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Featured Speakers
Matthew Kirby
Matthew Kirby is an American author. His debut novel, The Clockwork Three, is a children's historical fiction set in the late 18th to early 19th centuries. His other Young Adult novels include Icefall and Infinity Ring.
Jill Conner Browne
Multiple #1 New York Times® Bestselling Author, Jill Conner Browne, THE Sweet Potato Queen™, has created a global phenomenon — 6,300 chapter groups in 37 countries — based upon her philosophy and world-view as recounted through her rollicking, raucous and riotously funny essays. Women and smart men understand that the bawdy, sassy, down-to-earth humor is simply the vehicle by which the greater message is conveyed — that is, one of self-reliance and empowerment, inspiring all to do what makes their hearts sing.
Photo by Tom Joynt
Lisa Lutz
Lisa Lutz is the New York Times bestselling author of The Spellman Files, Curse of the Spellmans, Revenge of the Spellmans, The Spellmans Strike Again, and Heads You Lose (with David Hayward). The latest installment of the Spellman saga, Trail of the Spellmans (Document #5) was released in February, 2012. Lutz has won the Alex award and been nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel.
Although she attended UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, the University of Leeds in England, and San Francisco State University, she still does not have a bachelor's degree. Lisa spent most of the 1990s hopping through a string of low-paying odd jobs while writing and rewriting the screenplay Plan B, a mob comedy. After the film was made in 2000, she vowed to never write another screenplay. She is currently working on a children's book with the illustrator Jaime Temairik and a stand-alone novel that contains no Spellmans. (Rest assured, she'll return to the Spellmans after that.) Lisa lives somewhere in the continental United States.
Karen Joy Fowler
Karen Joy Fowler is the author of six novels and three short story collections, including Sarah Canary, which won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian and The Jane Austen Book Club, which was a New York Times bestseller. Her collection, What I Didn’t See, recently won the 2010 World Fantasy Award. A new novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, is scheduled for publication in May of 2013.
Jeff Greenwald
Jeff Greenwald is a photojournalist, author and stage performer whose experiences in Asia have framed his style of travel writing. His six books include the best-selling Shopping for Buddhas, The Size of the World (for which he created the first international travel blog) and the recently published Snake Lake, a travel memoir set in Kathmandu, Nepal during the 1990 democracy revolution. Jeff’s travel stories and essays have appeared in print and online publications worldwide, including Smithsonian, Afar, Outside, Islands, National Geographic Adventure, and Salon. "Every time I set off on a journey," Jeff writes, "I feel like God has thrown me the keys to her car." His critically acclaimed solo show, Strange Travel Suggestions, has played to sold-out houses since 2003. Jeff is also co-founder of Ethical Traveler (www.ethicaltraveler.org), an international community dedicated to defending human rights and protecting the environment.
Pat Murphy
Pat Murphy has won numerous awards for her thoughtful, literary science fiction and fantasy writing, including two Nebula Awards, the Philip K. Dick Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Seiun Award, and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. She has published seven novels and many short stories for adults, including "Rachel in Love", The Falling Woman, The City Not Long After, Nadya, and Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell, a novel that Publisher’s Weekly called the "cerebral equivalent of a roller-coaster ride." Her children’s novel, The Wild Girls, was awarded a Christopher Award in 2008.
In addition to writing fiction, Pat writes about science for children and adults. She has authored three science books for adults and fifteen science activity books for children. Her science writing have been honored with the American Institute of Physics science communications award, the Science Books and Films Prize for Excellence in Science Books, the Pirelli Internetional Award for environmental publishing, and an award from Good Housekeeping.
In 1991, with writer Karen Fowler, Pat co-founded the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, an annual literary prize for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender roles.
