2026 A&E Conference Panelists & Presenters

Panelists & Moderators

The 2026 A&E Conference will include panel discussions led by and featuring notable authors and industry professionals.

Friday, June 26

Panelists

Maya Golden Bethany is an Associated Press-winning, Emmy-nominated journalist in Tyler, Texas. She founded the 1 in 3 Foundation, supporting low-income survivors of sexual trauma. Her memoir, The Return Trip, was re-released in hardcover in 2025 by Rising Action Publishing and Simon & Schuster. Her debut political thriller, The Senator, followed in April 2025. Maya has written for outlets including Newsweek, Salon, BlackGirlNerds.com, and Insider. A Parent Writer Fellow at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing, she is a Texas A&M graduate and a member of the Writers’ League of Texas.

Sherry Thomas is a USA Today-bestselling author who decided years ago that her goal in life is to write every kind of story she enjoys reading. Thus far she has published romance, fantasy, mystery, young adult, and three books inspired by the martial arts epics she grew up devouring. Her works regularly receive starred reviews and best-of-the-year honors from trade publications, including such outlets as the New York Times and National Public Radio.

Her latest release, The Librarians, a contemporary mystery set in her neighborhood branch library in Austin, Texas, has been chosen as the Libby Award Best Mystery of 2026.

Sherry emigrated from China at age 13 and English is her second language.

Maya and Sherry will be panelists on Friday at 1:00 p.m. on “Mystery / Thriller / Suspense.”

Courtney Kocak is a writer, podcaster, and comedian who splits time between Austin and Los Angeles. She wrote for Amazon’s Emmy-winning animated series Danger & Eggs and Netflix’s Know It All. She’s produced a slew of highly-ranked podcasts and currently hosts three of her own with over two million downloads to date. Her bylines include The New York Times, The Cut, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Cosmopolitan, Slate, Business Insider, and more. Her debut memoir, Girl Gone Wild, with Trio House Press, is out now! For more, check out her website at courtneykocak.com.

Madeline Vosch is a writer, translator, and professor. Her first book, Undead: A Memoir, was published this April, from Beacon Press. Her work has been published in Ploughshares, The Washington Post, and The Rumpus, among others. She holds an MTS from Harvard University and an MFA from the University of Alabama. She contributed translations to the poetry collection, The Scar We Know. She is a Fulbright grant recipient. She was awarded the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award for Nonfiction, was an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow, and is an alum of the Tin House Summer Workshop.

Courtney and Madeline will be panelists on Friday at 1:00 p.m. on “Memoir.”

Gloria Amescua is an award-winning author of latest picture book, Abuelita’s Song, a “bilingual story celebrating family and the music that connects us all.” The Spanish version is La canción de abuelita. Gloria’s picture book biography, Child of the Flower-song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua is a Pura Belpré Author Honor Book. It also won three International Latino Book Awards and was a national SCBWI Golden Kite finalist, a RISE Feminist Book Project Top Ten selection, and a co-winner of the Américas Award. Niña del pueblo de floricanto: Luz Jiménez, hija de los nahuas is available. Proud of her Mexican American heritage, Gloria is a native Austinite. Website: https://www.gloriaamescua.com/

Samantha M Clark is the acclaimed author of The Boy, the Boat, and the Beast and Arrow (both published by Simon & Schuster) and American Horse Tales: Hollywood (Penguin Random House), as well as the Gemstone Dragons chapter book series (Bloomsbury). She lives with her husband and two funny dogs in Austin, Texas, and helps other writers through her “Your Writing Mentor” Substack newsletter. Sign up for news and giveaways at www.SamanthaMClark.com. Follow her on BlueSky @samanthamclark.

Gloria and Samantha will be panelists on Friday at 2:00 p.m. on “Kid Lit.”

Callie Collins is a writer and editor from Texas. She cofounded A Strange Object, a small fiction-focused press based in Austin, and she received her MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won several Hopwood Awards. She was a 2018-2019 Zell Postgraduate Fellow in the Helen Zell Writers’ Program and a 2019-2020 Fiction Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Her first two books—Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine, a novel, and a story collection—are forthcoming from Doubleday

Mary Helen Specht is the author of the forthcoming novel Mudlark (July 2026) and the novel Migratory Animals, a New York Times Editors’ Choice and winner of the Texas Institute of Letters Best First Fiction Award and the Writers’ League of Texas Fiction Prize. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Prairie Schooner, and numerous other publications. A Fulbright Scholar to Nigeria and Dobie-Paisano Writing Fellow, Specht currently teaches creative writing at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, where she lives with her family.

Callie and Mary Helen will be panelists on Friday at 2:00 p.m. on “General Fiction.”

Alejandro Puyana, who came to the United States from Venezuela at the age of twenty-six, received his MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. His work has appeared in Tin House, American Short Fiction, The American Scholar, and elsewhere, and his story “Hands of Dirty Children” was reprinted in Best American Short Stories. His debut novel, Freedom Is a Feast, won the Westport Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

James Wade is a 2026 Dobie Paisano Fellow at the University of Texas. His latest novel, Narrow the Road, won the 2026 Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Novel, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and has been longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award.
James is the youngest novelist to win two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America. He is also a recipient of the MPIBA’s prestigious Reading the West Award.

His debut novel, All Things Left Wild, was listed as one of the most influential westerns of the 21st century by True West Magazine and included in the Los Angeles Times’s 1,001 Novels: A Library of America.

James is a five-time finalist for the Austin Chronicle’s Best Writer in Austin award, and his non-fiction work has appeared in Texas Highways, Writers’ Digest, and numerous additional publications. His essay, “The Gospel of Change,” won the 2026 Edwin “Bud” Shrake Award for Excellence in Short Nonfiction.

James was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2026. He lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and children.

Alejandro and James will be panelists on Friday at 3:00 p.m. on “Historical Fiction.”

Liza Anderson is a recent graduate of Yale Law School and a not-so-recent graduate of the University of Texas, where she was the editor in chief of The Daily Texan. She has a background in media law and journalism. She lives in Austin with her husband, two cats, and a small army of houseplants

Marshall Ryan Maresca is a fantasy and science-fiction writer, author of sixteen novels, most of which are part of the Maradaine Saga: Four braided series set amid the bustling streets and crime-ridden districts of the exotic city called Maradaine. He is also the author of the standalone dieselpunk fantasy, The Velocity of Revolution. He is a six-time Hugo finalist as the co-host of the podcast Worldbuilding for Masochists, and has been a playwright, an actor and an amateur chef. He lives in Austin, Texas with his family.

Liza and Marshall will be panelists on Friday at 3:00 p.m. on “Science Fiction & Fantasy.”

Andrew Forrester is a writer and former English teacher whose work has appeared in McSweeney’s and Parents magazine. He holds a PhD in nineteenth-century British literature and lives in Austin, Texas, with his family. How the Story Goes is his first novel.

J. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and #1 International bestselling author of over one hundred novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres.

Though known primarily for her award-winning and internationally bestselling romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list and #1 internationally, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of wide variety of genres.

JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swoon for them.”

In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.

Andrew and Julie will be panelists on Friday at 4:00 p.m. on “Romance.”

Katie Simon is a sexuality and trauma journalist and author of Tell Me What You Like: An Honest Discussion of Sex and Intimacy After Sexual Assault. Their writing has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, Oprah Daily, The Cut, Tin House, Playboy, and elsewhere. Katie is the 2026 Curatorial Scholar at the Kinsey Institute and is on the Austin Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities. They have spoken to audiences at universities, bookstores, and sex shops across the US, and are launching Sex After Blank, a podcast about the unexpected formative experiences that affect how we have sex.

Karen Valby is a writer living in Austin, Texas. Her new book, The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and their Reclamation of Groundbreaking History, is a love letter to her daughters. She is a frequent contributor to Vanity Fair. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Fast Company, Time, Glamour, and Entertainment Weekly, where she has spent fifteen years writing about pop culture.

