Author Bios

Mick Herron is a British author best known for his Slough House spy thriller series, which follows the misfit MI5 officers exiled to a dead-end London office under the notorious Jackson Lamb.

Yoon Ha Lee is a Korean-American science fiction author best known for the Machineries of Empire trilogy and the middle-grade novel Dragon Pearl. His work is celebrated for inventive world-building rooted in Korean mythology and mathematical concepts.

Carmen Maria Machado is an award-winning author and memoirist whose work blends the surreal with the deeply personal, exploring themes of gender, sexuality, and the body through literary fiction and memoir.

Elizabeth Acevedo is a Dominican-American poet and author whose debut novel-in-verse The Poet X won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. A National Poetry Slam champion, she brings lyrical power and cultural depth to her writing for young adults.

Brené Brown is a research professor, bestselling author, and public speaker whose work on vulnerability, courage, shame, and empathy has reached millions worldwide. She is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers and the host of two top-rated podcasts.

Tristan Palmgren is an American science fiction and fantasy author known for his debut novel Quietus, a time-travel epic blending Renaissance history with alien contact. His work combines rigorous historical research with inventive speculative fiction.

Ilya Kaminsky is a Ukrainian-born American poet whose work meditates on deafness, war, silence, and resistance. His collection Deaf Republic was widely acclaimed as one of the most important poetry books of its generation.

Lori Gottlieb is an American psychotherapist, author, and Atlantic contributing editor whose writing explores the intersection of mental health, relationships, and the human condition. She is best known for her memoir Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, a candid account of her own experience in therapy.

Kameron Hurley is an American science fiction and fantasy author known for her unflinching, subversive takes on war, gender, and survival. She is the author of the Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy, The Worldbreaker Saga, and the standalone novel The Light Brigade.