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2024
Kevin Kwan

Kevin Kwan

(IN PERSON AT CITY OPERA HOUSE & LIVESTREAMED) On Tues., June 4, Kevin Kwan joins the National Writers Series

Kevin Kwan is the author of Crazy Rich Asians, the international bestselling novel that has been translated into 40 languages. Its sequel, China Rich Girlfriend, was released in 2015, and Rich People Problems, the final book in the trilogy, followed in 2017. For several weeks in 2018, the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy commanded the top three positions of the New York Times bestseller list—an almost unprecedented single-author trifecta, and the film adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians became Hollywood’s highest-grossing romantic comedy in over a decade. Sex and Vanity, his most recent novel, hit the New York Times bestseller list in its first week of release and is being adapted into a feature film by Sony Pictures. Kevin has been named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Amy Tan

Amy Tan

(IN PERSON AT CITY OPERA HOUSE & LIVESTREAMED) On Tues. May 14, Amy Tan joins the National Writers Series

 

Born in the U.S. in 1952 to immigrant parents from China, Amy Tan grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.  She attended five colleges: Linfield College, San Jose City College, San Jose State University, University of California at Santa Cruz, and University of California at Berkeley.

In 1987, Amy went to China for the first time, accompanied by her mother. When she returned home, she learned that she had received several offers based on her submission of three short stories. The resulting book of connected stories,The Joy Luck Club, was hailed as a novel and became a surprise bestseller, spending over forty weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List.

Amy has lectured internationally at universities, including Stanford, Oxford, Jagellonium, and Georgetown both in Washington, DC and Doha, Qatar. She did a TED talk on creativity and spoke at the White House, appeared on the popular NPR program Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me, as well as on Sesame Street.and in the documentary Boomers. The National Endowment for the Arts chose The Joy Luck Club for its inaugural Big Read program in 2007. Read her full bio here.

Twin Flames: Burned! A Survivor and Cult Expert Speak Out

Twin Flames: Burned! A Survivor and Cult Expert Speak Out

(IN PERSON AT CITY OPERA HOUSE & LIVESTREAMED) On Thurs. Feb. 22, Janja lalich and Keely Griffin joins the ...

Janja Lalich, Ph.D. is a researcher, author, and educator specializing in cults and extremist groups, with a particular focus on charismatic relationships, political and other social movements, ideology, and social control, and issues of gender and sexuality. She has been a consultant to educational, mental health, business, media, and legal professionals, as well as having worked with current members, former members, and families of members of controversial groups.

A former Fulbright scholar, Dr. Lalich is a Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico, where in 2007 she was awarded the Professional Achievement Honor. She is also the founder and director of the Center for Research on Influence and Control. She has a Master’s in Human Development and a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California.

Keely Griffin is one of the survivors bravely sharing her experience inside the TFU cult. In addition to exposing TFU, she aspires to advocate for fellow survivors in the legal system and contribute to the education and legislation around coercive control.”

Hampton Sides

Hampton Sides

(IN PERSON AT CITY OPERA HOUSE & LIVESTREAMED) On Wed. May 1, Hampton Sides joins the National Writers Series

 

Hampton Sides is an award-winning editor of Outside and the author of the bestselling histories Hellhound on his Trial, Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers, a World War II narrative that sold over a million copies worldwide and translated into a dozen foreign languages, was the basis for the 2005 Miramax film, The Great Raid. He is also a contributor to National Geographic and other magazines. He lives in New Mexico with his wife, Anne, and their three college-aged boys—Griffin, McCall, and Graham.

Kaveh Akbar

Kaveh Akbar

(IN PERSON AT CITY OPERA HOUSE & LIVESTREAMED) On Wed., Feb. 7, Kaveh Akbar joins the National Writers Series

Presented with the Support of Lola Jackson and Dilys Tosteson Garcia “Community-Building” Author Conversations

Kaveh Akbar is the author of the novel Martyr!, and his poems appear in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review, The Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. He is the author of two poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell and Calling a Wolf a Wolf, in addition to a chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic. He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 110 Poets on the Divine. He lives in Iowa City. Since 2020, Kaveh has served as poetry editor for The Nation.

 

Bonnie Jo Campbell

Bonnie Jo Campbell

(IN PERSON AT MILLIKEN AUDITORIUM & LIVESTREAMED) On Sat., Jan. 27, Bonnie Jo Campbell joins the National ...

Bonnie Jo Campbell is one of our most highly acclaimed authors in Michigan—a national bestseller, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and a Guggenheim fellow award winner.

She is the author of the national bestselling novel Once Upon a River, praised by the New York Times Book Review as “an excellent American parable about the consequences of our favorite ideal, freedom.” The book was made into an award-winning feature film.

Her first novel, Q Road, delves into the lives of a rural community where development pressures brought unwelcome change. And her critically-acclaimed short fiction collection, American Salvage, was finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critic’s Circle Award. The collection tells fourteen rowdy stories of folks struggling to make sense of the twenty-first century. She also wrote Women and Other Animals, which won the AWP prize for short fiction; and the collection Mothers, Tell Your Daughters. Her awards also include a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. She and her husband live with their pet donkeys outside of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Barbara McQuade

Barbara McQuade

(IN PERSON AT THE CITY OPERA HOUSE & LIVESTREAMED) On Mon., March 11, Barbara McQuade joins the National ...

 

Barbara McQuade is a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School, her alma mater, where she teaches courses in criminal  law, criminal procedure, national security, and data privacy. She is also a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and a co-host of the podcast #SistersInLaw. From 2010 to 2017, McQuade served as U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Ms. McQuade was appointed by President Barack Obama, and was the first woman to serve in her position. Earlier in her career, she worked as a sports writer and copy editor, a  judicial law clerk, an associate in private practice, and an assistant U.S. attorney. She and her husband, Dan Hurley, have four children and live in Ann Arbor.

Don Winslow

Don Winslow

(IN PERSON AT CITY OPERA HOUSE & LIVESTREAMED) On Sun., April 7, Don Winslow joins the National Writers Series

Don Winslow made an early living by guiding photo safaris in Kenya and hiking expeditions in China, directing Shakespeare productions in England, managing a movie theater, and working as a private eye and a trial consultant. After publishing his first novels, he branched into television and film with his friend Shane Salerno. Together they wrote UC/Undercover and collaborated on the screenplay of his novel, Savages, made into a feature film by Oliver Stone. The Death and Life of Bobby Z was made into a film, too.

Winslow is the international bestselling author of 25 award-winning, international bestsellers. Many are destined for the small and big screen, including his epic Cartel trilogy, The Winter of Frankie Machine, Satori, City on Fire, City of Dreams, City in Ruins, the Boone Daniels series, and Working Title (“Crime 101”).  He recently wrote a series of award-winning short stories for Audible narrated by Ed Harris. Winslow has also published short stories and columns in Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Times Esquire and many others. He lives in California with his wife of 31 years.