2021 Presenter Panel

Fiction Presenters

More presenters will be added in the weeks to come.
The detailed session schedule will be available in late August.

 

Fiction Presenters

 
 

Samantha Jayne Allen

Samantha Jayne Allen has an MFA in fiction from Texas State University. Her writing has been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Common, and Electric Literature. Raised in small towns in Texas and California, she now lives with her husband in Atlanta.

www.samallenwrites.com
 

Jessica Anya Blau

Jessica Anya Blau is the author of the nationally bestselling novels Mary Jane, The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, and three other critically acclaimed novels. Her novels have been recommended and featured on CNN, NPR, The Today Show and in Vanity Fair, Cosmo, Oprah’s Summer Reads, and many other national magazines and newspapers. 

www.jessicaanyablau.com
 

Grant Ginder

Grant Ginder is the author of five novels, including The People We Hate at the Wedding (soon to be a major motion picture starring Allison Janney, Kristen Bell, and Ben Platt). Originally from Southern California, Ginder received his MFA from New York University, where he teaches writing.

www.grantginder.com
 

Ann Leary

Ann Leary is the New York Times bestselling author of a memoir and four novels including The Good House (soon to be a major motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline). Her work has been translated into eighteen languages, and she has written for The New York Times, Ploughshares, NPR, Redbook, and Real Simple, among other publications. Her essay, “Rallying to Keep the Game Alive,” was adapted for Amazon’s television series, Modern Love (starring Tina Fey and John Slattery). She lives with her husband in New York. 

credit Scott M. Lacey

www.annleary.com
The Foundling (book cover)
 

Ray Nayler

Ray Nayler’s critically acclaimed short fiction has appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction. For nearly half his life, he has lived and worked outside the United States in the Foreign Service and the Peace Corps, including a stint as Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Officer at the U.S. consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. He will serve as the international advisor to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

www.raynayler.net
 

Daniel Nieh

Daniel Nieh is the author of Beijing Payback and Take No Names. He also works as a translator. He grew up in Oregon and has lived in China, Japan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Mexico. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post and the New York Times.

www.danielnieh.net
 

Unfortunately, Chris Pavone is no longer able to attend the 2022 Festival.

 

Chris Pavone

Chris Pavone is the author of Two Nights in Lisbon, The Paris Diversion, The Travelers, The Accident, and The Expats. His novels have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal; have won both the Edgar and Anthony awards; are in development for film and television; and have been translated into two dozen languages. Chris grew up in Brooklyn, graduated from Cornell, and worked as a book editor for nearly two decades. He lives in New York City and on the North Fork of Long Island with his family.

Photo Credit: Sam McIntosh

www.chrispavone.com
 

Unfortunately, NGHI VO is no longer able to attend the 2022 Festival.

 

Nghi Vo

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: When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, and the forthcoming Into the Riverlands. Vo is a Locus and Ignyte Award finalist and the winner of the Crawford 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.

www.nghivo.com
 

Antoine Wilson

Antoine Wilson is the author of the novels Panorama City and The Interloper. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, StoryQuarterly, Best New American Voices, and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications, and he is a contributing editor of A Public Space. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and recipient of a Carol Houck Smith Fiction Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin, he lives in Los Angeles. 

Photo Credit: Noah Stone

www.AntoineWilson.com