James Sturz is both a travel writer and novelist. About his latest novel, Underjungle, Junot Díaz said: “Luminous, strange, thought-provoking and as profound as the seas, the pelagic brilliance of Underjungle cannot be overstated. This is the brilliant novel Prince Namor would have written had he had more poetry classes.”

Heidi Pitlor has been the series editor of the annual bestselling anthology The Best American Short Stories since 2007. Before that, she was a senior editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for ten years. In 2022, she founded Heidi Pitlor Editorial, a small freelance firm that provides editorial services to agents, editors, and published writers. Of HPE, MacArthur “genius” grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize finalist Karen Russell said, “Heidi Pitlor is one of the kindest and keenest editors I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with and her notes have been invaluable to me.” Heidi is also the editorial director of the literary studio, Plympton, where she fosters collaboration between the tech and publishing industries. She has worked with Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Cheryl Strayed, Min Jin Lee, Anthony Doerr, Rainbow Rowell, Jesmyn Ward, and many other writers.

Leigh Haber

For the last ten years Leigh Haber ran Oprah’s Book Club as well as book coverage for O Magazine and Oprah Daily, where she was VP, Books. Prior to that, Leigh held a variety of editorial, marketing, and tech consulting roles at major publishing companies and start-ups. Some of her author clients include Al Gore, Candace Bushnell, Steve Martin, Terry Gross, David Kidder, Noah Oppenheim, Richard Hell, Bill Maher, Lou Reed, Alice Walker, and Gloria Naylor, to name a very few.

Learn more about Leigh at oprahdaily.com

One of the most influential people in the world of publishing, Leigh Haber was the driving force behind the phenomenon that Oprah’s book club became. We look forward to hearing her insights into the new and fast changing publishing landscape. 

Cherise Fisher, senior agent at the Wendy Sherman Associates literary agency, will give us an inside glimpse into how this prominent agency functions, how they really decide which books to take on and how they will promote them.

As an agent with Wendy Sherman Associates for the past seven years, she has represented story-driven fiction with full bodied characters, both contemporary and historical.  She seeks out memoirs and narrative nonfiction that showcase the diversity of human experience, and well-platformed non-fiction writers who seek to provoke, inspire, and educate on diverse subjects, including self-help, finance and career, health and wellness, spirituality, and social justice.

An active member of the American Association of Literary Agents, and a very popular workshop leader for several writer’s conferences including the Grub Street Writing Center, Cherise also teaches the “Introduction to Publishing” class as a part of the Publishing Certificate Program at the City College of New York.

Her intention is that all the books she helps bring into the world are relevant, enduring, and help readers maximize their lives.

Linda Oatman-High is an experienced and versatile children’s book author of over 25 books for children (and teens), including picture books and middle grade and YA novels. Her work includes Hound Heaven, which was nominated for the Rebecca Caudill Award; City of Snow: The Great Blizzard of 1888, which was added to the 2005 NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book list; and many others. Linda holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College, and she teaches both nationally and internationally.

Previous novels have included The Beach House, Second Chance, Jemima J, and Tempting Fate.

She joined the ABC News team to write their first enhanced digital book— about the history of Royal marriages, then joined ABC News as a live correspondent covering Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton.

A former journalist in the UK, she has had her own radio show on BBC Radio London, and is a regular contributor on radio and TV, including as well as regularly appearing on television shows including Good Morning America, The Martha Stewart show, and The Today Show.

Together with writing books and blogs, she contributes to various publications, both online and print, including anthologies and novellas, and features for The Huffington Post, The Sunday Times, Cosmopolitan and Self. She has taught at writers conferences, and does regular keynote speaking, and has a weekly column in The Lady magazine, England’s longest running weekly magazine.

A graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York, Green is bringing out her first cookbook: Good Taste , with Berkley in October 2016.

She is a storyteller for The Moth radio hour on NPR, and lives in Westport, Connecticut with her husband and their blended family. When she is not writing, cooking, gardening, filling her house with friends and herding chickens, she is usually thanking the Lord for caffeine-filled energy drinks.

Learn more at janegreen.com

STORY ARCHITECTURE:
The What, Who, and How of Designing a Page-Turner

Angie Kim is the debut author of the international bestseller and Edgar winner Miracle Creek, named a “Best Book of the Year” by Time, The Washington Post, Kirkus, and The Today Show, among others. Her novel also won the ITW Thriller Award, the Strand Critics’ Award, and the Pinckley Prize.

A Korean immigrant, former editor of the Harvard Law Review, and one of Variety Magazine’s inaugural “10 Storytellers to Watch,” Kim has written for Vogue, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Glamour, and numerous literary journals. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and three sons.

Learn more at angiekimbooks.com

Narrative Stockholm Syndrome

Josh Mohr returns to KWC Online with a six session class that will give you an entirely new way to look at your own writing. Like his previous sessions, this one promises to enliven your writing process in fundamental and unexpected ways.

