface of seemingly perfect lives. Her suspense novels include Best Day Ever, The Next Wife, The Widow, The Favorite Daughter, The Second Mrs. Strom, and What the Nanny Saw. Her novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and have been selected by Library Reads, Amazon and Apple Books Editors as Best Books of the Month and Strand Magazine’s Best Book of the Year.

kairarouda.com

Lindy Ryan

Another Fine Mess

Lindy Ryan is an award-winning author, anthologist, and short-film director whose books and anthologies have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist and Library Journal. Several of her projects have been adapted for screen. Ryan is the current author-in-residence at Rue Morgue. Declared a “champion for women’s voices in horror” by Shelf Awareness, Ryan was named a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree in 2020, and in 2022, was named one of horror’s most masterful anthology curators. Born and raised in Southeast Texas, Ryan currently resides on the East Coast. She is a professor at Rutgers University.

lindyryanwrites.com

Vivian Shaw

Strange New World

Vivian Shaw wears too many earrings and likes edged weapons and expensive ink, and, as an expat Brit born in Kenya, is not actually from anywhere. She has a BA in art history, an MFA in creative writing and publishing arts, and makes jewelry on the side. She is the author of the Dr. Greta Helsing contemporary fantasy series as well as the sci-fi/horror novella The Helios Syndrome. She reviews for The Washington Post and her short sci-fi/horror fiction has appeared in Uncanny, Pseudopod, and The Deadlands. She lives in Santa Fe with her wife, the Hugo-Award-winning author Arkady Martine.

vivianshaw.net

Amy Spalding

On Her Terms

Amy Spalding is the author of several novels, including the bestselling For Her Consideration, We Used to Be Friends and The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles), which was named a best book of 2018 by NPR, the Boston Globe, Kirkus Reviews, and more. She is a recipient of the 2023 Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award for the authentic, funny, and diverse representation of the LGBTQ+ community in her books.

getyourbookon.com

Andrea Stewart

The Gods Below

Andrea Stewart is the Sunday Times Bestselling author of The Drowning Empire trilogy and The Gods Below. Her debut epic fantasy novel, The Bone Shard Daughter, was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Award for Fantasy and Debut Novel, the Locus Award for Best First Novel, the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and the BookNest Award for Best Traditionally Published Novel. She now lives in sunny California, and in addition to writing, can be found herding cats, looking at birds, and falling down research rabbit holes.

andreagstewart.com

Christine Hill Suntz

The Lawyer and the Laundress

Christine Hill Suntz knew she wanted to write the day she finished Anne of Green Gables and she’s been lost in her imagination ever since. Her debut novel, The Lawyer and the Laundress, combines her love of romance with a passion for local history and its impact on domestic life. She lives on a hobby farm in Ontario with her family and a herd of entitled goats. When she’s not writing, she teaches high school French and tries out historical recipes on her (mostly) willing family.

christinehillsuntz.com

Brad Taylor

Into the Gray Zone

Brad Taylor, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.), is a New York Times bestselling author of eighteen heart-pounding thrillers and ten eBook short stories. Taylor is a twenty-one-year veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry and Special Forces, including eight years with Delta Force. He retired in 2010 after serving more than two decades and participating in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. When he’s not writing, Taylor is a security consultant on asymmetric threats for various agencies. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and two daughters.

bradtaylorbooks.com

Rebecca Thorne

Tea You at the Altar

Rebecca Thorne is an author of all things fantasy, sci-fi, and romantic, such as the Tomes & Tea series. She thrives on deadlines, averages 2,700 words a day, and tries to write at least 3 books a year. After years in the traditional publishing space, Rebecca pivoted into self-publishing. Now she’s found a happy medium as a hybrid author and leans into her love of teaching by helping other authors find their perfect publication path.

rebeccathorne.net

Edward Underhill

The In-Between Bookstore

Edward Underhill grew up in the suburbs of Wisconsin, where he could not walk to anything, so he had to make up his own adventures. He studied music in college, spent several years living in very small apartments in New York, and currently resides in California with his partner and a talkative black cat. He is the author of the young adult novels Always the Almost, This Day Changes Everything, and In Case You Read This. The In-Between Bookstore is his first novel for adults.

edward-underhill.com

Lena Valencia

Mystery Lights

Lena Valencia’s fiction has appeared in Ninth Letter, Epiphany, Joyland, the anthology Tiny Nightmares, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a 2019 Elizabeth George Foundation grant and holds an MFA in fiction from The New School. Originally from Los Angeles, she lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she is the managing editor and director of educational programming at One Story and the co-host of the reading series Ditmas Lit.