Katie and Karen will be panelists on Friday at 4:00 p.m. on “Nonfiction.”

Moderators

Jaime deBlanc holds an M.A. in creative writing from the University of Texas at Austin. Her short fiction has been published in Catapult, Juked, and Post Road, and she has been the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship and a Lighthouse Works Fellowship. Her debut novel, After Image, was shortlisted for Best First Novel by International Thriller Writers. She lives in Austin, Texas, where she coaches fiction and memoir writers.

Jaime will be moderating on Friday at 1:00 p.m. on “Mystery / Thriller / Suspense.”

Greg Marshall is a graduate of UT-Austin’s Michener Center for Writers. His work has been anthologized in The Best American Essays he has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell and the Corporation of Yaddo. His memoir, Leg, is a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and was named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post. He lives in Austin with his family.

Greg will be moderating on Friday at 1:00 p.m. on “Memoir.”

Rachel (R.L.) Toalson writes lots of books. For everyone—kids, teens, adults, fiction lovers, poetry lovers, essay lovers. Most of her stories examine the intersection of neurodivergence and mental illness and feature characters who challenge societal norms and shatter misconceptions. She is the author of The Colors of the Rain, The First Magnificent Summer, Love Sivvy: A Novel Inspired By the Life, Letters, and Diaries of Young Sylvia Plath, and My Brother Oliver, among many others. Her books have received awards, been Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections, and are studied as curriculum in English classes. She loves running, reading, writing, and drinking peppermint green tea in her home in San Antonio, Texas, where she lives with her family.

Rachel will be moderating on Friday at 2:00 p.m. on “Kid Lit.”

Jennifer DuBois is the award-winning author of four novels: A Partial History of Lost Causes, Cartwheel, The Spectators, and The Last Language.

Jennifer will be moderating on Friday at 2:00 p.m. on “General Fiction.”

S. Kirk Walsh is a novelist, teacher, and book reviewer. Her novel, The Elephant of Belfast, was published by Counterpoint in 2021 and became a national bestseller. Her work has been published in The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. She is at work on a second novel.

Kirk will be moderating on Friday at 3:00 p.m. on “Historical Fiction.”

Evan Narcisse is the Senior Writer at Brass Lion Entertainment. He’s worked as a screenwriter, producer, and narrative design consultant in video games, comic books, film, and TV, often focusing on the intersection of blackness and pop culture. As a journalist and critic, he wrote for The Atlantic, Time Magazine, Kotaku, and The New York Times, in addition to teaching game journalism at New York University and appearances as an expert guest on CNN and NPR. He’s also the author of the Rise of the Black Panther graphic novel, Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Atlas, and The New Day: Power of Positivity. As a narrative design consultant, he’s worked on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Redfall, Marvel’s Avengers, Gotham Knights, and the award-winning Dot’s Home. He also served as story producer on the HBO Max documentary Milestone Generations, documenting the rise, fall, and rebirth of the groundbreaking black-owned comics company Milestone Media. A native New Yorker, he now lives in Austin, Texas.

Evan will be moderating on Friday at 3:00 p.m. on “Science Fiction & Fantasy.”

Elizabeth Hobbs/Elizabeth Essex is a New Englander born and bred, who spent her childhood roaming the woods and shoreline, making up stories about characters who live far more exciting lives than she. It wasn’t always so—long before she ever set pen to paper, Elizabeth graduated from Hollins College with a B.A. in Classics and Art History, and then earned her M.A. in Nautical Archaeology from Texas A&M University. While she loved the life of an underwater archaeologist, she has found her true calling writing historical mysteries full of wit, wickedness and adventure. Misery Hates Company is the first book in her Marigold Manners Mysteries series, followed by, Murder Made Her Wicked, released in 2025, with the third Meridian of Malice to follow in 2027.

Elizabeth also writes as USA Today Bestselling author of Romance, Elizabeth Essex. Her critically-acclaimed and award-winning Reckless Brides and Highland Brides historical romance series have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, and RWA’s prestigious RITA Award, and have made Top-Ten lists from Romantic Times, The Romance Reviews, and Affaire de Coeur Magazine. Her fifth book, A Breath of Scandal, was awarded Best Historical in the Reader’s Crown 2013.

Elizabeth loves to travel from her home in Texas, where she lives with her husband, the Indispensable Mr. Hobbs, and her darling dogs, Ghillie and Brogue, in an empty nest of an old house filled to the brim with bicycles and books.

Elizabeth will be moderating on Friday at 4:00 p.m. on “Romance.”

Megan Okonsky is a ghostwriter, novelist, and murder mystery party host. Known for her conversational voice and wit, Okonsky specializes in helping business leaders uncover their “hero’s journey.” As a novelist, she writes about cats and queer joy.

Megan will be moderating on Friday at 4:00 p.m. on “Nonfiction.”

Saturday, June 27

Panelists

Jade Wong-Baxter joined the Frances Goldin Literary Agency in 2021, after spending three years at Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents. She is looking for adult literary and upmarket/bookclub fiction, as well as narrative nonfiction. In fiction: Jade is drawn to stories that combine a compelling voice with clear momentum. In nonfiction: across genres, Jade enjoys projects that weave together specific personal narrative with a broader sociological curiosity. Her clients include Chris Belcher (Pretty Baby, Avid Reader; a 2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalist); Delia Cai (Central Places, Ballantine, 2023); and Courtney Preiss (Welcome Home Caroline Kline, 2024, USA Today Bestseller).

Sarah Kocek is the founder of Yellow Bird Editors and the author of the novel Promise Me Something (Albert Whitman). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University, where she taught fiction and poetry to undergraduates. Prior to pursuing her MFA, Sara graduated with a B.A. in English from Yale University. A former full-time editorial intern at Random House and Penguin, she now lives in Austin, Texas, where she worked for several years as the Program Director for the Writers’ League of Texas before launching Yellow Bird.

John Pipkin is the Director of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas-Austin. He is also the Chair of the Selection Committee for the Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, and he is the Director of the UT Oxford Summer Program for 2027. Originally from Baltimore, he holds a Ph.D. in 19th-century British Literature and is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels: Woodsburner (Nan A Talese/Doubleday 2009) which won the New York Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and The Blind Astronomer’s Daughter (Bloomsbury 2016). He has received fellowships to MacDowell, Yaddo, Dobie-Paisano, and the Gullkistan Center for Creativity in Iceland. He is also the recipient of the 2021 Harry Ransom Award for Excellence in Teaching at UT-Austin.

Jade, Sarah, and John will be panelists on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. on “Openings: Setting & Subverting Expectations.”

Dalia Azim was born in Canada and raised in the United States. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, American Short Fiction, and Poets & Writers, among other places. Her first novel, Country of Origin, was published in 2022 and received the Discovery Award from the Writers’ League of Texas. Dalia serves on the boards of Torch Literary Arts and Austin Bat Cave (which she chairs), and she is the COO of the Texas Book Festival.

Amanda Churchill is the author of The Turtle House (Harper Books), the 2025 winner of the Reading the West Award in Debut Fiction, and the upcoming novel The Prophetess of Good Tidings (Harper Books). Her work has been featured in Lit Hub, Hobart Pulp, Witness and other outlets. She was a Writer’s League of Texas Fellow, has received support from Tin House and Community of Writers, and holds a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of North Texas. She lives in Keller, Texas, with her family.

James Wade is a 2026 Dobie Paisano Fellow at the University of Texas. His latest novel, Narrow the Road, won the 2026 Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Novel, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, and has been longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. James is the youngest novelist to win two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America. He is also a recipient of the MPIBA’s prestigious Reading the West Award.

His debut novel, All Things Left Wild, was listed as one of the most influential westerns of the 21st century by True West Magazine and included in the Los Angeles Times’s 1,001 Novels: A Library of America. James is a five-time finalist for the Austin Chronicle’s Best Writer in Austin award, and his non-fiction work has appeared in Texas Highways, Writers’ Digest, and numerous additional publications. His essay, “The Gospel of Change,” won the 2026 Edwin “Bud” Shrake Award for Excellence in Short Nonfiction. James was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2026. He lives and writes in the Texas Hill Country with his wife and children.