The best stories present vibrant characters. We’re looking for the opportunity to experience a foreign consciousness. So how do we as creative writers bring these inner worlds of our protagonists to life for our readers to explore, to inhabit? Narrative Stockholm Syndrome is a technique to take full advantage of the incarceration that a reader experiences in a main character’s set of perceptions. This tactic is a fantastic way for authors to foster camaraderie, and ultimately empathy.

Two KWC participants share their remarkable paths to publishing success.

Learn more about Linda at lindamooreauthor.com

Lyn Liao Butler is an author of upmarket fiction, thrillers, and romcoms, including The Tiger Mom’s Tale, Red Thread of Fate, Someone Else’s Life, and the forthcoming Crazy Bao You and another thriller. She was born in Taiwan and moved to the States when she was seven.

Learn more about Lyn at lynliaobutler.com

Writing Modern Women’s Fiction

Mary Kay Andrews is the New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels (including The Homewreckers; The Santa Suit; The Newcomer; Hello, Summer; Sunset Beach; The High Tide Club; The Weekenders; Beach Town; Save the Date; Ladies’ Night; Christmas Bliss; Spring Fever; Summer Rental; The Fixer Upper; Deep Dish; Blue Christmas; Savannah Breeze; Hissy Fit; Little Bitty Lies; and Savannah Blues), and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she earned a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia. After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News, The Marietta Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction.

Her first novel, Every Crooked Nanny, was published in 1992 by HarperCollins. She went on to write ten critically acclaimed mysteries under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck. In 2002, she assumed the pen name Mary Kay Andrews with the publication of Savannah Blues. In 2006, Hissy Fit became her first New York Times bestseller, followed by fifteen more New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers. To date, her novels have been published in German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, Hungarian, Dutch, Czech and Japanese.

She and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in three restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn, Ebbtide, and Coquina Cottage—all named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels, and all available to rent through Tybee Vacation Rentals. In between cooking, spoiling her grandkids, and plotting her next novel, Mary Kay is an intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses.

Bringing humor to your writing

Humor is personal but its reach is universal. Adriana Trigiani is widely recognized for her brilliant and effective use of comedy in crafting her characters. In this session, she will share insights into how she manages to do this in a way that enhances but never overshadows the story.

Read Adriana’s recent ‘By the Book’ piece in The New York Times!

“One of the reigning queens of women’s fiction.” — USA Today

“A comedy writer with a heart of gold.” — The New York Times

“Trigiani is a master of palpable and visual detail.” — The Washington Post

Barbara Linn Probst  is an Amazon best-selling author of contemporary women’s fiction whose acclaimed novels Queen of the Owls, The Sound Between the Notes, and The Color of Ice have won prestigious national awards, including the Sarton Award for Women’s Fiction and the Nautilus Book Award.

Barbara has also published over sixty essays on the craft of writing, and gives frequent workshops for writing organizations and conferences.

Learn more at BarbaraLinnProbst.com

It’s About Time: The Purposeful use of Backstory, Flashbacks, and Chronology
with Barbara Linn Probst

All stories move through time, from now to later; otherwise, they would simply be descriptions or endless interiority. Since time is part of every story, how can we use it purposefully—that is, to help us tell the story in the strongest possible way?  

Using concrete examples and specific strategies, we will explore:

(a)  various ways to structure time in your novel or memoir

(b)  the difference between backstory and flashback

(c)  when and why the past might interrupt the forward-moving story; the test of necessity

(d)  how to use triggers and portals to enter and exit a time-shift so it feels natural to the reader

(e)  how to make smart decisions about withholding or revealing information about the past

You’ll come away with a practical toolbox for using time effectively in your work!

Jean Kwok is the award-winning, New York Times and international bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee, Girl in Translation and Mambo in Chinatown. Her work has been published in twenty countries and taught in universities, colleges and high schools across the world. An instant New York Times bestseller, Searching for Sylvie Lee was selected for the Today Show Book Club and featured in The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, CNN, The New York Post, The Washington Post, O Magazine, People, Entertainment Weekly and more. Jean has been chosen for numerous honors including the American Library Association Alex Award, the Chinese American Librarians Association Best Book Award, an Orange New Writers title and the Sunday Times Short Story Award international shortlist. She has appeared on The Today Show and Good Morning America, and spoken at many schools and venues including Harvard University, Columbia University, Talks at Google and the Tucson Festival of Books.  A television documentary was filmed about Jean and her work.

Jean immigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn when she was five and worked in a Chinatown clothing factory for much of her childhood while living in an unheated, roach-infested apartment. In between her undergraduate degree at Harvard and MFA in fiction at Columbia, she worked for three years as a professional ballroom dancer. Her beloved brother Kwan passed away in a tragic plane accident and was the inspiration behind Searching for Sylvie Lee. Jean is trilingual, fluent in Dutch, Chinese and English, and studied Latin for seven years. She lives in the Netherlands.

