Past Forward

Christina Chiu is the winner of the James Alan McPherson Award for her novel Beauty. She is also author of Troublemaker and Other Saints, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.  Troublemaker was a nominee for a BOMC Stephen Crane First Fiction Award, and winner of the Asian American Literary Award. Chiu has published in Tin House, The New Guard, Washington Square, The MacGuffin, Charlie Chan is Dead 2, ...

Tucker Lieberman has published three nonfiction books. His essays are in two anthologies recognized by Lambda Literary, and his poetry chapbook based on the Epic of Gilgamesh was a finalist in Grayson Books’ 2020 contest. He is originally from the United States and now lives in Bogotá, Colombia. Ten Past Noon: Focus and Fate at Forty Glyph Torrent, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help wr...

Jeremy Kitchen is known as Chicago's Punk Rock Librarian, and he really is a librarian and a writer. His most recent publication is a short story in the upcoming collection "Echoes of a Natural World: Tales of the Strange and Estranged" Edited by Michael Daley. He's also co-host of the Eye 94 Podcast. Echoes of a Natural World First to Knock, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers...

R. Conrad Speer , a Canadian author, lives in Saskatchewan.  His new collection of fiction, ‘Saint Lazarus Day and other stories’, was published in 2020 by Atmosphere Press.  He holds a postgraduate certificate in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh. Saint Lazarus Day and Other Stories Atmosphere Press, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers durin...

As a writer and educator, Kelsey Freeman focuses on Indigenous rights, immigration policy, social justice, and public policy. In 2016, she received a Fulbright Fellowship to teach English and study migration in central Mexico. She is the author of No Option but North: The Migrant World and the Perilous Path Across the Border, which is based on her year of interviewing Central American migrants as...

Ann Dávila Cardinal is a novelist and Director of Student Recruitment for Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) where she also earned her MFA in Writing. She comes from a long line of Puerto Rican writers, including poets Virgilio & Jose Antonio Dávila, and her cousin, award-winning author Tere Dávila. Five Midnights was her first solo novel. Category Five Tor Teen, 2020 A World Without Books was cr...

Lauren Shippen is the author of The Infinite Noise, and the creator and sole writer of the popular audio drama, The Bright Sessions. She also wrote MARVELS, an audio adaptation of the popular comic, released in 2019 by Marvel and Stitcher. MovieMaker Magazine and Austin Film Festival named Shippen one of 25 Screenwriters to Watch. She was born in New York City, and grew up in Bronxville, New York....

This Vietnam-era Marine solo paddled 3,500 miles of Canada’s wilderness before discovering it was never the hows that would be difficult to write about; it was those troubling whys . ZHIMON, A Solitary Adventure Pronghorn Press, 2019 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a platform to share stories about writ...

Sara B. Larson is the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of the YA fantasy Defy trilogy and the Dark Breaks the Dawn duology. She can’t remember a time when she didn’t write books—although she now uses a computer instead of a Little Mermaid notebook. Sara lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband, their four children, and their Maltese, Loki. Warriors of Wing and Flame Tor Teen, 202...

Forest B. Dunning is a retired rancher living in Sheridan, Wyoming. Raised in Birney, Montana, near the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, he has been a student, cowboy, soldier, financial advisor, purebred cattle rancher, cattle buyer, and author. He is a graduate from New Mexico State University with a bachelor's degree in Agricultural Economics and from the U.S. Army Command and General Staf...

Mark Oshiro is the Hugo-nominated writer of the online Mark Does Stuff universe (Mark Reads and Mark Watches), where they analyze books and TV series. Their debut novel, Anger is a Gift won the 2019 Schneider Family Book Award and was nominated for a 2019 Lammy Award. Their forthcoming novel Each of Us a Desert will be published in September 2020. When they are not working they engage in social ac...

Veronica Murphy is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Write Out Loud (since 2007). With a passion for promoting literature, she has produced six NEA BIG READ initiatives, 11 literary festivals celebrating 19thcentury literature, history and culture, and conceived and executed a Roald Dahl Centenary Celebration. For the past six years she has coordinated the San Diego Regional Poetry Out Loud comp...