lenavalencia.com

Neena Viel

Listen To Your Sister

Neena is a horror writer who lives in a cabin in the Washington woods with her husband and the best dog in the world. She grew up between Newburgh, New York and Jonesboro, Arkansas, and holds a Master’s in Public Service from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and a Bachelor’s in Communication Studies from Arkansas State University. Her passion for philanthropy (almost) rivals her love for ghost stories. Listen To Your Sister is her debut novel.

neenaviel.com

Nghi Vo

Don’t Sleep With the Dead

Nghi Vo is the author of the novels Siren Queen and The Chosen and the Beautiful, as well as the acclaimed novellas of the Singing Hills Cycle, which began with The Empress of Salt and Fortune. The series entries have been finalists for the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and the Lambda Literary Award, and have won the Crawford Award, the Ignyte Award, and the Hugo Award. Born in Illinois, she now lives on the shores of Lake Michigan. She believes in the ritual of lipstick, the power of stories, and the right to change your mind.

nghivo.com

Darcie Wilde

The Matter of the Secret Bride

Darcie Wilde is the award-winning author of stylishly adventurous historical mysteries and romances, including the Rosalind Thorne Mysteries, a Regency-set series inspired by the novels of Jane Austen, as well as the Regency Makeover Trilogy. She has also written, under the name Sarah Zettel, Locus and Philip K. Dick Award-winning novels, including Fool’s War, a New York Times Notable Books of the Year selection. She lives in Michigan.

darciewilderomance.com

Denise Williams

Just Our Luck

Denise Williams wrote her first book in the 2nd grade. I Hate You and its sequel, I Still Hate You, featured a tough, funny heroine, a quirky hero, witty banter, and a dragon. Minus the dragons, these are still the books she likes to write. After finishing second grade, she eventually earned a PhD. Just Our Luck is her tenth book. A military brat who grew up around the world and across the country, Denise now lives in Iowa with her husband, son, and an ornery shih-tzu who only enters the room walking backwards. Denise can usually be found reading, writing, or thinking about love stories.

denisewilliamswrites.com

Carter Wilson

Tell Me What You Did

Carter Wilson is the USA Today bestselling author of nine critically acclaimed, standalone psychological thrillers. He is an ITW Thriller Award finalist, a five-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, and his works have been optioned for television and film. Carter lives outside of Boulder, Colorado. Dynamic and compelling, he now hosts his own podcast, Making It Up, interviewing authors like S.A. Cosby, Daniel Handler, Stuart Turton, Xio Axelrod, and Julie Clark to talk shop and riff an original story live. The result is a charming, authentic peek into the writing process.

carterwilson.com

Julian Winters

I Think They Love You

Julian Winters is the author of the award-winning Young Adult novels Running With Lions, Right Where I Left You, How to Be Remy Cameron, The Summer of Everything, and As You Walk On By, as well as the upcoming Prince of the Palisades and his Adult romance debut, I Think They Love You. A self-proclaimed comic book geek, Julian currently lives outside of Atlanta where he can be found swooning over rom-coms or watching the only two sports he can follow—volleyball and soccer.

julianwinters.com

Khan Wong

Down in the Sea of Angels

Khan Wong is the author of The Circle Infinite, a finalist for the 2023 Lambda Literary Award and long-listed for the British Science Fiction Association’s Best Novel for that same year, and Down in the Sea of Angels. In the past he has played cello for an earnest folk-rock duo, worked as an arts funder, and was an internationally known hula hoop teacher and performer.

khanwong.com

Jaime Jo Wright

Tempest at Annabel’s Lighthouse

Jaime Jo Wright is the author of twelve novels, including Christy Award and Daphne du Maurier Award winner The House on Foster Hill and Carol Award winner The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond. She’s also a four-time Christy Award finalist, as well as the ECPA bestselling author of The Vanishing at Castle Moreau, The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater, and two Publishers Weekly bestselling novellas. Jaime lives in Wisconsin with her family and fabulous felines.

jaimewrightbooks.com

Jarod K. Anderson

Something in the Woods Loves You

Jarod K. Anderson has three best-selling collections of nature poetry, Field Guide to the Haunted Forest, Love Notes from the Hollow Tree, and Leaf Litter. His memoir Something in the Woods Loves You explores his lifelong struggle with depression through a lens of love and gratitude for the natural world. Jarod created and voices The CryptoNaturalist podcast, a scripted audio-fiction show about real adoration for imaginary wildlife. He lives in Ohio between a park and a cemetery.