Learn more about jean at jeankwok.com

Developing Your Writing Process:
How to Get the Magic to Flow

Literary Friendships:
Why they matter & how they change us and our work.

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times, EPCA, Globe and Mail, and USA Today bestselling author of sixteen novels, including her newest, The Secret Book of Flora Lea. She’s also a podcast host of original content for her novels, Surviving Savannah and Becoming Mrs. Lewis.  She is the recipient of The Christy Award “Book of the Year”; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for Becoming Mrs. Lewis.

Learn more at  patticallahanhenry.com

Paula McLain is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels, When the Stars Go Dark, The Paris Wife, Circling the Sun, and Love and Ruin.

She was born in Fresno, California in 1965. After being abandoned by both parents, she and her two sisters became wards of the California Court System, moving in and out of various foster homes for the next fourteen years. When she aged out of the system, she supported herself by working as a nurses aid in a convalescent hospital, a pizza delivery girl, an auto-plant worker, a cocktail waitress–before discovering she could (and very much wanted to) write. She received her MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan in 1996.

She is the author of The Paris Wife, a New York Times and international bestseller, which has been published in thirty-four languages. The recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony, the Cleveland Arts Prize, the Ohio Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, she is also the author of two collections of poetry; a memoir, Like Family, Growing up in Other People’s Houses; and a first novel, A Ticket to Ride. She lives with her family in Cleveland.

Learn more at paulamclain.com

Mark Coker is former founder of ebook pioneer Smashwords, and is an outspoken advocate for self-published authors.  Following Draft2Digital’s acquisition of Smashwords in early 2022, Mark assumed the role of Chief Strategy Officer at Draft2Digital. The combined company now supports 250,000 authors around the world who use Draft2Digital to publish and distribute ebooks, print books, and audiobooks.  He’s a former contributing columnist for Publishers Weekly and Huffington Post, and is the host of the Smart Author Podcast where he shares evergreen best practices to help authors publish ebooks with pride, professionalism and success.

Check out the Smart Author Podcast   |   Mark blogs at blog.smashwords.com  |   Follow Mark on Twitter @markcoker

The Secrets to Self-Publishing Success

In this fast-paced session, Mark Coker explores how authors can take advantage of the exciting opportunities in self-publishing.  The session begins with an overview of key trends driving the book market, and then guides authors step-by-step from basic introductory concepts to the advanced best practices of the indie bestsellers.  If you’ve ever wondered how self-publishing might fit into your publishing strategy, or you’d like fresh ideas to take your publishing to next level, this session is for you.

Daniel H. Pink is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including his latest, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward. His other books include the New York Times bestsellers When and A Whole New Mind — as well as the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human. 

Dan’s books have won multiple awards, have been translated into 42 languages, and have sold millions of copies around the world. He lives in Washington, DC, with his family. From 1995 to 1997, he was the chief speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore.

The Power of Regret

This session by Dan Pink offers life-changing understanding the transformative power of our most misunderstood emotion: regret.

“No regrets.” You’ve heard people proclaim it as a philosophy of life. That’s nonsense, even dangerous, says Daniel H. Pink in his latest bold and inspiring work. Everybody has regrets. They’re a fundamental part of our lives. And if we reckon with them in fresh and imaginative ways, we can enlist our regrets to make smarter decisions, perform better and deepen our sense of meaning and purpose.

As writers, we need the courage to look without filters at events in our life that we regret. Dan Pink’s refreshing take on this subject can be profoundly game changing for writers of all genres.

Sam Horn

Through her nine award winning books, TED talks, and keynote speeches to major corporations and organizations, Sam Horn has helped thousands of people to define and then realize their dreams. Learn more at samhorn.com

“If you are writing a book – even just thinking about it – Sam Horn will crystalize your planning and implementation and simplify your decision-making. There may be others on the planet who know more about helping you publish profitably and properly, but I can’t think of anyone else I’d trust first.”

— Dave Yoho | Hall of Fame Speaker and President of Professional Educators Inc.

“Sam Horn is a bright light; one of the most accessible wisdom-sharers in our culture today.”

— Sheri Salata| Former Executive Producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show

Fast Pitching Your Book

In this session, Sam will particularly focus on helping you to get the most from the upcoming Kauai Writers Conference. At the Kauai events, you’ll share meals and time with some of the most respected authors, literary agents and publishers in the US. Sam will draw upon her decades of teaching to help you convey your work in an intriguing way that can lead to enduring conversations and relationships with these people.

Dorie Clark has been named one of the Top 50 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, and was recognized as the #1 Communication Coach in the world by the Marshall Goldsmith Leading Global Coaches Awards. Clark, a consultant and keynote speaker, teaches executive education at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School, and she is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Long Game, Entrepreneurial You, Reinventing You and Stand Out, which was named the #1 Leadership Book of the Year by Inc. magazine.

