When first-time author, Mary Ann Shaffer became too ill to finish her novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, she asked her niece ANNIE BARROWS to step in. The epistolary novel tells the story of a reporter in Post-World War II London who corresponds with a group of quirky Guernsey islanders. Ms. Barrows is also the author of the Ivy and Bean series of children’s books.
Visit Annie Barrows’s website ›NANCY HORAN’s bestselling debut novel, Loving Frank, delves into the life of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his relationship with Mamah Borthwick Cheney during the years 1907 to 1914. The novel is based on seven years of meticulous research. Horan beautifully blends fact and fiction garnering widespread praise from critics and readers.
Visit Nancy Horan’s website ›HILLARY JORDAN is the author of Mudbound, a first novel that won the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, awarded to a debut novel that addresses issues of social justice. She has been featured in the Discover Great New Writers program at Barnes & Noble. Hilary grew up in Texas and Oklahoma and received her M.F.A. from Columbia University.
Visit Hillary Jordan’s website ›MARGOT LIVESEY grew up on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, and is the author of a collection of stories and six novels, including Eva Moves the Furniture and most recently The House On Fortune Street. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA. She is currently a writer in residence at Emerson College in Boston.
Visit Margot Livesey’s website ›HONOR MOORE has received many awards for her poetry and her playwriting. Her memoir, The Bishop’s Daughter, is a beautiful portrait of her illustrious father, an Episcopal priest, who became an activist bishop in Washington, D.C. and New York. It engages the reader in the great issues of American life: war, race, family sexuality and faith.
Visit Honor Moore’s website ›LYNN STEGNER’s most recent novel, Because a Fire Was in My Head, was the recipient of the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Award for Best Novel of 2005. Her soul-felt portrait of a lost woman is “authentically compassionate as it is unsparing, a rare feat in fiction and in life.” Ms. Stegner has written three other award-winning novels and is currently at work on a collection of short stories.
Visit Lynn Stegner’s website ›ELIZABETH STROUT is the author of three novels: Amy and Isabelle, which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, Abide With Me, a national bestseller and Book Sense pick, and her latest book, the wonderfully rich and unforgettable, Olive Kitteridge. Her short stories have been published in numerous magazines, including The New Yorker and O, The Oprah Magazine.
Visit Elizabeth Strout’s website ›