jarodkanderson.com

Peg Bobel

Native Americans of the Cuyahoga Valley: From Early Peoples to Contemporary Issues

Peg Bobel is a freelance writer and former cultural resource specialist for Summit Metro Parks. Peg holds a Master of Science in Social Administration from Case Western Reserve University and for nearly twenty years was a social worker in public agencies. Later, while serving as executive director of the Cuyahoga Valley Association, she and her husband Rob edited the book Trail Guide: Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and the popular Towpath Companion. In 2009, Peg and her colleague Lynn Metzger edited and contributed to Canal Fever: The Ohio & Erie Canal from Waterway to Canalway.

blogs.uakron.edu/uapress/product/native-americans-of-the-cuyahoga-valley

Heather S. Cole

Ohio’s Presidents: A History and Guide

Heather S. Cole is a writer and public historian living in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She is the author of Ohio’s Presidents: A History & Guide, Virginia’s Presidents: A History & Guide, and more. She works as an editor for Bridgewater College and runs a small publishing company specializing in local and family history.

heatherscole.com

Steven Conn

Picturing Black History

Steven Conn is the W. E. Smith Professor of History at Miami University. In 2021 he helped create a spin-off website in collaboration with Getty images, which has since developed into the book Picturing Black History. He is the author of seven books and the editor of three others.

stevenconn.net

Darren C. Demaree

So Much More

Darren C. Demaree is the author of twenty-three poetry collections, most recently So Much More. He is the recipient of a Greater Columbus Arts Council Grant, an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, the Louise Bogan Award from Trio House Press, and the Nancy Dew Taylor Award from Emrys Journal. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Best of the Net Anthology and the Managing Editor of Ovenbird Poetry.

darrencdemaree.com

Deborah Fleming

Ghosts of an Old Forest: Essays on Midwestern Rural Heritage

Deborah Fleming’s nonfiction collection Resurrection of the Wild: Meditations on Ohio’s Natural Landscape won the 2020 PEN-America Art of the Essay Award. She has published five collections of poems, one novel, two nonfiction collections, and four volumes of scholarship. Winner of a Vandewater Poetry Award and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, she served for many years as director and editor of the Ashland Poetry Press.

kentstateuniversitypress.com/author/deborah-fleming

Matthew Gavin Frank

Submersed: Wonder, Obsession, and Murder in the World of Amateur Submarines

Matthew Gavin Frank is the author of the nonfiction books Flight of the Diamond Smugglers, The Mad Feast, Preparing the Ghost, Pot Farm, and Barolo, as well as the poetry books The Morrow Plots, Warranty in Zulu, and Sagittarius Agitprop. His work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, Guernica, The New Republic, Iowa Review, Salon, Conjunctions, The Believer, and the Best Travel Writing and Best Food Writing anthologies. He’s a professor of creative writing in the Masters of Fine Arts Program at Northern Michigan University, where he is also the Nonfiction/Hybrids Editor of the literary magazine, Passages North.

matthewgfrank.com

Sarah Gormley

The Order of Things

Sarah Gormley is a writer and art gallery owner living in Columbus, Ohio. Her undergraduate degree from DePauw University reinforced an early love for literature and writing, while the heavy sprinkling of liberal-arts fairy dust taught her how to analyze and articulate a clear point of view. She rounded out this foundation with concentrations in marketing and operations from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Her art gallery operates from the belief that original art can be a source of joy for everyone and actively eschews pretense of any kind.

sarahgormley.com

Rena Glover Goss

Murder on Perrin Run: A Historic Crime in Jefferson County, Ohio

Rena Glover Goss was born and raised in Adena, Ohio. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Muskingum College, a master’s degree from Indiana University and taught music for twenty-seven years in public schools and universities. She has contributed articles to genealogical publications and holds memberships in the Ohio Genealogical Society, Ohio History Connection, Adena Historical Society, Mount Pleasant Historical Society and Smithfield Historical Society. She is also active in the Jefferson County Chapter OGS and Harrison County Chapter OGS.

arcadiapublishing.com/products/9781467157117

Sandra Gurvis

Day Trips from Columbus: Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler

Sandra Gurvis is the author of many commercially published nonfiction books and two novels. A freelance writer for over 30 years, she has written corporate profiles, technical articles and curated and created web content. Her newest nonfiction title is the 4th edition of Day Trips from Columbus.