A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, Clark has been described by the New York Times as an “expert at self-reinvention and helping others make changes in their lives.” A frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, she consults and speaks for clients including Google, Microsoft, and the World Bank.

How to Build a Following

Too many people believe that if they keep their heads down and work hard, they will be lauded as experts on the merits of their work. But that’s simply not true anymore. To advance your cause, you have to inspire others to listen and take action. In this talk based on her book Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It, Dorie Clark explains how to build a following around your ideas.

Chris Vogler

If you’ve been to the movies in the last 25 years and enjoyed superhero franchises like DC’s Batman and Marvel’s The Avengers, you might have detected the influence of Hollywood story consultant and author Christopher Vogler in those well-told tales. Inspired by Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Vogler transformed that famed analysis of mythic storytelling into a 12-stage narrative structure for screenwriters, based on ancient archetypes, called The Writer’s Journey.

For over thirty years, Chris has been a key consultant to A-list directors and actors on matters including evaluation of literary material, selection of material for production, detailed analysis of structure and character issues, historical and scientific research, and story development. He has worked at most of the major studios in Hollywood lectured widely in Europe, Australia, and across the U.S. on the mythological roots of modern movies and novels. His book THE WRITER’S JOURNEY: Mythic Structure for Writers is a standard guide-book for screenwriters and creative writing classes. His concepts are often credited as the most influential in modern screenwriting, providing the basis for the three-act structure.

The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers

In this session, Chris Vogler will lead us through his vision of the hero’s journey as a key template for story-telling, both written and on the screen.

“Stories are resilient and seem to be adapting to a new age and new realities with the help of writers who are always looking for unexpected ways to put together the elemental pieces,” Vogler says, citing the deaths of major characters in the Game of Thrones franchise as an example. His concepts are applicable to writers of every category of fiction.

This is a session that may transform your most fundamental ideas about telling stories.

Alan Cohen is the author of 30 popular inspirational books, including the best-selling A Course in Miracles Made Easy and The Dragon Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the award-winning A Deep Breath of Life, and the classic Are You as Happy as Your Dog?

His books have been translated into 25 foreign languages. His work has been featured on Oprah.com and in USA Today, The Washington Post and 101 Top Experts. Alan’s radio program Get Real has been broadcast weekly on Hay House Radio, and his monthly column From the Heart is featured in magazines internationally.

Writing About Personal Growth 

In this session, Alan will talk about spiritual growth both as the key to the success of the writer, and a topic about which to write. Both have been primary themes of his life. He will share wisdom and lessons about how to incorporate spiritual growth into your writing and your life.

Scott Turow calls his life as an author of best-selling legal thrillers blessed. “You get up every morning, you play with your imaginary friends.” Among them are an attorney investigating war crimes in Bosnia (Testimony) and twin brothers whose lives are intertwined (Identical), and dozens more in novels that include Innocent, Presumed Innocent, and The Burden of Proof. Turow’s books have been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and have been adapted for movies and television. He continues to practice law, working exclusively pro bono on cases he believes are important.

Scott Turow pioneered the genre of legal fiction. As one of its main driving forces, he has helped propel it to be one of today’s most read categories. He did this by writing about a world he knew intimately. He was able to portray with compelling realism the characters, the settings, the motivations and conflicts of his profession as a lawyer. In this session, Scott will give insights applicable to everyone who writes fiction based on their life experiences.

Luis Alberto Urrea

Hailed by NPR as a “literary badass” and a “master storyteller with a rock and roll heart,” Luis Alberto Urrea is a prolific and acclaimed writer who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph.

A 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and member of the Latino Literature Hall of Fame, Urrea is the critically acclaimed and best-selling author of 17 books, winning numerous awards for his poetry, fiction and essays. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother, Urrea is most recognized as a border writer, though he says, “I am more interested in bridges, not borders.”

Writing With Joy

Luis Urrea exemplifies our quest to bring together gifted writers who are also gifted teachers of writing. His workshops and classes have inspired writers of all levels of accomplishment to write with passion, grace and skill.

In this session, Luis will give a glimpse into the key to his success as a writer who transcends national, cultural and ethnic boundaries: Faced with heartbreak and tragedy, he finds joy in the innermost truths of the human condition that we all share.

We recommend that you read this: luisurrea.com/la-vista/

Debra Engle’s books include The Only Little Prayer You Need: The Shortest Route to a Life of Joy, Abundance and Peace of Mind, which was translated into four languages and has been an international bestseller. It features a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and an endorsement by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. She is a two-time winner of the Nautilus Award, honoring better books for a better world.