Dalia, Amanda, and James will be panelists on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. on “Literary Citizenship: Who, What, Where, Why.”

Christopher Brown is the author of A Natural History of Empty Lots (2024), a “genre-bending blend of naturalism, memoir, and social manifesto” about wild urban spaces, and of the novels Tropic of Kansas (a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award), Rule of Capture and Failed State (a finalist for the Philip K Dick Award). He is currently working on his next nonfiction book, Field Notes From a Near Future, forthcoming from Timber Press.

David Wright Faladé is the author of The New Internationals (2025), Black Cloud Rising (a New York Times Critics’ Pick and one of The New Yorker‘s Best Books of 2022), Away Running (Outstanding International Book by the US Board on Books for Young People), and Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers (a St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Book of 2001). He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and teaches at the University of Illinois.

Carrie R. Moore is the author of the story collection Make Your Way Home, which won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Fiction. Among other publications, her writing has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, Oprah Daily, American Short Fiction, The Sewanee Review, and One Story. She earned her MFA at the Michener Center for Writers, where she won the Keene Prize for Literature and went on to become the inaugural Writer-In-Residence at the Steinbeck Writers’ Retreat. In 2026, the National Book Foundation named her a 5 under 35 honoree. Born in Georgia, she resides in Texas with her husband, where she continues to write about Black love and longing.

Christopher, David, and Carrie will be panelists on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. on “Getting Your Facts Straight: Writing a Research-Driven Book in Fiction & Nonfiction.”

Ashley Lopez is an agent at Massie McQuilkin & Altman Literary Agents with over a decade of publishing experience. Formerly the Director of Foreign Rights and an agent at WLA Books, she has worked on international and New York Times bestsellers, bringing a global perspective to her authors. Ashley received her MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College. A member of the Association of American Literary Agents, Ashley represents literary and book club fiction, grounded speculative, horror, thrillers, narrative and practical nonfiction, as well as select poetry and YA.

Clare Mao is an agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, where she represents adult fiction and nonfiction. Clare grew up in Queens, New York, attended Grinnell College in Iowa, and worked at Janklow & Nesbit and Europa Content before joining SJGA in 2024. Across genres, she is drawn to writers who are curious, thoughtful, and critical, who have expansive interests and concerns including and outside of writing, and who have a knack for blending genres and forms. Most importantly, she wants to represent writers who are having fun. Clare’s clients include: Ifrah F. Ahmed, Tanya Bush, Johanna Hedva, Sally Wen Mao, Emily Mester, Rioghnach Robinson, and more.

Alex Reubert is pursuing books that, either by style or story, demand he keep reading. He loves novels set outside the U.S., and stories that offer the reader a new or unconventional way of seeing. Novels that skew upmarket and literary are welcome, as are any narrators looking back and trying to make sense of their life.

For nonfiction, he’s interested in memoir, psychology, narrative, literary studies, art history, popular science, philosophy, and cultural studies. Writers that instill a sense of curiosity and wonder in others, no matter the subject, should get in touch and tell him about their work.

Ashley, Clare, and Alex will be panelists on Saturday 10:15 a.m. on “Agents on Agenting: Understanding What an Agent Does (& Doesn’t) Do.”

Drew Buxton is a writer from San Antonio. His short story collection So Much Heart won the 2024 Sergio Troncoso Award for First Book of Fiction. His work has been featured in Southwest Review, Joyland, The Drift, and Vice among other publications. His debut novel Daytona Teddy Riggs will be published by Hub City Press in the fall.

Kelsey Cox received her MFA in Fiction from Purdue University and lives with her husband and two daughters in the Texas Hill Country. Her debut thriller, Party of Liars, was a USA Today bestseller and winner of the ITW Award for Best First Novel. Pretty Dead Things is forthcoming.

Drew, Callie, and Kelsey will be panelists on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on “Loveable to Hateable: Creating Compelling Characters.”

Claire Bowman is a writer, editor, and the author of Dear Creatures. Her poetry has been published in Narrative Magazine, PANK, Black Warrior Review, A Dozen Nothing, and elsewhere. As the Editor in Chief and co-Executive Director at Host Publications, Claire champions the work of poets from historically marginalized backgrounds. She co-hosts the long-standing feminist reading series, I Scream Social, and is a passionate advocate for Austin’s literary community.

Kate McMullen is the Associate Director of Hub City Writers Project and Associate Publisher of Hub City Press. She acquires and edits literary fiction and designs, produces, and promotes books from new and overlooked Southern writers, and oversees daily operations. Born and raised in Piedmont, North Carolina, she received her MFA in fiction from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she served as the publishing assistant for Lookout Books. Her fiction has appeared in Ninth Letter, Carve Magazine, The Boiler, BULL, and elsewhere. She lives in Upstate South Carolina with her spouse.

Jill Meyers is the editorial director of A Strange Object, an imprint of Deep Vellum that publishes award-winning fiction and nonfiction. Her writers have received wide acclaim and honors, including the Whiting Award, The Believer Book Award, the Discovery Award from the Writers’ League of Texas, and have been named Finalist in Fiction for the National Book Award. Formerly, Jill worked on staff at Texas Monthly and edited the literary magazine American Short Fiction. She lives in Austin with her family.

Claire, Kate, and Jill will be panelists on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on “The Small(er) Press Experience.”

Casey Gerald is the author of There Will Be No Miracles Here, a memoir that was named a Best Book of 2018 by NPR and The New York Times, a finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Award, a longlist selection for the Carnegie Medal for excellence in Nonfiction among others. Gerald’s essays include “The Black Art of Escape,” published in New York Magazine and selected by Longform as one of the best essays of 2019; and “Leon Bridges After Dark,” a Texas Monthly cover profile that won the 2022 National City & Regional Magazine Award. Prior to his writing career, Gerald co-founded and served as CEO of MBAs Across America (MBAx), his TED Talks have been viewed over 4 million times, and he opened for President Barack Obama at SXSW in 2016. A native of Oak Cliff, Texas, Gerald attended Dallas Public Schools before college at Yale, where he played varsity football and co-founded the Yale Black Men’s Union. He later received an MBA from Harvard Business School. Casey is a Senior Fellow of Humanity in Action, a Presidential Leadership Scholars Fellow, and a former Aspen Words Writer-in-Residence. He serves on the board of Kickstarter, PBC. He is a New America fellow and resides in Waxahachie, Texas.

Melissa Rodman represents both nonfiction and fiction featuring strong characters and sharp prose. She received her B.A. in History & Literature, magna cum laude, from Harvard University and in college interned at Picador USA. Prior to joining Nancy Yost Literary Agency, she served as research associate in entertainment, media, and sports at Harvard Business School and editorial associate at Harvard University Press, before earning an M.A. at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute where she received the Marlene Sanders Award and interned at The New Republic.

A native New Yorker, when not working she often can be found writing articles or volunteer ushering at off-Broadway shows.

Mallary Tenore Tarpley is an award-winning author of SLIP and an assistant professor of practice at the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication and the McCombs School of Business, where she teaches journalism and writing. Mallary specializes in a variety of topics, including longform feature writing, narrative nonfiction, personal essay writing, solutions journalism and nonprofit journalism.

SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery blends memoir, reporting, and research to explore the under-discussed complexities of eating disorders and recovery from them. While working on the book, Mallary received a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support her science-related reporting. An internationally recognized book, SLIP won the Association of American Publishers’ 2026 PROSE Excellence Award for Biological and Life Sciences. It also won first place in the Clinical Medicine category and was a finalist for Outstanding Work by a Trade Publisher. The book is available in Canada, the UK and Australia, and a Spanish version (titled Desliz) will be published in June 2026 for distribution in the U.S., Latin America, and Spain.