sandragurvis.com

William Haldeman

Meeting the Moment: Inspiring Presidential Leadership That Transformed America

William Haldeman is a presidential historian and author of the book Meeting the Moment: Inspiring Presidential Leadership That Transformed America. Haldeman has extensive high-level government experience, serving the White House Domestic Policy Council, the seventh floor of the U.S. Department of State, and as a member of a governor’s senior staff. He currently serves as Vice Chancellor and Chief Strategy Officer at the University of Pittsburgh. He earned a PhD in History from American University and Term Membership on the Council on Foreign Relations.

williamhaldeman.com

Rebe Huntman

My Mother in Havana: A Memoir of Magic & Miracle

Rebe Huntman is a memoirist, essayist, dancer, teacher, and poet who writes at the intersections of feminism, world religion and spirituality. For over a decade she directed Chicago’s award-winning Danza Viva Center for World Dance, Art & Music and its dance company, One World Dance Theater. Huntman collaborates with native artists in Cuba and South America, has been featured in Latina Magazine, Chicago Magazine, and the Chicago Tribune, and has appeared on Fox and ABC News. A Macondo fellow and recipient of an Ohio Individual Excellence award, Huntman has received support for this book from The Ohio State University, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Ragdale Foundation, PLAYA Residency, Hambidge Center, and Brush Creek Foundation. She lives in Delaware, Ohio and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

rebehuntman.com

Roger Jerome

Dickens in Ohio: The Neglected Story

Roger Jerome, born 1936 in St. Albans, U.K., is an experienced actor and educator now living in Columbus, Ohio. Jerome holds a B.A. from Birmingham University, an Honors Diploma from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, an M.A. from Sussex University, and was a founder-member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. His extensive acting career spans from the U.K. (1960-65) to the U.S. (1997-2023). Jerome also served as a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre director at University of the South Bank, and a director for the Association for Cultural Exchange. A member of the Dickens Fellowship and Aldus Society, Jerome has also edited two books by Daniel Jerome.

roger-jerome.com

Forest Issac Jones

Good Trouble: The Selma, Alabama and Derry, Northern Ireland Connection 1963-1972

Forest Issac Jones is an award-winning author of nonfiction and essays, specializing in the study of Irish History, the US Civil Rights Movement and Northern Ireland. His latest essay, ‘The Civil Rights Connection Between The USA and Northern Ireland’ was awarded honorable mention in the category of nonfiction essay by Writer’s Digest in their 93rd annual writing competition. Jones has won awards from Writer’s Digest in 2022 and 2023. His award-winning essay about African Americans at D-Day was published in 2024 by WWII History Magazine.

forestissacjones.com

Taylor Keen

Rediscovering Turtle Island: A First Peoples’ Account of the Sacred Geography of America

Taylor Keen is a member of both the Cherokee Nation and the Omaha Tribe, where he is known by the name “Bison Mane” within the Earthen Bison Clan. He attended Dartmouth College (BA) and Harvard University (MPA, MBA), and is a Senior Lecturer in the Heider College of Business Administration in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at Creighton University. He is also the Founder of Sacred Seed, a NFP to educate and celebrate Indigenous culture and history and lives in Omaha, NE.

rediscoveringturtleisland.com

Sara Kaushal

Murder in Victorian Dayton: The Tragic Story of Bessie Little

Sara Kaushal is a historian and the author of Murder & Mayhem in Dayton and the Miami Valley and Dayton Ghosts & Legends. She loves historic true crime, mysteries and ghost stories. She co-writes the blog Dayton Unknown and loves to point out haunted places in her hometown.

sarakaushal.com

Nicole Graev Lipson

Mothers and Other Fictional Characters: A Memoir in Essays

Nicole Graev Lipson’s writing has appeared in The Sun, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Gettysburg Review, The Millions, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Marie Claire, among other venues. Her work has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, nominated for a National Magazine Award, and selected for The Best American Essays. Originally from New York City, she lives outside of Boston with her family.

nicolegraevlipson.com

Scott Longert

Love and Loss: The Short Life of Ray Chapman

Scott Longert is a graduate of the Ohio State University and has his master’s degree in American history from Cleveland State University. Scott is the author of seven books on Cleveland baseball history and numerous articles. He has appeared on radio and television programs, and has been a guest speaker at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

scottlongert.com

Caitlin McGurk

Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund

Caitlin McGurk is the Curator of Comics and Cartoon Art at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and Associate Professor at The Ohio State University. McGurk’s scholarship and exhibitions center around the work of women in comics, alternative and underground comics, and early American comic strips.