Writing About Spirit

The interest in books with a spiritual message has surged in the past few years, giving more writers a chance to share and teach through memoir, self-help and inspiration. These stories encompass everything from Christianity to Buddhism to New Thought, and many defy classification, reflecting a uniquely personal spiritual path. Debra Engle will address this highly diverse market, with insights on crafting wisdom stories that elevate the author’s sense of purpose and also stand out from the crowd.

Stuart Coleman is a writer, speaker and environmental advocate.  He is the author of three books, including the award-winning biography Eddie Would Go.  Coleman is the recipient of the Elliot Cades Award for Literature, the Excellence in Non-fiction Award from the Hawaii Book Publishers Association and several writing fellowships.  He is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of an environmental nonprofit called WAI (www.WaiCleanWater.org) and lives in Honolulu with his wife and one-eyed dog.

Marta F Kauffman is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning television writer, producer, and showrunner behind the hit series Friends ​and Grace and Frankie.  Kauffman got her big break alongside David Crane with their pilots ​Dream On (1990) and ​The Powers That Be ​(1992) before they co-created Friends. In 2015, Kauffman started her production company, Okay Goodnight, with industry veterans Robbie Tollin and Hannah KS Canter. Their first series, ​Grace and Frankie is Netflix’s longest-running original ever.

Marta Kauffman on set of Grace and Frankie with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda

Winner of the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction

 

​New York Times Bestseller

 

2011 National Book Award Finalist​​

 

2012 Indies Choice Adult Debut Book of the Year

FLORIDA

THE EXILES

Well-loved Kauai Writers Conference faculty member Christina Baker Kline, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train, will discuss her brilliant new work The Exiles.

Christina Baker Kline has established herself as a novelist who plumbs noteworthy but little-known facets of the past, and The Exiles marks her third foray into the genre. While Orphan Train and A Piece of the World were grounded in American history, The Exiles makes a bold geographic and cultural leap, and confirms Christina’s place among the finest talents writing today.

While most English convicts transported to Australia were men, 25,000 were women. Christina explores the development of Australia from a fresh perspective, telling the story of this fascinating, blood-soaked land and its legacy with the grace, beauty, empathy, and insight—and the rich, full-bodied characters—that are the hallmarks of her work.

The Exiles centers on three women whose lives are bound together in nineteenth-century Australia and the hardships they weather together as they fight for redemption and freedom in a new society.

Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.

During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel—a skilled midwife and herbalist—is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors.

Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by white colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen’s Land.

In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose, The Exiles is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy.

“Master storyteller Christina Baker Kline is at her best in this epic tale of Australia’s complex history—a vivid and rewarding feat of both empathy and imagination. I loved this book.”

— Paula McLain, New York Times Bestselling author of The Paris Wife

“A tour de force of original thought, imagination and promise … Kline takes full advantage of fiction — its freedom to create compelling characters who fully illuminate monumental events to make history accessible and forever etched in our minds.” 

— Houston Chronicle, 8/3/20

“In the gripping latest from Kline (Orphan Train), three women try to carve out lives in mid-19th-century colonial Australia…. The women, all brought to their new lives against their wills, become a lens through which to see the development of colonial Australia. Filled with surprising twists, empathetic prose, and revealing historical details, Kline’s resonant, powerful story will please any historical fiction fan.”

— Publishers Weekly, 7/1/20

“As in Orphan Train, Kline deftly balances tragedy and pathos, making happy endings hard-earned and satisfying … Book groups will find much to discuss, such as the uses of education, both formal and informal, in this moving work.”

— Booklist, 6/30/20

To learn more about Lauren
visit her website:
https://laurengroff.com

Five Sense Psychology
with with Joshua Mohr | Nov 14 to Dec 19

This class by Joshua Mohr was the surprise hit of the Kauai Writers Conference for the past two years. Each time, by the second day, word spread about how good it was, and people were dropping out of classes given by more famous authors to sit in. Josh captivated his audience with his wit and unassuming wisdom. Students said it transformed their whole approach to writing. So many people asked for us to offer this class again that we present it in six sessions as the first offering of the online program.

Alia Hanna Habib is a literary agent at the Gernert Company. Alia began her publishing career as a book publicist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She represents narrative nonfiction, memoir and literary fiction.

Her list includes the New York Times’ 1619 Project’s forthcoming book series; MacArthur Fellow and journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones; Doree Shafrir, author of Startup: A Novel; journalist and PBS NewsHour White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor; Chasten Buttigieg’s New York Times bestseller I Have Something to Tell You; Josh Levin’s The Queen, winner of the National Book Critics’ Circle Award in Biography; literary critic Lauren Oyler’s forthcoming debut novel Fake Accounts; award-winning and bestselling poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib and Clint Smith, poet, scholar, author of the poetry collection Counting Descent and forthcoming nonfiction debut How the Word is Passed.

www.thegernertco.com

Lynn Johnston

The Lynn Johnston Literary Agency represents books called “firebreathing” and “righteous” by the New York Times, “exuberant” by O: The Oprah Magazine and “a godsend” by Publishers Weekly.