Lilia Gonzáles-Chávez,  was appointed Executive Director of the Fresno Arts Council in 2011, and was appointed to the California Arts Council by Governor Gavin Newson in 2020.  She is a performing artist with over twenty years teaching and performing Ballet Folklorico. With a BA from Fresno State University and a Master’s degree from Fresno Pacific University, Lilia has worked in the education, hu...

As Vice President for LA Opera  Connects , Stacy Brightman is responsible for all aspects of community, engagement and learning programs that serve more than 150,000 students and community members annually. Stacy and her team provide deep access and radical welcome to opera for community members, from toddlers to seniors, by staging community performances and offering free or very low-cost ticket...

Vanessa Garcia is a playwright, novelist, screenwriter, and journalist. Her novel White Light was one of NPRs Best Books of 2015 and won an International Latino Book Award. Her most recent play is the immersive hit, The Amparo Experience which Broadway World called “mad genius," and just won a Ruth Foreman (Carbonell) Award this week. Vanessa has also written for Sesame Street among other shows. W...

Sara Schaff is the author of two story collections: The Invention of Love (Split/Lip Press 2020) and Say Something Nice About Me (Augury Books 2016), a 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist for short fiction. Her writing has appeared in Kenyon Review Online, Yale Review Online, LitHub, and elsewhere. The Invention of Love Split/Lip Press, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help wri...

Kelly Fordon is the author of an award-winning short story collection, Garden for the Blind (Wayne State University Press, 2015); a poetry chapbook, The Witness, which won the Eric Hoffer Award for the Chapbook; and a poetry collection, Goodbye Toothless House. I Have the Answer Wayne State University Press, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pan...

Tea Krulos is the author of Heroes in the Night, Monster Hunters, Apocalypse Any Day Now and his new title American Madness. He writes a weekly column on his website ( teakrulos.com ) titled "Tea's Weird Week" and lives in Milwaukee. American Madness Feral House, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a p...

Sharon Harrigan ’s new novel Half has been called “riveting and inventive” by Publisher’s Weekly and “suspenseful, lyrical, and consuming” in a starred review by Booklist. She is also the author of the memoir Playing with Dynamite and teaches writing at WriterHouse in Charlottesville, Virginia. Half University of Wisconsin Press, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with...

Jody A. Forrester grew up in Los Angeles during the conflicted fifties and tumultuous sixties. She went to San Jose State College, but left after the first semester to participate full time in the anti-war movement. A graduate from the MFA Bennington Writing Seminars, her essays and short stories have appeared in multiple publications. Guns Under the Bed: Memories of a Young Revolutionary Odyssey...

Jennifer Hull is a writer and a teacher. She grew up in New York, graduated cum laude from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in history, and has a master’s degree in education. She has taught K-12 students as well as college freshmen at the Taos campus of the University of New Mexico. She lives in New Mexico, with her husband, twin sons, and cocker spaniel. Shook: An Earthquake, a Legend...

The author, Michael H. Blaine spent a career at the Clinton Correctional Facility. Having been an Officer, Sergeant, and Lieutenant, his story reveals the changes he observed and what he experienced. Refusing to compromise his principles and sickened by the downward spiral that Clinton was experiencing, he retired months before the first successful escape at Dannemora on June 6, 2015. The Invisibl...

Ruby McConnell is a registered geologist who writes about nature, art, and culture with a particular emphasis on the intersection of the environment and human experience. A recipient of numerous honors, including the Literary Arts Oregon Literary Fellowship, she has written extensively about the Pacific Northwest and the environment. Ground Truth: A Geological Survey of a Life Overcup Press, 2020...

Laya V Smith is an author, audiobook narrator and academic curriculum creator. Following a particularly rebellious youth, she graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in history. She lives in Salt Lake Cory, Utah with her husband, two children and one beefy Labrador. The Lumbermill Black Rose Writing, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the...

Michael Lee Nirenberg is a filmmaker and writer. He has directed several music videos and the award-winning documentary Back Issues: The Hustler Magazine Story. Mr. Nirenberg has contributed to national magazines and websites. Since 2006, he has worked as a scenic artist on many movies and television shows. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and two children. Earth A.D.: The Poisoning of...