linkedin.com/in/caitlin-mcgurk-22585612

Marty Ross-Dolen

Always There, Always Gone: A Daughter’s Search for Truth

Marty Ross-Dolen is a graduate of Wellesley College and Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is a retired child and adolescent psychiatrist. She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her essays have appeared in North Dakota Quarterly, Lilith, and Willow Review, among others. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.

martyrossdolen.com

Chyana Marie Sage

Soft as Bones

Chyana Marie Sage is a Cree, Métis, and Salish writer from Edmonton, Alberta. Her essay “Soar” won first place in the Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest, then won Silver in the National Magazine Awards. She graduated with an MFA in creative non-fiction from Columbia University, where she taught as an adjunct professor. Her journalism has appeared in HuffPost, The New Quarterly, and the Toronto Star. She teaches Indigenous youth how to foster self-love and healing for Connected North and models in her spare time.

chyanamariesage.com

Rikki Santer

Shepherd’s Hour

Rikki Santer was named the Ohio Poet of the Year in 2023. She has published six full-length collections and six chapbook sequences exploring such topics as the Hopewell earthworks of Newark, the late Kahiki Supper Club of Columbus, the art of ventriloquism, the complex world of fashion, and the TV series Twilight Zone. Her collection Resurrection Letter was grand prize short-listed for the Eric Hoffer Book Award and her newest collection, Shepherd’s Hour, won the Paul Nemser Book Prize from Lily Poetry Review Books.

rikkisanter.com

Jeffrey L. Smalldon

That Beast Was Not Me: One Forensic Psychologist, Five Decades of Conversations with Killers

Jeffrey L. Smalldon grew up the son of a Hoover-era G-man. From an early age, he exhibited an interest in outliers like snake handlers, sideshow performers, celebrities, nudists, illusionists, gypsies — and criminals. He began corresponding with Charles Manson when he was just twenty-one years of age as part of an undergraduate course in abnormal psychology. When two of his co-workers were murdered in the large hospital where he was an administrator a decade later, Smalldon began working toward a career in forensic psychology. During his career, he consulted on close to 300 death penalty cases and has sought out contact with such killers as Ted Bundy, Donald Harvey, and John Wayne Gacy.

jeffreysmalldon.com

Maggie Smith

Dear Writer

Maggie Smith is the award-winning New York Times bestselling author of eight books of poetry and prose, including You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Keep Moving, and My Thoughts Have Wings. A 2011 recipient of a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has also received a Pushcart Prize and numerous grants and awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the Ohio Arts Council, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has been widely published, appearing in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Best American Poetry, and more.

maggiesmithpoet.com

Robin Smith

This Place of Silence: Ohio’s Cemeteries and Burial Grounds

Robin Smith is employed in the research department of the Upper Arlington Public Library, where she assists with preparing online archival materials. She is the co-author (with Randall Lee Schieber) of Columbus, Ohio: A Photographic Portrait and Ohio: Then and Now and the author of Columbus Ghosts: Historical Haunts of Ohio’s Capital and Columbus Ghosts II: More Central Ohio Haunts.

ohioswallow.com/author/robin-l-smith

Bruce Vilanch

It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time: The Worst TV Shows in History and Other Things I Wrote

Bruce Vilanch is an actor (occasionally an actress), a Emmy-winning writer (occasionally a rewriter), and comedian (occasionally for money, often for causes). He has coauthored 25 Academy Award spectacles, many Tonys, Emmys, Grammys, People’s Choice, SAG Awards, and various other trumped-up reasons for people to strut a red carpet. He has coauthored dozens of variety television shows and put words in the mouth of Cher. He’s also a lyricist, scoring gold and platinum records for disco songs he wrote for Eartha Kitt and the Village People. Musical theatre geeks will remember him as the coauthor of the Broadway misfire called Platinum, which was revived off-Broadway for reasons that continue to mystify Bruce.

chicagoreviewpress.com/it-seemed-like-a-bad-idea-at-the-time-products-9780914091929.php

Sherri Marie Williams

Black Social Television: How Black Twitter Changed Television

Sherri Marie Williams is a race and representation researcher and journalism and media studies professor at American University in Washington D.C. Williams is interested in how marginalized groups, especially Black women, are depicted in media and how they use social media to advocate for representation and social justice. Williams believes that storytelling can be used as a tool for liberation. Before becoming an author and professor, Williams was a journalist for a decade including at The Columbus Dispatch.