Lynn’s authors are purposeful, sincere and sometimes controversial and ever determined. Among their many accolades are the Pulitzer Prize, George Polk Award, Peabody Award, GLAAD Media Award, Global Teaching Prize (finalist) and National Headliner Award.

 Lynn’s list includes New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestsellers, winner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals Cookbook Award, PEN finalist, and numerous “best of year” citations.

Lynn is a highly respected solo agent based in New York representing mostly nonfiction.

Asked to describe her approach to agenting, Lynn wrote: “I care,” I said off the top of my head. After thinking about it some more and searching for a better answer, I decided that’s really it. My entire unique selling proposition is I care about my authors, the important work they do, how it gets translated into book form, what happens to the book before and after publication and ultimately, the effect it has in the world.

www.lynnjohnstonlit.com

Susan Golomb is a senior agent at Writers House, representing writers of fiction and non-fiction, for both adult and juvenile books as well as illustrators. She works with literary and commercial fiction, women’s fiction, science fiction/fantasy, narrative non-fiction, history, memoirs, biographies, psychology, science, parenting, cookbooks, how-to, self-help, business, finance, young adult and juvenile fiction/non-fiction and picture books. In addition to referrals, she still takes on new clients from among the twenty to thirty unsolicited submissions that she receives daily.

Golomb graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and worked as a theatrical production coordinator and story editor before starting her literary agency in 1988. Her clients include Marisha Pessl (Special Topics in Calamity Physics – Viking, 2006), Tom Rachman (The Imperfectionists – Dial Press, 2010), Gwyn Hyman Rubio, author of Icy Sparks (Viking, 1998), and she discovered Jonathan Franzen’s first novel, The Twenty-Seventh City (FSG, 1988). She also represents Yvon Chouinard, Harry Dent, Joshua Max Feldman, Glen David Gold, Rachel Kushner, Krys Lee, and William T. Vollmann, among many others. 

Jay Mandel  is interested in representing authors of autobiography and memoir, commercial fiction, journalism and investigative reporting, literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, and nonfiction. His clients Include Sloane Crosley, Mohsin Hamid, Terry Hayes, and Mary Roach.

Regina Brooks  is the founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency LLC in New York, New York. Her agency is the largest African American owned agency in the country and has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature. Her authors have appeared in USA TODAY, NY TIMES, and the Washington Post, as well as on Oprah, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSBNC, TV ONE, BET, and a host of others. In 2015, Publishers Weekly nominated Regina Brooks as a PW Star Watch Finalist, and she was honored with a Stevie Award in Business. Writer’s Digest magazine named Serendipity Literary Agency as one of the top 25 literary agencies. Formerly, she held senior editorial positions at John Wiley and Sons (where she was not only the youngest but also the first African-American editor in their college division) and McGraw-Hill.

Prior to her publishing career, she worked as an aerospace engineer and made history as the first African American woman to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from The Ohio State University. She is a graduate of The School of the Arts High School in Rochester, NY.

She is the author of Essence Magazine’s quick pick children’s book, NEVER FINISHED NEVER DONE (Scholastic), WRITING GREAT BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS 2e (Sourcebooks), and YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK: HOW TO WRITE, SELL AND MARKET YOUR MEMOIR (St. Martin’s Press), and a well received blogger for the Huffington Post. Brooks is also on the faculty of the Harvard University publishing program the Whidbey Island Writers MFA, Western Connecticut MFA low residency programs, Writer’s Digest University and teaches annually at more than twenty worldwide conferences. She has been highlighted in several national and international magazines and periodicals, including Publishers Weekly, Forbes, Media Bistro, Writers and Poets, Essence Magazine, Ebony, Jet, Women on Writing, Writer’s Digest Magazine, The Writer, The Network Journal, and Rolling Out.

She was named Woman of the Year by The National Association of Professional Women, A New York Urban League Rising Star Award winner, and a finalist for the StevieTM Award for Women Entrepreneurs. Regina Brooks is featured in books such as The Guide to Literary Agents and the NAACP nominated Down to Business: The First 10 Steps for Women Entrepreneurs, How to Build a Platform, and Bill Duke’s Dark Girls. She is also listed in International Who’s Who under the categories of Professional Management, Technology, Entrepreneurs, and Engineering.

In November 2010, Brooks partnered with Marie Brown, of Marie Brown and Associates, and Marva Allen of Hue Man Bookstore to launch a new publishing imprint with Johnny Temple’s Akashic Books called Open Lens.

Further, Possibiliteas is the brainchild of literary agent and tea enthusiast, Regina Brooks, who believed that tea—the world’s oldest performance-enhancing beverage—could have a beneficial effect on her clients—writers, artists, and other creative professionals who were looking for fuel for their creative fire.

