Jul 6, 2024
Mark Cecil is an author, journalist and host of The Thoughtful Bro show, for which he conducts author interviews with an eclectic roster of award winning and bestselling writers. He has written for LitHub, Writer’s Digest, Cognoscenti, The Millions, Reuters and Embark Literary Journal, among other publications. He is Head of Strategy for A Mighty Blaze and he has taught writing at Grub Street and The Writers Loft. His debut novel Bunyan and Henry, or, The Beautiful Destiny is out now from Pantheon Books.
Jul 6, 2024
Juliet Grames is the best-selling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna and a new book, The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in Real Simple, Parade, and The Boston Globe, and she is the recipient of an Ellery Queen Award from the Mystery Writers of America. She is editorial director at Soho Press in New York.
Jul 6, 2024
Tania James is the author of four works of fiction, most recently the novel Loot, long listed for the National Book Award and named a best book of the year by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, NPR, and Kirkus Reviews. Other books include The Tusk That Did the Damage, named a Best Book of 2015 by The San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, and NPR, and shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and the Financial Times Oppenheimer Award. Her short stories have appeared in One Story, The New Yorker, Granta, Freeman’s Anthology, Oxford American, and others. Tania James is an associate professor of creative writing at George Mason University, and lives in Washington DC.
Jul 6, 2024
Zain Khalid was named a “5 Under 35” honoree by the National Book Foundation in 2024. He is the author of the debut novel, Brother Alive. Brother Alive won the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award and the CLMP Firecracker Award for Fiction, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize for best first book in any genre, and was shortlisted for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. Khalid is also the recipient of the 2024 Bard Fiction Prize.His writing has appeared in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, n+1, The Believer, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, and elsewhere. He is a contributing editor at The Drift and lives in New York.
Jul 6, 2024
Samuel Kọ́láwọlé was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. He is the author of a new, critically acclaimed novel, The Road to the Salt Sea. His work has appeared in AGNI, Georgia Review, The Hopkins Review, Gulf Coast, Washington Square Review, Harvard Review, Image Journal, and other literary publications. He has received numerous residencies and fellowships, and has been a finalist for the Graywolf Press Africa Prize, shortlisted for UK’s The First Novel Prize, and won an Editor-Writer Mentorship Program for Diverse Writers. Samuel studied at the University of Ibadan and holds a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing with distinction from Rhodes University, South Africa; is graduate of the MFA in Writing and Publishing at Vermont College of Fine Arts; and earned his PhD in English and Creative Writing from Georgia State University. He has taught creative writing in Africa, Sweden, and the United States, and currently teaches fiction writing as an Assistant Professor of English and African Studies at Pennsylvania State University.