www.american.edu/soc/faculty/sherriw.cfm

Scott Woods

Black Night is Falling

Scott Woods is the author of Urban Contemporary History Month (2016), We Over Here Now (2013) and Prince and Little Weird Black Boy Gods (2017). He was the co-founder of the Writers’ Block Poetry Night. In April of 2006 he became the first poet to ever complete a 24-hour solo poetry reading, a feat he bested by performing the event seven more times without repeating a single poem. He is the founder of Streetlight Guild, an arts nonprofit arts organization in Columbus, Ohio.

scottwoodsmakeslists.wordpress.com

Annie Zaleski

Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs

Annie Zaleski is the New York Times bestselling author of Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs. The Cleveland-based journalist has written multiple other books, including This Is Christmas, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits and We Found Love, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Romantic Hits; a volume on Duran Duran’s Rio in the prestigious 33 1/3 book series; and illustrated biographies of Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, and Pink. Her work has appeared in dozens of publications, including NPR Music, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Salon, Billboard, Classic Pop, and Record Collector.

anniez.com

Samira Ahmed

The Singular Life of Aria Patel

Samira Ahmed is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of young adult novels Love, Hate & Other Filters, Internment, Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know and Hollow Fires, as well as the middle grade fantasy adventure series Amira & Hamza. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in anthologies including Take the Mic, Color Outside the Lines, Ink Knows No Borders, Vampires Never Get Old, and A Universe of Wishes.

samiraahmed.com

Kristy Boyce

Dating and Dragons

Kristy Boyce played her first role-playing game in high school and has been friends with that group ever since. In fact, she married the DM. Nowadays, she teaches psychology as a senior lecturer at the Ohio State University. When she’s not spending time with her husband and son, she’s usually writing, reading, or watching happy reality TV. Kristy is the author of Dating and Dragons, Dungeons and Drama, Hot British Boyfriend, and Hot Dutch Daydream and lives in Pickerington, Ohio.

kristyboyceauthor.com

Nia Davenport

Love Spells Trouble

Nia Davenport attended the University of Southern California and studied Biological Sciences and Theatre. She has an M.A. in Secondary Education, and she teaches English and Biology. She is also the author of Out of Body and the adult sci-fi novels The Blood Trials and The Blood Gift. When she isn’t writing she enjoys vacationing with her family, skiing, and being a huge foodie.

nedavenport.com

Carlyn Greenwald

Murder Land

Carlyn Greenwald writes romantic and thrilling page-turners for teens and adults. A film school graduate and former Hollywood lackey, she now works in publishing. She resides in Los Angeles, mourning ArcLight Cinemas and soaking in the sun with her dogs.

carlyngreenwald.com

Mia P. Manansala

Death in the Cards

Mia P. Manansala (she/her) is a writer from Chicago who loves books, baking, and bad-ass women. She is the author of the multi-award-winning Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery series and the YA novel Death in the Cards. She uses humor (and murder) to explore aspects of the Filipino diaspora, queerness, and her millennial love for pop culture.

miapmanansala.com

Nikhil Prabala

The Duchess of Kokora

From playing the DM in Dungeons and Dragons to writing fantasy novels, Nikhil Prabala loves storytelling, from the epic to the cozy and everywhere in between. The Duchess of Kokora is his first published novel. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, he graduated from Stanford in 2019 and is currently based in the Bay Area. In his free time he enjoys ballroom dancing, singing, playing the guitar, tabletop games, and spending time with friends and family.

nikhilprabala.com

Swati Teerdhala

Maya in Multicolor

Swati Teerdhala is the author of The Boyfriend Wish and The Tiger at Midnight trilogy. She’s passionate about many things, including how to make a proper cup of tea, the right ratio of curd-to-crust in a lemon tart, and diverse representation in the stories we tell. She currently lives in New York City.

swatiteerdhala.com

L.T. Thompson

Devils Like Us

L.T. Thompson writes stories about queer kids and teens discovering themselves and having adventures. They’re a proud library worker and the author of two books for middle-grade readers: The Best Liars in Riverview and The House That Whispers. L.T. grew up in Kentucky, spent a decade in Boston, and now lives in Iowa with their wife and cat. When they’re not writing, they enjoy picking up new hobbies and letting their interests cycle like the tides.

