Past Forward

Audrey Keown set Murder at Hotel 1911 (Crooked Lane 2020) in Chattanooga, Tennessee where she began writing as a journalist. Her fiction features themes of redemption and connection to the past. Like her protagonist, she has battled anxiety and hopes that writing about it will help lift the stigma. Murder at Hotel 1911 Crooked Lane, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect wi...

Maggie Kast  is the author of The Crack Between the Worlds: a dancer’s memoir of loss, faith and family (Wipf and Stock, 2009) and a novel, A Free, Unsullied Land (Fomite Press, 2015). Side by Side but Never Face to Face, a novella plus stories, was published by Orison Press in June 2020. Side by Side but Never Face to Face: A Novella and Stories Orison Books, 2020 A World Without Books was create...

Mike Puican has published poems in Poetry, Bloomsbury Review, Crab Orchard Review, and New England Review, among other journals. He holds an M.F.A. in poetry from Warren Wilson College. He leads poetry workshops at St. Leonard’s House for formerly incarcerated men and at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. Central Air Northwestern University Press, 2020 A World Without Books w...

MW Larson is an author, editor, and translator based in Tokyo. His short stories and essays have appeared in Catapult, Colorado Review, Portland Review, Los Angeles Review of Books, Ninth Letter, and Witness. In 2013, he was awarded a Fulbright grant to research his first book, When the Waves Came. When the Waves Came Chin Music Press, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect...

Lynn Downey is a native Californian, and a western historian and writer. She has many books and journal articles under her belt, and her next two books will be about the original American vacation: dude ranching. Lynn lives in California's wine country north of San Francisco. Dudes Rush In Pronghorn Press, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pande...

Sandell Morse is the prize-winning author of the memoir, The Spiral Shell, A French Village Reveals Its Secrets of Jewish Resistance in World War II. Morse’s nonfiction has been noted in The Best American Essays series and published in Creative Nonfiction and Ploughshares, and the New England Review among others. The Spiral Shell, A French Village Reveals It's Secrets of Jewish Resistance in World...

Michelle Caffrey grew up in “Chicagoland” next to O’Hare Airport, dreaming of seeing a larger world. Her dreams were eventually realized, traveling by RV around the United States and later living in Penang, Malaysia. Michelle and her husband then bought a 1906 Dutch barge, the Imagine, and cruised the waterways of Europe, provid- ing stories for her travel memoir, Just Imagine: A New Life on an Ol...

Finola Austin , also known as the Secret Victorianist on her award-winning blog, is an England-born, Northern Ireland-raised, Brooklyn-based historical novelist and lover of the 19th century. Bronte's Mistress, the story of the woman who allegedly corrupted her son’s innocent tutor and brought down the entire Brontë family, is her first novel. By day, she works in digital advertising. Bronte's Mis...

With a diverse background in network and syndicated television, writing for cable TV, and playwriting, Mary Ann Cherry has researched and contributed to multiple independent documentaries. She most recently created and maintains an archive for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. She also enjoys a second career as a specialized yoga therapist. Morris Kight, Humanist, Liberationist, Fantabulist: A Story of...

A freelance writer of middle grade and young adult fiction, Rod Martinez grew up on Marvel Comics and The Twilight Zone. He also had a fascination with American History dating back to grade school. He is the author of The Juniors and regularly speaks at schools, conferences, and libraries promoting a love of the written word. Powerfully Perplexing Presidential Profiles Histria Books, 2020 A World...

David Muirhead is a freelance journalist and author and founder of Wildside, a South African ecotourism and nature conservation magazine. He has authored several books, including Cat Among the Pigeons, The Curious Case of the Imaginary Tourist, a collection of short stories, and a novel, The Clamour King, published in London. He lives near Cape Town and is married with two children and two grandch...

A prize-winning journalist, essayist and novelist, Kristen Millares Young serves as Prose Writer-in-Residence at Hugo House. Named a staff pick by the Paris Review, her novel Subduction was called “whip-smart” by the Washington Post, a “brilliant debut” by the Seattle Times and “utterly unique and important” by Ms. Magazine. Subduction Red Hen Press, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help...