Mallary has traveled the country giving talks about eating disorder prevention and recovery, and what she calls “the middle place” between acute sickness and full recovery. She also frequently delivers memoir-writing training for organizations such as The Poynter Institute and the Writers’ League of Texas.

Mallary started her time at UT Austin as associate director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, an international training and outreach center for journalists. Previously, she was executive director the nonprofit Images & Voices of Hope, where she developed a storytelling genre called restorative narrative — stories that show how people and communities are finding meaningful pathways forward in the aftermath of trauma. Mallary began her journalism career at The Poynter Institute, a world-renowned journalism think tank, where she served as managing editor of Poynter.org and taught professional journalists how to ethically use social media.

Mallary’s articles and personal essays have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, TIME Magazine and Teen Vogue, among other publications.

She maintains a weekly newsletter, “Write at the Edge,” featuring writing tips and best practices (mallary.substack.com)

Mallary holds a bachelor’s degrees in English and Spanish from Providence College and a master’s of fine arts in nonfiction writing from Goucher College. She lives in the Austin area with her husband and two children.

Casey, Melissa, and Mallary will be panelists on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on “Memoir Plus: Writing a Blended Personal Narrative.”

Jem Chambers-Black is a co-founder of Starling Literary + Media and a literary agent who loves championing storytellers across age categories. Her love of reading started in a very on-brand way: with pizza. Her school handed out personal pizza coupons for every book read, and Jem was instantly hooked.

Before becoming an agent, Jem spent over a decade as an Assistant Director in film and television. She later shifted her focus to publishing, and as a true generalist, she represents authors and illustrators creating picture books, chapter books, middle grade, YA, adult fiction, and graphic novels.

Elizabeth Copps is a Co-Founding Agent at Confluence Literary Agency. After obtaining an internship at a boutique literary agency, everything sparked for this starry-eyed book lover. In 2010, Elizabeth Copps drained her savings, left Florida, and moved to New York City to break into publishing. After a decade with Maria Carvainis Agency, she founded Copps Literary Services in 2021 in her current hometown of Englewood, CO. She brings 16 years of publishing experience and an award-winning client list to this new adventure.

Elizabeth’s philosophy is simple: build relationships across the industry that are equitable, transparent, and built to last.

She represents thought-provoking upmarket and commercial fiction for adult, YA, and middle grade audiences and is particularly drawn to stories with lush prose, complex characters, and creative genre blends. She gravitates toward boundary-pushing horror + speculative fiction and is interested in the exploration of psychological terror, gothic atmospheres, macabre humor, or horror reflecting our socio-political anxieties. She has a particular soft spot for dark mythology and folklore retellings and unexpected love stories.

Emma Dries is an agent at Triangle House Literary. She began her career in editorial and worked on bestselling and award-winning books at Alfred A. Knopf, Doubleday, Ecco, and Flatiron Books. She has a B.A. in History from the University of Chicago and an M.F.A in Fiction from Johns Hopkins University.

Jem, Elizabeth, and Emma will be panelists on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on “Blank Meets Blank: Understanding the Role of Comp Titles.”

Bev Chukwu is a Nigerian American writer-director, script consultant, and the Executive Director of Ayagozie Productions. Her narrative short film projects have screened at the African Film Festival Atlanta, Women in Horror Film Festival, Cine Las Americas, AGLIFF, and more. Along with her achievements as a filmmaker, Bev’s screenplay Prince of Lavendale Street was the feature winner in the 2021 BlueCat Screenplay Competition, and her video essay “Sometimes Black” is now used as educational material at the University of Texas at Austin. She has spent over seven years working in various mental health arenas and a year providing behavior therapy to neurodiverse youth and adults. Bev has received fellowships from the Black List x WIF Episodic Lab; Google’s YouTube Originals Black Voices Creator Program, which also provided financial support for her narrative short film “Princess”; and the James A. Michener Center for Writers, where she received an MFA in screenwriting and fiction.

For over three years, Bev served as a Development Executive for Pipeline Media, reading and elevating the work of writers worldwide. Bev continues to advocate for filmmakers as an independent script consultant, EA to the Head of Film and Creative Media at the Austin Film Society, and through her relationships teaching for the nationally acclaimed Torch Literary Arts organization, the Writers League of Texas, Austin Bat Cave, and other local non-profits. In 2023, alongside Maryan Nagy Captan, Bev co-founded Ayagozie Productions, an independent production company that focuses on culturally inclusive storytelling in the Texas area.

Jeanette Horn holds an MFA from The University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she received a Maytag Fellowship. Her debut novel, Play, With Knives, was released by Regal House Publishing last year, and her poetry has appeared in Margie, Poetry International, Stand, Washington Square, and other literary journals. She lives in Austin, Texas.

John A. McDermott coordinates the creative writing program at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, he holds degrees from UW-Madison, Marquette University, and UW-Milwaukee. His debut novel, The Last Spirits of Manhattan, was published in October 2025. He is also a former member of the WLT’s Board of Directors. You can learn more about him at www.johnamcdermott.net

Bev, Jeanette, and John will be panelists on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on “Writing Cinematic Stories.”

David Wright Faladé is the author of The New Internationals (2025), Black Cloud Rising (a New York Times Critics’ Pick and one of The New Yorker‘s Best Books of 2022), Away Running (Outstanding International Book by the US Board on Books for Young People), and Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers (a St. Louis Post-Dispatch Best Book of 2001). He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and teaches at the University of Illinois.

S. Kirk Walsh is a novelist, teacher, and book reviewer. Her novel, The Elephant of Belfast, was published by Counterpoint in 2021, and became a national bestseller. Her work has been published in The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. She is at work on a second novel.

Amanda Wenger is a Houston-based writer and the recipient of an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant to finish a first novel. Her work has been supported by Hedgebrook, the Vermont Studio Center, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the McCormack Writing Center, and the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. In addition to being a former FORGE NYC Fellow and Writers’ League of Texas Fellow, Amanda serves as President of the Writers’ League of Texas Board of Directors.

David, Kirk, and Amanda will be panelists on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on “The Gift of Space & Time: Landing the Grant, Residency, or Fellowship.”

Ramona Reeves’ first book of fiction, It Falls Gently All Around and Other Stories, won the 2022 Drue Heinz Literature Prize and was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Her book also received the 2022 Texas Institute of Letters award for Best First Book of Fiction and was highlighted in The Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, Southern Review of Books, and others. She was a 2024 judge for the Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award and has taught creative writing and served as an associate editor for Kallisto Gaia Press. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Texas Highways, Ninth Letter, Post Road, The Southampton Review, and others. She lives with her wife in Austin.

Carrie, Ramona, and Alex will be panelists on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on “Writing & Publishing Short Fiction.”

Emma Dries is an agent at Triangle House Literary. She began her career in editorial and worked on bestselling and award-winning books at Alfred A. Knopf, Doubleday, Ecco, and Flatiron Books. She has a B.A. in History from the University of Chicago and an M.F.A in Fiction from Johns Hopkins University.

Mina Hamedi grew up in Istanbul, Turkey before moving to New York in 2010. She holds a BA in Nonfiction from NYU and an MFA in Nonfiction from Columbia University. She began her career in publishing in 2016. She joined Janklow & Nesbit Associates in 2018 and represents adult literary fiction and narrative nonfiction with a focus on international stories and writers.

Tia Ikemoto is a Literary Agent at Creative Artists Agency, based in New York City. She began her career at ICM Partners in 2019 assisting the co-head of the Publishing department and joined CAA in 2022 following the agency’s acquisition of ICM. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in Communication and a minor in Business. Tia represents a diverse range of nonfiction and fiction across the commercial to literary spectrum.

Emma, Mina, and Tia will be panelists on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on “Publishing in the Age of AI: What Authors Should Know.”