linthompson.com

Jenna Voris

Say a Little Prayer

Jenna Voris writes books about ambitious girls and galaxy-traversing adventures. She was born and raised in Indiana—where she learned to love roundabouts and the art of college basketball—and now calls Washington, DC, home. When she’s not writing, she can be found perfecting her road trip playlists and desperately trying to keep her houseplants alive. She is also the author of Every Time You Hear That Song.

jennamvoris.com

Amélie Wen Zhao

The Scorpion and The Night Blossom

Amélie Wen Zhao was born in Paris and grew up in Beijing, where she spent her days reenacting tales of legendary heroes, ancient kingdoms, and lost magic at her grandmother’s courtyard house. She attended college in the United States and now resides in New York City, working as a finance professional by day and fantasy author by night. In her spare time, she loves to travel and spend time with her family in China, where she’s determined to walk the rivers and lakes of old just like the practitioners in her novels do. Amélie is the author of the Blood Heir trilogy: Blood Heir, Red Tigress, and Crimson Reign; Song of Silver, Flame Like Night and its sequel, Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White; and The Scorpion and the Night Blossom.

ameliezhao.com

Roseanne A. Brown

Rick Riordan Presents: Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Saving the World

Roseanne “Rosie” A. Brown was born in Kumasi, Ghana and immigrated to the wild jungles of central Maryland as a child. Her debut novel A Song of Wraiths and Ruin was an instant New York Times Bestseller, an Indie Bestseller, and received six starred reviews. Her debut middle grade novel Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting launched as part of the critically acclaimed Rick Riordan Presents line. She has worked with Marvel, Star Wars, and Disney among other publishers.

www.roseanneabrown.com

Tamika Burgess

Danilo Was Here

Tamika Burgess (Ta-mee-Ka Bur-jess) is the award-winning middle grade fiction author of Sincerely Sicily and Danilo Was Here. Born to parents who migrated from Panamá, Tamika has always taken a particular interest in writing themes that explore her Black Latina identity. Because of her passion for spreading knowledge about her culture, Tamika writes fiction novels that feature Black Panamanian main characters. Tamika currently resides in Southern California.

tamikaburgess.com

Yangsook Choi

Slippery, Spicy, Tingly: A Kimchi Mystery

Yangsook Choi is the author of the bestselling classic The Name Jar. Growing up in Korea, she began drawing at age four and delighted in telling her grandmother scary stories at night. After moving to New York to pursue her art, she has written and illustrated many books for young readers.

yangsookchoi.com

R. Gregory Christie

Nana’s New Soul Food: Discovering Vegan Soul Food

R. Gregory Christie has illustrated more than sixty books for young adults and children. He has received a Caldecott Honor, two New York Times Best Illustrated Book awards, six Coretta Scott King Honors for illustration, the NAACP Image Award, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. In addition, Greg has designed John Coltrane album covers and animated films on Netflix, and he operates his online store of autographed children’s books, GAS-ART Gifts. He lives and works in the Atlanta area.

rgregorychristie.com

Nicole D. Collier

The Best Friend Bracelet

Nicole D. Collier writes warm-hearted stories about learning to be true to yourself. Her work centers smart, creative girls who discover the power of courage, compassion and inner wisdom. Her most recent work, The Best Friend Bracelet, was called sentimental and kindhearted in a Publishers Weekly starred review. It’s her first book with a hint of magic.

nicoledcollier.com

Julia DeVillers

Meet Me at Wonderland

Before Julia DeVillers was a bestselling and award-winning author of children’s books, she worked at Chuck E. Cheese – as Chuck E. Cheese. This inspired her newest book. Her previous book was the basis of the Disney Channel Movie “Read It and Weep,” and she sold a TV pilot to CBS based on her life as a children’s author married to a criminal prosecutor.

juliadevillers.com

Josh Funk

Attack of the Scones

Josh Funk is a software engineer and the author of books like the Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast series, How to Code a Sandcastle, Dear Unicorn, Dear Dragon, My Pet Feet, the It’s Not a Fairy Tale series, Lost in the Library, and more. Josh lives in New England and when not writing Java code or Python scripts, he drinks Java coffee and writes manuscripts. Since the Fall of 2015, Josh has presented at over 800 schools, classrooms, and libraries, and over 300 bookshops, book festivals, and conferences.