She is a pilot and cofounder of Brooklyn Aviation as well as a member of the Association of Author Representatives and New York Women in Film and Television.

Ms. Brooks is the founder and co-Executive Director of Y.B. Literary Foundation, Inc. (www.ybliterary.org), a not-for-profit organization designed to kindle a passion for literature within high school students and an appreciation for the possibilities and opportunities that reading can provide.

Learn more at  www.serendipitylit.com

To learn more about Lauren
visit her website:
megwolitzer.com

Michelle Tessler has worked in the publishing industry for over twenty years. Before forming her boutique agency in 2004, Michelle worked at the William Morris Agency and the prestigious literary agency Carlisle & Company (now Inkwell Management). She also spent seven years working in content and business development in the Internet industry, beginning in 1994 when she was hired by best-selling author James Gleick to help launch The Pipeline. In light of the digital opportunities that are transforming publishing, Michelle’s experience in the Internet world is of great benefit to her authors, both as they navigate ebook opportunities, and as they look for creative and effective ways to market their books to niche communities that can be targeted online. 

She represents a select number of best-selling and emerging authors in both fiction and non-fiction. Clients include accomplished journalists, scientists, academics, experts in their field, as well as novelists and debut authors with unique voices and stories to tell.  She values fresh, original writing that has a compelling point of view. She represents, among many others, Paul Collins, Frans de Waal,  Mira Jacob, Amy Stewart and Amanda Eyre Ward.

Learn more at  www.tessleragency.com

“Sleepless in Seattle,” a real charmer, is a romantic comedy about an ultimate long-distance relationship. Emphasize “romantic.” Emphasize “comedy.” It delivers both.”
— Michael Wilmington Los Angeles Times.

Jeff Arch was teaching high school English when his spec script for Sleepless In Seattle sold in 1990. The screenplay was nominated for Academy, Writers Guild of America, and BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards. Arch’s life has never been the same. He has written for many Hollywood studios and producers and directors, including Penny Marshall, Ron Howard and Barry Levinson. He has just released his first novel, Attachments, with widespread acclaim.

ATTACHMENTS (2021)

“Prior to reading this wonderful book, I had only known Jeff Arch’s body of work as a screenwriter, most famously for his Oscar-nominated Sleepless in Seattle. Now, with Attachments, Jeff brings his deep humanity, his unique and unmistakable voice, and his cinematic economy of style to this powerful story of love and betrayal and the possibility of forgiveness. With meticulous plotting and masterful language, he brings life and light to characters as real as they are unforgettable.” 

 

―DAVID P. KIRKPATRICK, former production chief of Walt Disney Studios and president of Paramount Pictures

“There are plenty of novels about childhood friends and lovers, brought together in adulthood, only to learn explosive secrets about the others and themselves. But Attachments transcends them all . . . Letting each character tell his or her own tale, Arch has created people, not mere plot holders, and you’ll follow them eagerly as they move through love, loss, acceptance and forgiveness. There’s a deep humanity and compassion running throughout the story―you’ll care about his characters, flawed though they are, really care. I loved Attachments.”

 

―JANE HELLER, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

 

SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE

In 1989, Jeff Arch gave himself one year to write three screenplays. The second of those―a quirky romantic comedy where the two lovers don’t even meet until the very last page―sold almost immediately, and Sleepless in Seattle became a surprise mega-hit worldwide. For his screenplay, Jeff was nominated for an Oscar, as well as for Writers Guild and BAFTA awards, among others. His other credits include the Disney adventure film Iron Will, New Line’s romantic comedy Sealed With a Kiss, and the independent comedy Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys. His script for Saving Milly, based on Mort Kondracke’s searing memoir, earned the 2005 Humanitas Nomination, an honor Jeff treasures. Jeff is a father, stepfather, father-in-law, and grandfather. Attachments is Jeff’s first novel.

“Sleepless in Seattle,” a real charmer, is a romantic comedy about an ultimate long-distance relationship. Emphasize “romantic.” Emphasize “comedy.” It delivers both.”

— Michael Wilmington Los Angeles Times.

www.brookewarner.com

Alternative Publishing

Brooke Warner 

She Writes Press was founded by Kamy Wicoff and Brooke Warner in 2012 as a response to the barriers to traditional publishing getting higher and higher for authors. Kamy’s online community, She Writes, had been founded on the principle of connecting and serving women writers everywhere, offering a community for established and aspiring writers. Brooke had been the Executive Editor at Seal Press for eight years, and was witnessing firsthand the contracting publishing environment, where she personally was having to reject beautifully written books on a regular basis because the submitting author didn’t have a strong enough author platform.

Kamy and Brooke envisioned a company where authors would be invited to publish based on the merit of their writing alone. They wanted to found a press for women writers that would be a platform—that could launch their writing careers, and where they could legitimately compete with their traditional counterparts.