Christopher Brown is the author of A Natural History of Empty Lots (2024), a “genre-bending blend of naturalism, memoir, and social manifesto” about wild urban spaces, and of the novels Tropic of Kansas (a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award), Rule of Capture and Failed State (a finalist for the Philip K Dick Award). He is currently working on his next nonfiction book, Field Notes From a Near Future, forthcoming from Timber Press.

Kimberly Garza is the author of the critically acclaimed novel-in-stories The Last Karankawas (2022), a New York Times Editors’ Choice and an Indie Next pick. Her essays and stories have appeared in Texas Highways, Copper Nickel, TriQuarterly, Creative Nonfiction, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Texas, and in 2024 she was named a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellow. A native Texan, she is associate professor of English and director of Creative Writing at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her new novel, Between You a River, will be released in December.

Mary Helen Specht is the author of the forthcoming novel Mudlark (July 2026) and the novel Migratory Animals, a New York Times Editors’ Choice and winner of the Texas Institute of Letters Best First Fiction Award and the Writers’ League of Texas Fiction Prize. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Prairie Schooner, and numerous other publications. A Fulbright Scholar to Nigeria and Dobie-Paisano Writing Fellow, Specht currently teaches creative writing at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, where she lives with her family.

Christopher, Kimberly, and Mary Helen will be panelists on Saturday at 3:45 on “More than Background: Writing the Natural World.”

Lucas Schaefer’s debut novel, The Slip, is the winner of the 2025 Kirkus Prize for fiction and was named one of the New York Times‘ Notable Books of 2025 and one of the Washington Post‘s 10 Best Books of 2025. He lives with his family in Austin.

Madeline Vosch is a writer, translator, and professor. Her first book, Undead: A Memoir, was published this April, from Beacon Press. Her work has been published in Ploughshares, The Washington Post, and The Rumpus, among others. She holds an MTS from Harvard University and an MFA from the University of Alabama. She contributed translations to the poetry collection, The Scar We Know. She is a Fulbright grant recipient. She was awarded the Ploughshares Emerging Writer Award for Nonfiction, was an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow, and is an alum of the Tin House Summer Workshop.

Kelsey, Lucas, and Madeline will be panelists on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. on “Surviving (& Thriving Through) Your Debut.”

Robert Jackson Bennett is the author of the Hugo Award-winning novel The Tainted Cup and its sequel A Drop of Corruption, as well as The Divine Cities trilogy and The Founders Trilogy.

His work has received the Edgar Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Phillip K. Dick Citation of Excellence, and he has been shortlisted for the World Fantasy, British Fantasy, and Locus Awards. He also dug a very good french drain in his backyard back in 2019.

Sarah Cypher is the author of The Skin and Its Girl, a Stonewall Honor Book also shortlisted for the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. Her work has received support from Austin’s Wild Basin Creative Research Center, the Headlands Center for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and the Bread Loaf Environmental Writers Conference. She currently serves as the executive director of RAWI, which means “storyteller” in Arabic and is a space-making organization for writers of Southwest Asian and North African descent. She grew up in a Lebanese family near Pittsburgh and now lives here in Austin, Texas, with her wife.

Maeve MacLysaght is a literary agent at Aevitas Creative Management representing commercial genre fiction and graphic novels for all ages. She is drawn most to stories with big, campy stakes but surprising emotional cores, lovably immoral characters, queer coded villains, and people kissing while things explode. The goal of her list is to increase the amount of queer and BIPOC joy in the world, and to make space for marginalized authors to rework the tropes that historically oppressed them.

Robert, Sarah, and Maeve will be panelists on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. on “From Otherworldly to Grounded Speculative: Exploring the Sci-Fi-Fantasy Spectrum.”

Gloria’s picture book biography, Child of the Flower-song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua is a Pura Belpré Author Honor Book. It also won three International Latino Book Awards and was a national SCBWI Golden Kite finalist, a RISE Feminist Book Project Top Ten selection, and a co-winner of the Américas Award. Niña del pueblo de floricanto: Luz Jiménez, hija de los nahuas is available. Proud of her Mexican American heritage, Gloria is a native Austinite. Website: https://www.gloriaamescua.com/

Amy Bishop-Wycisk is an agent with Trellis Literary Management. With almost a decade of experience, her list is wide-ranging, including adult fiction and nonfiction and select young adult titles. Her authors’ books have been NYT, USA Today, and indie bestsellers, a Reese’s Book Club selection, James Beard Award and Edgar Award winners, Indie Next picks, and Book of the Month and B&N Monthly selections. You can find her on Instagram at @abw.books.

Taylore Martindale Kean is an agent with Full Circle Literary, actively acquiring young adult fiction, middle grade fiction, and illustration. She is particularly interested in finding unique and unforgettable voices, stories that stay with you, and diverse characters and authors. More than anything, Taylor is looking for character-driven stories that bring the world vividly to life and voices with impact, regardless of genre or category. Her clients include Anoosha Syed, Tirzah Price, David Bowles, and more. www.fullcircleliterary.com

Madeline Kay Sneed is a Texas novelist. She was born and raised in Houston, a city she dearly loves, despite its sports franchises so frequently breaking her heart. She is the author of two novels: The Golden Season and Today Tonight Forever.

Gloria, Amy, Taylor, and Madeline will be panelists on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. on “The Agent-Author Relationship.”

Moderators

Rose Smith’s writing can be found in The Missouri Review, Craft, Five Points, and The Swannanoa Review. She is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She lives in Austin, Texas. Her debut novel, The Shared Life of Egan and Lucian, will be published on November 3, 2026.

Rose will be moderating on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. on “Openings: Setting & Subverting Expectations” & at 3:45 on “More than Background: Writing the Natural World.”

Sarah will be moderating on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. on “Literary Citizenship: Who, What, Where, Why.”

Scott Semegran is an award-winning writer of ten books. BlueInk Review described him best as “a gifted writer, with a wry sense of humor.” His latest book is Starman After Midnight, a finalist for Humor in the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards. His nine previous books include The Codger and the Sparrow (Discovery Prize winner for Fiction in the 2024 Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards), The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island (first-place winner for Middle-Grade/Young Adult fiction in the 2021 Writer’s Digest Book Awards), and To Squeeze a Prairie Dog (winner of the 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Gold Medal for Humor). He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English. He is the co-ambassador of the Austin chapter of the Authors Guild.

Scott will be moderating on Saturday 10:15 a.m. on “Getting Your Facts Straight: Writing a Research-Driven Book in Fiction & Nonfiction.”

Maya Perez is a writer/producer as well as Screenwriting Area Head and an Assistant Professor of Practice at The University of Texas at Austin. She was a co-producer on a romantic drama series produced by Ava DuVernay for Starz, an executive story editor on Showtime’s American Rust Season 2, and an executive producer on EMMY Award-winning unscripted interview series Austin Film Festival’s On Story on PBS for eleven seasons. Her short stories and essays have appeared in Texas Monthly, American Short Fiction, Electric Literature, Joyland, and more.

Maya will be moderating on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. on “Agents on Agenting: Understanding What an Agent Does (& Doesn’t) Do” & at 2:30 p.m. on “Writing Cinematic Stories.”

Jose Rodriguez is a first-generation Latine writer based in Austin, Texas. He is the Communications & PR Manager for Texas Book Festival, and a writer of prose and poetry. Previously, he’s volunteered for the Writers’ League of Texas and Austin Bat Cave, and was a contributing editor for STORY Magazine.

Jose will be moderating on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on “Loveable to Hateable: Creating Compelling Characters.”

Bianca Alyssa Pérez is a poet & educator born and raised in South Texas. Her chapbook, Gemini Gospel, was the winner of Host Publication’s Chapbook Contest in Spring 2023. Her debut poetry collection, snake breath, is the winner of Hub City Press’ 2026 Deep Line Poetry Prize and is forthcoming Spring 2027. Her work is published in these beautiful places: Porter House Review, Infrarealista Review, New York Quarterly, Poetry Daily, Praisesong for the People Anthology (edited by Amanda Johnston), The Texas Observer, The Baltimore Review, the Bangalore Review & forthcoming in an anthology from The University of Nevada Press. She is also the co-host of the horror podcast, “Basement Girls,” with writer, Steph Grossman. Find more chisme at her website: biancaalyssaperez.com

Bianca will be moderating on Saturday at 11:30 a.m on “The Small(er) Press Experience.”