joshfunkbooks.com

Kate Fussner

13 Ways to Say Goodbye

Kate Fussner (she/her) is a novelist, teacher, and accidental poet living in Massachusetts with her wife and dramatic dog. She holds her B.A. in English from Vassar College, her M.Ed. from UMass Boston/Boston Teacher Residency, and her M.F.A. in Writing for Young People from Lesley University. Her debut novel, The Song of Us (HarperCollins) was named a 2024 Notable Verse Novel by NCTE, longlisted for the MA Book Awards for YA/MG, and named a Best Children’s Book of the Year by Bank Street College of Education. 13 Ways to Say Goodbye, a story of learning to live and love beyond grief, is her second queer middle grade novel-in-verse.

katefussner.com

Quartez Harris

Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer

Quartez Harris is a poet, teacher, and author. He was a Baldwin House fellow and named Ohio Poet of the Year for his book We Made It to School Alive, and his poetry has garnered numerous accolades. He spent many years as a second grade teacher in the Cleveland public school system, and currently spends his time writing and teaching poetry workshops. He lives in Ohio with his wife and son.

quartezharris.com

Will Hillenbrand

Summer Is Here

Will Hillenbrand has written and illustrated a wide range of picture books for children, including the popular Bear and Mole books and the Mighty Reader series. Spring Is Here won the Please Touch Museum Book Award. What a Treasure!, a Pennsylvania One Book, was written with his spouse Jane Hillenbrand.

willhillenbrand.com

George Jreije

Bashir Boutros and the Jewel of the Nile

George Jreije (“jer-age”) is the Lebanese American author of many books, including the acclaimed Shad Hadid fantasy series, the Bashir Boutros fantasy series, and the upcoming graphic novels, Tarik’s Bazaar Adventure as well as Lilo and the League of Librarians. He served as the inaugural author-in-residence for the Concord Library and has been a guest of honor as well as an instructor for Gotham Writer’s Workshop, WriteHive, the Highlights Foundation, and more. When not writing or helping other writers, George scours the world for delicious food and visits schools to spread his love of books!

GeorgeJreije.com

Rosalyn Ransaw

Smoke & Mirrors: A Novel

Rosalyn Ransaw writes middle-grade mysteries with twisty plots and diverse main characters. She has a B.A. from Columbia University in political science and currently lives in Columbus, Ohio. When not writing, you can find her working her day job as a marketing manager, scrolling on social media, or brainstorming her next book idea. Smoke & Mirrors is her first book.

rosalynransawbooks.com

John Schu

Ruthie Rose’s Big Idea: A Poetry Story

John Schu is the author of the acclaimed picture books This Is a School, illustrated by Veronica Miller Jamison, and This Is a Story, illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Lauren Castillo. Children’s librarian for Bookelicious, part-time lecturer at Rutgers University, and former Ambassador of School Libraries for Scholastic Book Fairs, Mr. Schu—as he is affectionately known—was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker for his dynamic interactions with readers. He lives in Naperville, Illinois.

johnschu.com

Sam Subity

Valor Wings

Sam Subity loves writing stories that explore the magic and wonder of being a kid. When he’s not writing, you might find him exploring bookstores or hiking forest trails in search of inspiration for tales of adventure and mystery.

subity.com

Carmella Van Vleet

Frozen In Time: What Ice Cores Can Tell Us About Climate Change

Carmella Van Vleet is a former teacher who now writes full-time. She is the award-winning author of over a dozen books for kids, including You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce (co-authored with Chiquita Mullins Lee), which represented Ohio at the 2024 National Book Festival in Washington, DC.

CarmellaVanVleet.com

Alby C. Williams

Where There Be Monsters

Alby C. Williams hails from the land of snow and salt potatoes. They are a storyteller, poet, and artist of dubious skill but endless enthusiasm. If you catch them in their spare time, you might mistake them for a cat based on the amount of yarn in their immediate vicinity, but don’t be fooled — they’re actually several pigeons in a trench coat.

albycwilliams.com

MEET THE 2025 AUTHORS

HEADLINERS

Headliner sessions are ticketed. Reserve a free ticket in advance at the links below or join the standby line the day of. Guests without a ticket will be admitted 5 minutes prior to the session to fill all remaining open seats. Book signings immediately follow for session attendees.

Mary AliceMonroe

AmalEl-Mohtar

WallyLamb

VictoriaChristopher Murray

GreggHurwitz

AnnaTodd

FEATURED AUTHORS

More than 120 authors will be featured on panel discussions throughout the festival weekend. Hear about their brand-new books and then join Featured Authors in the Reading Room following their session(s) for a meet & greet and book signing. No tickets required. Seating is first come, first served.

Featured Author Schedule

Children's Author Schedule