Raised at the heart of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Gerry Robinson grew up hearing fragmented stories about his ancestors. He then devoted nearly twenty years of his life to researching, traveling the country, and reaching back through time to reclaim his heritage. Robinson is a published historical writer and member of Western Writers of America. His debut novel, The Cheyenne Story:...

Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, S.P. Grogan  is an award-winning author, his books include Lafayette, Courtier to Crown Fugitive, and anticipated December release of island thriller, Captain Cooked. Lafayette: Courtier to Crown Fugitive, 1757-1777 Histria Books, Addison & Highsmith, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast prov...

Ava Homa is a writer, journalist, and activist specializing in women’s issues and Middle Eastern affairs. She holds an MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Windsor in Canada. Her collection of short stories, Echoes from the Other Land, was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Prize, and she is the inaugural recipient of the PEN Canada-Humber College Writers-In-Exile...

John Fraley worked for the state wildlife agency for nearly forty years, mostly in the forks of the Flathead; he retired in 2017. For thirty-two years he has served as an adjunct instructor at Flathead Valley Community College where he teaches wildlife conservation and other courses. John Fraley has written two previous books on Flathead pioneers within Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall W...

David Carlson has a BA in political science from Wheaton College (Illinois), an M.A. from the American Baptist Seminary of the West (Biblical Theology) and a doctorate from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland (New Testament Studies). Franklin College, a traditional liberal arts college in central Indiana, has been his home for the past thirty-eight years.  The fifth mystery in his Christopher Wor...

Donald Vincent received his BA in Writing and Public Relations at Loyola University Maryland and MFA in Poetry from Emerson College. He is also known as Mr. Hip, a music recording artist with music available on all streaming platforms. His music projects include Vegan Paradise (2018), Who Is Mr. Hip (2018), International Hip (2017), and Jokes From My Ex (2015). He teaches English Composition at UC...

When the civil war in Somalia began, Abdi Nor Iftin was five; he attended a madrassa while providing for his family. Amidst the daily shelling and the famine, Abdi had one escape: American movies and music. He learned of America, and taught himself English, and began to dream of a life in the United States.  In Call Me American, Abdi recounts his harrowing, extraordinary, and uplifting story. His...

Kirsten Imani Kasai is the author of The House of Erzulie (Shade Mountain Press, 2018), Ice Song (2009), and Tattoo (Random House, 2011). According to Foreword Reviews, “Kirsten makes the macabre beautiful.” She teaches creative writing and literature at San Diego State University and Southern New Hampshire University. The House of Erzulie Shade Mountain Press, 2018 A World Without Books was creat...

Aimee Liu is the author of the new novel Glorious Boy. Her other books include the novels Flash House, Cloud Mountain, and Face and the memoirs Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders and Solitaire. She holds an MFA from Bennington College and teaches in Goddard College’s MFA in Creative Writing Program at Port Townsend, WA. Glorious Boy Red Hen Press, 2020 A World Without Books was c...

Yi Shun Lai is the author of Not a Self-Help Book: The Misadventures of Marty Wu (2016) and Pin Ups (2020). Adjunct faculty at Bay Path University and Southern New Hampshire University's MFA programs. Columnist, The Writer magazine. Pin Ups Homebound Publications, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podcast provides authors a...

Amy Shearn is the author of the novels How Far Is the Ocean from Here, The Mermaid of Brooklyn, and Unseen City. She works as an editor, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, and elsewhere. Amy lives in New York City with her two children. Unseen City Red Hen Press, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during the pandemic. This Micro-Podc...

Ellen Meeropol  is the author of the novels Her Sister’s Tattoo, Kinship Of Clover, On Hurricane Island, and House Arrest. Recent short fiction and essays are in Solstice Magazine, Lit Hub, Ms Magazine, and Lilith. She grew up in the D.C. area and lives in Western Massachusetts. Her Sister’s Tattoo Red Hen Press, 2020 A World Without Books was created to help writers connect with readers during th...

Lara Ehrlich is the author of the short story collection Animal Wife (Red Hen Press, Sept 2020), which won Red Hen’s Fiction Award, judged by Ann Hood. Lara lives in Connecticut with her husband and daughter. Animal Wife Red Hen Press, 2020 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 abo...