Zahie El Kouri (Za-hee-yah) holds a B.A. from Williams College, a J.D. from Cornell Law School, and an M.F.A. from New School University. Her work has been published in Dinarzad’s Children: An Anthology of Arab-American Literature, Mizna, Ars Medica, and Brain, Child. Her novel-in-progress is represented by Mary Krienke of Sterling Lord Literistic. In addition to writing and parenting, she is a certified life coach and hypnotist for ADHD creatives.

Zahie will be moderating on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on “Memoir Plus: Writing a Blended Personal Narrative.”

Sam Babiak earned a B.A. in English Literature with a certificate in Creative Writing with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining Aevitas Creative Management as the Operations Assistant in 2023, she was the Program Director for the Writers’ League of Texas. She loves talking to writers about their craft and has moderated panels and conversations with the WLT, the Texas Book Festival, the San Antonio Book Festival, HavenCon, and BookPeople. Originally from Laredo, Texas, she is based in Austin, Texas.

Sam will be moderating on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on “Blank Meets Blank: Understanding the Role of Comp Titles” & at 3:45 p.m. on “The Agent-Author Relationship.”

Diamond Gizelle Braxton “MANTÉ” (they/she) is queer, Black and Mexican American writer, editor, publisher, and educator based in Texas. Their work is published or forthcoming in Southern Humanities Review, Autostraddle, Best of the Net, Best Microfiction, Foglifter, The Forge, and the “I Love Us: Queer on the Borderlands” Anthology (Flowersong Press, 2026). They were awarded the 2025 Carol Shields Residency at Hedgebrook and are the 2026 Residency fellow for Black and/or Indigenous writers at SAFTA. She is also an alumni of Tin House and Lambda Literary retreats. They are the Founder and Director of Abode Press, a 501(c)3 run by people of color and queer/trans folks based in Texas where they publish books that remind them of home. Learn more at diamondgizellebraxton.com

Diamond will be moderating on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on “The Gift of Space & Time: Landing the Grant, Residency, or Fellowship.”

Sergio Muro is a writer from Laredo, Texas. He is a Senior Editor and the Insider Prize Director at American Short Fiction; he is also an Editor for the upcoming Spanish section, El Alboroto, at The Rumpus. Sergio is at work on a short story collection.

Sergio will be moderating on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on “Writing & Publishing Short Fiction.”

J Evan Parks is a writer and creative living in Austin, TX, where he works as the Executive Director of the Writers’ League of Texas. He is a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin. Currently, he writes for various tabletop role-playing games, with both officially published content as well as independently published supplements. His game, Ritual Deck, was published by Plus One Exp in November 2025.

Evan will be moderating on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on “Publishing in the Age of AI: What Authors Should Know.”

Rachel Monroe is a contributing writer at The New Yorker, where she primarily covers Texas and the Southwest. She is also the author of Savage Appetites: True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession (Scribner, 2019), which was named a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a best book of the year by Esquire, the Chicago Tribune, and Jezebel. Her work has appeared in Best American Travel Writing, the Atlantic, Harper’s, the New York Times Magazine, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships from the Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, the Fulbright Foundation, and MacDowell. She has lived in Texas since 2012.

Rachel will be moderating on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. on “Surviving (& Thriving Through) Your Debut.”

Lore Arnold is a writer and creative living in Austin, TX and the Program & Member Services Manager for the Writers’ League of Texas. They graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a double major in geology and chemistry, a minor in English, and an honors certificate in creative writing. As a writer, they are currently adapting their undergraduate thesis, Yours is the Earth, into a novella, codifying their TTRPG game world, The Undercity, and working on several short stories. In their free time, they run a homebrew fifth edition D&D campaign, play board games with friends, and chat about media.

Lore will be moderating on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. on “From Otherworldly to Grounded Speculative: Exploring the Sci-Fi-Fantasy Spectrum.”

Sunday, June 28

Panelists

Mary Pauline Lowry is the author of Last Night Was Killer (William Morrow, pub date: July 7) a comedic murder mystery set in the world of amateur pole dancing. She’s also the author of two previous novels, The Roxy Letters and Wildfire. Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, O Magazine, and The Millions.

Scott Semegran is an award-winning writer of ten books. BlueInk Review described him best as “a gifted writer, with a wry sense of humor.” His latest book is Starman After Midnight, a finalist for Humor in the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards. His nine previous books include The Codger and the Sparrow (Discovery Prize winner for Fiction in the 2024 Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards), The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island (first-place winner for Middle-Grade/Young Adult fiction in the 2021 Writer’s Digest Book Awards), and To Squeeze a Prairie Dog (winner of the 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award Gold Medal for Humor). He lives in Austin, Texas with his wife. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English. He is the co-ambassador of the Austin chapter of the Authors Guild.

Sherry Thomas is USA Today-bestselling author. Sherry Thomas decided years ago that her goal in life is to write every kind of story she enjoys reading. Thus far she has published romance, fantasy, mystery, young adult, and three books inspired by the martial arts epics she grew up devouring. Her works regularly receive starred reviews and best-of-the-year honors from trade publications, including such outlets as the New York Times and National Public Radio.

Her latest release, The Librarians, a contemporary mystery set in her neighborhood branch library in Austin, Texas, has been chosen as the Libby Award Best Mystery of 2026.

Sherry emigrated from China at age 13 and English is her second language.

Mary, Scott, and Sherry will be panelists on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on “Finding (& Sticking To) Your Why.”

Maya Golden Bethany is an Associated Press-winning, Emmy-nominated journalist in Tyler, Texas. She founded the 1 in 3 Foundation, supporting low-income survivors of sexual trauma. Her memoir, The Return Trip, was re-released in hardcover in 2025 by Rising Action Publishing and Simon & Schuster. Her debut political thriller, The Senator, followed in April 2025. Maya has written for outlets including Newsweek, Salon, BlackGirlNerds.com, and Insider. A Parent Writer Fellow at the Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing, she is a Texas A&M graduate and a member of the Writers’ League of Texas.

Richard Z. Santos is the author of Trust Me and the editor of A Night of Screams: Latino Horror Stories. His fiction and essays have appeared in Texas Monthly, Slate, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Oxford American, The Rumpus, Los Angeles Review of Books, Like the Wind, Austin Noir (Akashic Books), Lone Stars Rising (Harper Wave), and more.

Mary, Megan, and Richard will be panelists on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on “The Unagented Book Deal.”

Leakan Zea Kemp is a writer living in Austin, Texas. Her debut novel, Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet was a 2022 Pura Belpré Honor recipient and her most recent novel, An Appetite for Miracles won the Jean Flynn award for YA fiction and the Alexandria Award from the University of Notre Dame. The Spanish translation of her debut picture book, Una Corona para Corina was named a Campoy-Ada Award Honor book and her picture book Desert Song was awarded the Tomás Rivera Book Award in the Young Readers category for 2025, the Brigid Erin Flynn Award for Best Picture Book from the Texas Institute of Letters, as well as the award for Best Picture Book from the Writers League of Texas.

She has three objectives when it comes to storytelling: to make people laugh, cry, and crave Mexican food. Her work celebrates Chicane grit, resilience, creativity, and joy while exploring themes of identity and mental health.

Jem, Samantha, and Leakan will be panelists on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on “Writing for Young Readers in the Age of the Book Ban.”

Christopher Combemale is an associate agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. He is looking for a broad range of literary fiction, voice driven upmarket fiction with a clear hook, and select fantasy with unique or multi-cultural worldbuilding. In non-fiction he is interested in nature, history, journalism, and expert-driven projects. He does not represent memoir. His clients have won the Baillie Gifford, Carnegie Medal, and James Beard awards. Select clients include Manon Steffan Ros, Barry Lopez (Estate), Scott Weidensaul, Wade Davis, Stuart Pennebaker, and Agnieszka Szpila. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar and now lives in Brooklyn.