In 2013, She Writes Press secured traditional distribution through Ingram Publisher Services and established itself as a real player in the hybrid publishing world. This relationship secured the right for SWP authors to submit their books for review through traditional channels, creating a more level playing field. SWP authors have been featured in O! magazine, People, and USA Today, and have been reviewed in all of the trade magazines: Publishers Weekly; Kirkus; Booklist; Library Journal; and featured on Shelf Awareness.

The Turn: A Swerve into the Unknown

Jeff Kleinman is a literary agent, intellectual property attorney, and founding partner of Folio Literary Management, LLC, a New York literary agency which works with all of the major U.S. publishers (and, through subagents, with most international publishers). 

As an agent, Jeff feels privileged to have the chance to learn a great variety of new subjects, meet an extraordinary range of people, and feel, at the end of the day, that he’s helped to build something – a wonderful book, perhaps, or an author’s career. Books of his clients include the bestsellers The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein), The Snow Child (a Pulitzer finalist; Eowyn Ivey), Widow of the South (Robert Hicks), and Mockingbird (Charles Shields), among many others.

Learn more about Jeff at www.foliolit.com

Andy Ross opened his literary agency in 2008. Prior to that, he was the owner of the legendary Cody’s Books in Berkeley for 30 years. During that time, he sold more than 10 million books and hosted over 5000 events for some of the world’s greatest authors. In 1989, Cody’s was fire bombed in retaliation for the store featuring Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. This made them the first victim of Islamic terrorism in The United States, which goes to show that bookselling can be a dangerous business. They never stopped selling the book.

Andy’s agency represents books in a wide range of non-fiction genres including: narrative non-fiction, science, journalism, history, popular culture, and current events . They also represent literary, commercial, historical, crime, upmarket women’s fiction, and YA fiction. For non-fiction he looks for writing with a strong voice, robust story arc, and books that tell a big story about culture and society by authors with the authority to write about their subject. In fiction, he likes stories about real people in the real world. No vampires and trolls, thank you very much. He doesn’t represent poetry, science fiction, paranormal, and romance.

Authors Andy represents include: Daniel Ellsberg, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Anjanette Delgado, Elisa Kleven, Tawni Waters, Randall Platt, Mary Jo McConahay, Gerald Nachman, Michael Parenti, Paul Krassner, Milton Viorst, and Michele Anna Jordan.

Andy also works as a freelance editor.

www.andyrossagency.com

Sally Kim | SVP, Publisher

Sally Kim is SVP, Publisher of Putnam. In addition to overseeing the imprint’s editorial, marketing, and publicity departments, she acquires and edits her own list of quality fiction with commercial appeal, including New York Times bestsellers by Robert Jones, Jr. (The Prophets), Kiley Reid (Such a Fun Age), Chloe Benjamin (The Immortalists), Cristina Alger (Girls Like Us), and John Kenney (Love Poems for Married People). Recent publications include novels by Alma Katsu, Steven Rowley, M.O. Walsh, and Kate Russo; forthcoming are the next novels by award-winning authors Megan Abbott, Sarah Winman, Nickolas Butler, and Karen Joy Fowler.

Prior to Putnam, Sally was Editorial Director at Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, and worked at HarperCollins, the Crown Publishing Group, and St. Martin’s Press, after getting her start at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency more than 25 years ago. She’s acquired celebrated debuts by Gillian Flynn, Lisa Unger, Courtney Maum, Jami Attenberg, Ann Leary, and Holly Goddard Jones; as well as the award winners The Bright Forever by Lee Martin (finalist for the Pulitzer Prize); Truth in Advertising by John Kenney (winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor); and The Incarnations by Susan Barker (finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction and a New York Times Notable Book).

Susanna Porter is Vice President and Executive Editor in the Random House Publishing Group division of Penguin Random House. Among the bestselling and award-winning books she has acquired and published are novels such as The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, Ill Will by Dan Chaon, Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, and nonfiction works such as The Perfect Horse by Elizabeth Letts, winner of the PEN Award for research nonfiction, Romantic Outlaws by Charlotte Gordon, winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award, Untangled, winner of a Books for a Better Life Award, Citizens of London and Last Hope Island by Lynne Olson and A World On Fire by Amanda Foreman. She has also worked with Alison Weir, Arundhati Roy, John Burnham Schwartz, Nicholson Baker, Sarah Dunant, A.S. Byatt, Anne Perry and John Gribbin.

After receiving a B.A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania, she joined Random House in 1978 in the subsidiary rights department. Spending five years in London in the 1980s she worked for Chatto & Windus and then Hamish Hamilton as rights director. Returning to New York in 1989 she joined Bantam Books as a senior editor, and rejoined Random House as a senior editor in 1991. She now primarily acquires for Ballantine Books. Susanna and her husband James Clark have two children and live in Manhattan.