2023 Festival

"I’m a consumer protection lawyer with a freelancing habit. Primarily interested in inequality, corporate power, the American Left, and Washington D.C. Also love a good meandering essay."

Vanessa's debut memoir is Home Bound: An Uprooted Daughter's Reflections on Belonging. 

"Gina Chung is a Korean American writer. Born in Queens and raised in New Jersey, she is now based in Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of SEA CHANGE (Vintage, March 28, 2023; out in the Commonwealth on April 13, 2023 and in the UK on August 10, 2023 from Picador) a novel about climate change, giant Pacific octopuses, and family, and GREEN FROG (Vintage, 2024; out in the UK/Commonwealth from Picador in 2024) a collection of short stories that explore themes of Korean American womanhood, bodies and animals." 

"Megan Fernandes is a writer living in NYC. She was born in Canada and raised in the Philadelphia area. Her family are East African Goans.

Her most recent book of poetry, Good Boys, was a finalist for the Kundiman Book Prize, the Saturnalia Book Prize, the Paterson Poetry Prize, and was published with Tin House Books in February 2020. Her next book of poetry, I Do Everything I’m Told, will be published by Tin House in summer 2023."

"Tess Gunty is a novelist based in Los Angeles.

Tess’s debut novel, The Rabbit Hutch, is the recipient of the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction, the Barnes and Noble Discover Prize, and the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. It was named one of twelve Essential Reads by The New Yorker, and a best book of the year by The New York Times, NPR, People, TIME, Oprah Daily, LitHub, The Chicago Tribune, and Kirkus. The novel has been optioned for film rights by Fremantle and producer Richard Brown."

"I am the author of The Margot Affair and a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow.

I was born in Paris to a Japanese mother and French father. I was raised in France and Australia, and now live in New York.

I received an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, where I taught essay writing and was a writing consultant at the Writing Center. Since then, I've worked as a recipe writer and editor, and most recently, as a cookbook editor at Phaidon Press and Martha Stewart Books."

"Julia May Jonas is a writer, director, and the founder of theater company Nellie Tinder. She has taught at Skidmore College and NYU and lives in Brooklyn with her family. Vladimir is her first novel."

"Mia Mercado is a humor writer. Her second book SHE’S NICE THOUGH [came out] August 30, 2022. Her debut collection of funny non-fiction essays WEIRD BUT NORMAL (HarperOne) is [also] out now.

She’s currently a contributor to The Cut and writes a weekly column called I Can’t Shut Up About, providing shallow dives in her latest online obsession.

She grew up in Wisconsin and probably says “bag” wrong. Currently, she lives in Kansas City, working on freelance writing and self-control while eating chips."