Nidhi Pugalia is an editor at Viking Penguin. She publishes fiction, primarily science fiction and fantasy novels ranging from the literary and speculative to the upmarket commercial, with a particular emphasis on books that can cross with other categories like romance, historical fiction, psychological suspense, mystery and thriller. She also selectively publishes smart upmarket literary romantic novels that range from the bittersweet to the giddy. In all areas she prioritizes books that celebrate LGBTQ+ voices and BIPOC cultures and perspectives. She is the editor of such books as instant national bestseller A Resistance of Witches by Morgan Ryan, the Book of the Month club pick A Thousand Times Before by Asha Thanki, New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan, and the Sunday Times bestselling series Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson. Among the authors she has worked with are Sally Wen Mao, Sahaj Kaur Kohli, Lily Meyer, Shirlene Obuobi, Tana French, Neel Patel, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Megan Barnard, and Sam Beckbessinger.

A native New Yorker, when not working she often can be found writing articles or volunteer ushering at off-Broadway shows.

Christopher, Nidhi, and Melissa will be panelists on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on “House Hunting: The Book Submission Process.”

Amanda Churchill is the author of The Turtle House (Harper Books), the 2025 winner of the Reading the West Award in Debut Fiction, and the upcoming novel The Prophetess of Good Tidings (Harper Books). Her work has been featured in Lit Hub, Hobart Pulp, Witness, and other outlets. She was a Writer’s League of Texas Fellow, has received support from Tin House and Community of Writers, and holds a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of North Texas. She lives in Keller, Texas, with her family.

John Pipkin is the Director of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas-Austin. He is also the Chair of the Selection Committee for the Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, and he is the Director of the UT Oxford Summer Program for 2027. Originally from Baltimore, he holds a Ph.D. in 19th-century British Literature and is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels: Woodsburner (Nan A Talese/Doubleday 2009) which won the New York Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and The Blind Astronomer’s Daughter (Bloomsbury 2016). He has received fellowships to MacDowell, Yaddo, Dobie-Paisano, and the Gullkistan Center for Creativity in Iceland. He is also the recipient of the 2021 Harry Ransom Award for Excellence in Teaching at UT-Austin.

Chaitali Sen is the author of the novel The Pathless Sky and the short story collection A New Race of Men from Heaven, winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. Her stories and essays have been published by Catapult, Colorado Review, Copper Nickel, Ecotone, LitHub, New England Review, Texas Observer, and other print and online journals. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing and Literature at University of Houston, and a recipient of the Inprint J. A. and Isabel M. Elkins Foundation Fellowship. Her new novel, Girlhood, is forthcoming from Grove, Atlantic.

Amanda, John, and Chaitali will be panelists on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. on “Three Acts & Beyond: Finding Your Story’s Structure.”

Jenny Tinghui Zhang is the author of the novels Superfan and Four Treasures of the Sky, named an Idaho Book of the Year and short- and long-listed for the Chautauqua Prize, the Dublin Literary Award, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her work has appeared in Elle, Vogue, Foreign Policy, Texas Highways, and elsewhere. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree and lives in Austin, Texas.

Ramona, Katie, and Jenny will be panelists on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. on “Buzz Beyond Social Media: Essays, Interviews, & Reviews.”

Liza Anderson is a recent graduate of Yale Law School and a not-so-recent graduate of the University of Texas, where she was the editor-in-chief of The Daily Texan. She has a background in media law and journalism. She lives in Austin with her husband, two cats, and a small army of houseplants.

J. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner)is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal, and #1 International bestselling author of over one hundred novels, novellas, and short stories in a variety of genres.

Though known primarily for her award-winning and internationally bestselling romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list and #1 internationally, JK has been writing full-time for over a decade in a variety of genres.

In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment, and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.

Alyssa Morris is an agent at Trellis Literary Management and the author of the popular substack “Romancing the Phone,” a newsletter about BookTok and romance trends that was named one of the 8 best newsletters demystifying the publishing industry by Electric Literature. When Alyssa isn’t reading, working, or being extremely online, her hobbies include baking and hiking.

Liza, Julie, and Alyssa will be panelists on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. on “Getting Spice Right: Finding Your Place in the Romance Spectrum.”

Kate and Nidhi will be panelists on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. on “Editors on Editing: What Authors Should Know.”

Tia Ikemoto is a Literary Agent at Creative Artists Agency, based in New York City. She began her career at ICM Partners in 2019 assisting the co-head of the Publishing department and joined CAA in 2022 following the agency’s acquisition of ICM. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in Communication and a minor in Business. Tia represents a diverse range of nonfiction and fiction across the commercial to literary spectrum.

SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery blends memoir, reporting, and research to explore the under-discussed complexities of eating disorders and recovery from them. While working on the book, Mallary received a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to support her science-related reporting. An internationally recognized book, SLIP won the Association of American Publishers’ 2026 PROSE Excellence Award for Biological and Life Sciences. It also won first place in the Clinical Medicine category and was a finalist for Outstanding Work by a Trade Publisher. The book is available in Canada, the UK and Australia, and a Spanish version (titled Desliz) will be published in June 2026 for distribution in the U.S., Latin America, and Spain.

She maintains a weekly newsletter, “Write at the Edge,” featuring writing tips and best practices (mallary.substack.com)

Jenny Tinghui Zhang is the author of the novels Superfan and Four Treasures of the Sky, named an Idaho Book of the Year and short- and long-listed for the Chautauqua Prize, the Dublin Literary Award, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her work has appeared in Elle, Vogue, Foreign Policy, Texas Highways, and elsewhere. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree and lives in Austin, Texas.

Tia, Mallary, and Jenny will be panelists on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on “Bows, Knots, & Loose Threads: Finding Your Book’s Best Ending.”

John A. McDermott coordinates the creative writing program at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, he holds degrees from UW-Madison, Marquette University, and UW-Milwaukee. His debut novel, The Last Spirits of Manhattan, was published by Atria Books/Simon and Schuster in October, 2025. He is also a former member of the WLT’s Board of Directors. You can learn more about him at www.johnamcdermott.net

Jeanette, John, and Lucas will be panelists on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on “Keeping the Faith through the Many-Year Book Project.”

Meg Gardiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seventeen novels. Her thrillers have won the Edgar Award and been summer reading picks by The Today Show and O, the Oprah magazine. A former lawyer, two-time president of Mystery Writers of America, and three-time Jeopardy! champion, Gardiner lives in Austin.

Allison Hunter began her publishing career in 2005 working for the Los Angeles-based literary publicity firm Kim-from-L.A, and was an agent at InkWell Management, the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, and Janklow & Nesbit before co-founding Trellis Literary Management in the fall of 2021. Allison is actively acquiring literary and commercial adult fiction, especially focusing on upmarket book club and women’s fiction, romance and rom coms, thrillers and domestic suspense. She loves great storytelling and unforgettable characters, and is always looking for female friendship stories, campus novels, great love stories, family epics, and books about class and cultural identity. She would especially love to find a smart beach read by an author underrepresented in that category. In the non-fiction space, Allison is acquiring select memoir, narrative nonfiction, and the occasional prescriptive project. She loves working with journalists and with experts in their field, and is always looking for pop culture, women’s issues and for books that speak to the current cultural climate. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, she now lives in Austin, Texas, after over a decade in New York City.

Richard Z. Santos’ is the author of Trust Me and the editor of A Night of Screams: Latino Horror Stories. His fiction and essays have appeared in Texas Monthly, Slate, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Oxford American, The Rumpus, Los Angeles Review of Books, Like the Wind, Austin Noir (Akashic Books), Lone Stars Rising (Harper Wave), and more.

Meg, Allison, and Richard will be panelists on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on “Tick, Tick, Boom: Mastering Time & Stakes in Your Mystery or Thriller.”

Christopher Combemale is an associate agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. He is looking for a broad range of literary fiction, voice driven upmarket fiction with a clear hook, and select fantasy with unique or multi-cultural worldbuilding. In non-fiction he is interested in nature, history, journalism, and expert-driven projects. He does not represent memoir. His clients have won the Baillie Gifford, Carnegie Medal, and James Beard awards. Select clients include Manon Steffan Ros, Barry Lopez (Estate), Scott Weidensaul, Wade Davis, Stuart Pennebaker, and Agnieszka Szpila. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar and now lives in Brooklyn.

Mina Hamedi grew up in Istanbul, Turkey, before moving to New York in 2010. She holds a BA in Nonfiction from NYU and an MFA in Nonfiction from Columbia University. She began her career in publishing in 2016. She joined Janklow & Nesbit Associates in 2018 and represents adult literary fiction and narrative nonfiction with a focus on international stories and writers.

Jade Wong-Baxter is a co-founder of Starling Literary + Media and a literary agent who loves championing storytellers across age categories. Her love of reading started in a very on-brand way: with pizza. Her school handed out personal pizza coupons for every book read, and Jem was instantly hooked.

Christopher, Mina, and Jade will be panelists on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on “To Whom it May Concern: What Stands Out in a Query Letter.”

Moderators

Rachel Starnes is the author of The War at Home: A Wife’s Search for Peace and Other Missions Impossible (Penguin Books, 2016). Her essays have appeared in O Magazine, O’s Little Book of Calm & Comfort, The Colorado Review, and Front Porch Magazine, and she received her MFA from Fresno State. She has also been a guest on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross. She lives in Cedar Park with her two sons and a stately golden retriever and is currently at work on her next book.

Rachel will be moderating on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on “Finding (& Sticking To) Your Why.”

Joy Victory is a health editor by day who writes creative nonfiction about resiliency, longing, loss, and parallels to the natural world. Her writing has appeared in two recent anthologies as well as Texas Monthly, The Sun, Cosmopolitan, West Trade Review, Hippocampus, (forthcoming) and other publications. Her newsletter The Shrieking Cactus (https://shriekingcactus.substack.com/) is for adult children of parents with mental illness. She lives in Austin with her husband, daughter, two cats, and an unruly native garden. She is a proud two-time memoir finalist for the WLT manuscript contest.

Joy will be moderating on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on “The Unagented Book Deal.”

Evan Griffith is the award-winning author of the middle-grade novels Manatee Summer and The Strange Wonders of Roots and the picture book biographies Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power, Revolutionary Marine Scientist and Wild at Heart: The Story of Olaus and Mardy Murie, Defenders of Nature. His books have received the Green Earth Book Award and the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award, been featured on several state award lists, and earned multiple starred reviews, among other honors.

Evan received his MFA in Writing for Children at the Vermont College of Fine Arts where he now serves as faculty. He worked for several years as an editor at Workman Publishing in New York City, where he specialized in non-fiction for children and adults, and he continues to take on select editorial projects. He often teaches writing classes and enjoys mentoring writers of all ages. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Evan will be moderating on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on “Writing for Young Readers in the Age of the Book Ban.”

Becka Oliver is the Director of Talent, VP, at Kevin Anderson & Associates (KAA), a ghostwriting and editorial services firm. She began her career licensing foreign and domestic rights, first at St. Martin’s Press (Macmillan) and later at Grand Central Publishing (formerly Warner Books, now Hachette) where she served as Associate Director of Subsidiary Rights before making the move to agenting. She helped to launch the Endeavor book department, continuing as a literary agent at William Morris Endeavor (WME) after the two powerhouse talent agencies merged. Most recently, Becka has served as Executive Director at the Writers’ League of Texas, the largest literary arts organization in Texas, overseeing a full-slate of year round programs and services to support writers not only in Texas but across the US and beyond. She joined KAA in 2024 and oversees the staffing of all ghostwriting projects.

Becka will be moderating on Sunday 9:00 a.m. on “House Hunting: The Book Submission Process” & at 11:30 a.m. on “To Whom it May Concern: What Stands Out in a Query Letter.”

Gloria Rabil is a storyteller, performer, and writer whose own winding path to the craft shapes everything she does. A three-time Moth Story Slam winner, she is also a producer of Testify Austin. Gloria founded Prose Story Consulting, LLC, where she works with writers through the hard, unglamorous parts of the process: the block, the doubt, and the long stretch between inspiration and the final page. She believes every story deserves to be told, and that it’s never too late to tell yours.

Gloria will be moderating on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. on “Three Acts & Beyond: Finding Your Story’s Structure.”

Erin McReynolds is a former restaurant critic and restaurant server (and she did both at the same time, which she would not recommend in a small town). Her fiction and essays have appeared in The Sun, Kenyon Review Online, North American Review, New Letters (where she received their Editors Choice award), and have been included as notables in Best American Essays 2020 and 2024. Her memoir, The Belongings, was a finalist in the Writers League of Texas 2025 Manuscript Contest, and she’s a contributing editor at the Austin-based literary magazine American Short Fiction. In spite of insisting she’s not a “real cartoonist,” her cartoons have appeared in McSweeney’s, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe. You can occasionally find her musing about Gen X stuff, PTSD, being a weirdo, and making art on her Substack: Traumafordummies.com

Erin will be moderating on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. on “Buzz Beyond Social Media: Essays, Interviews, & Reviews.”

Vanessa King spent the oughts bouncing between the coasts, from Brooklyn to Seattle, with stops in Arkansas, Virginia, and Colorado, before landing in Austin, Texas. She lives with her Ron Swanson-esque husband, paper craft-obsessed daughter, and cats Mei Mei: the feline gargoyle, and Sweetums, an endlessly sweet creature who never met a forbidden surface she couldn’t explore.

When not writing, Vanessa enjoys reading, championing her favorite audiobooks, admission-free hours at Barton Springs, and working out before dawn. Her debut, A Certain Appeal, released from Putnam in 2021, and her second novel, the Austin-based Ellie Hayes and the Himbos, was published by Forever in 2025.

Venessa will be moderating on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. on “Getting Spice Right: Finding Your Place in the Romance Spectrum.”

Claire Bowman is a writer, editor, and the author of Dear Creatures. Her poetry has been published in Narrative Magazine, PANK, Black Warrior Review, A Dozen Nothing, and elsewhere. As the Editor-in-Chief and co-Executive Director at Host Publications, Claire champions the work of poets from historically marginalized backgrounds. She co-hosts the long-standing feminist reading series, I Scream Social, and is a passionate advocate for Austin’s literary community.

Claire will be moderating on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. on “Editors on Editing: What Authors Should Know.”

Chaitali Sen is the author of the novel The Pathless Sky and the short story collection A New Race of Men from Heaven, winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. Her stories and essays have been published by Catapult, Colorado Review, Copper Nickel, Ecotone, LitHub, New England Review, Texas Observer, and other print and online journals. Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Creative Writing and Literature at University of Houston, and a recipient of the Inprint J. A. and Isabel M. Elkins Foundation Fellowship. Her new novel, Girlhood, is forthcoming from Grove, Atlantic.

Chaitali will be moderating on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on “Bows, Knots, & Loose Threads: Finding Your Book’s Best Ending.”

Zahie El Kouri (Za-hee-yah) holds a B.A. from Williams College, a J.D. from Cornell Law School, and an M.F.A. from New School University. Her work has been published in Dinarzad’s Children: An Anthology of Arab-American Literature, Mizna, Ars Medica, and Brain, Child. Her novel-in-progress is represented by Mary Krienke of Sterling Lord Literistic. In addition to writing and parenting, she is a certified life coach and hypnotist for ADHD creatives.

Zahie will be moderating on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on “Keeping the Faith through the Many-Year Book Project.”

2026 A&E Conference Panelists & Presenters

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