Like many writers, author Brianne Moore has been working on her craft for a long time. When she was young, she writes, “I spent my childhood inventing and acting out stories of brave princesses and gutsy ladies (always in AMAZING gowns!).” And now, those stories are out in the world! Brianne is the author of…

When I first met Teri Rizvi in person several years ago, I will admit to feeling a bit intimidated. As a self-taught author, sitting across from a trained journalist and experienced writer wracked my nerves. But the conversation flowed smoothly, and I soon realized that the Teri sitting in front of me was as gregarious…

Amy Lee Lillard has been writing for a long time, for herself and for other people. She’s worked as a marketer and copywriter for over twenty years, but she’s also placed her own work—both fiction and nonfiction—in Atlas and Alice, Barrelhouse, Epiphany, LitHub, Off Assignment, Entropy, Electric Lit, and more. In addition, she was “shortlisted…

Debut author Keema Waterfield had a different sort of upbringing: she was born in a trailer in Alaska and then chased “music with her twenty-year-old mother on the Alaskan folk festival circuit, two small siblings in tow.” But the story she tells of that upbringing in her debut memoir, Inside Passage, which released in May,…

Gordon Bonnet and I would have a lot to talk about should we ever meet in person. He’s a former science teacher and a runner and “is never without a piece of fiction in progress.” Kindred spirits, I tell you! All that writing has been fruitful—he has nineteen published novels, and two of them, Descent…

Debut author Lindsay Merbaum released The Gold Persimmon, her queer feminist horror novel, just in time for Halloween. Paul Goat Allen wrote that the book is “a nightmarish vision quest through alternate New York City hotels that ultimately leads both characters and readers to enlightenment,” and it landed on a list in Harper’s Bazaar as…

As much as I love interacting with authors who are different from me on any level, I also enjoy finding those authors who remind me just a little of myself. 2021 Debuts author Tabitha Forney is one such author for two reasons: 1. she “writes books to appease the voices in her head,” and 2.…

Conducting interviews allows me to “meet” so many authors, and each time I research an author and craft questions, I’m blown away by their talent, drive, ambition, and generosity. But 2021 Debuts author Jennifer Bardsley stands out among the pack when it comes to that last characteristic. On Instagram, where she has 15.7k followers, she…

Authors love to have their work validated (don’t people in general?) and fellow 2021 Debuts author Noah Lemelson is in the thick of that validation. His debut novel, The Sightless City, released in July, and readers are enjoying it. Screenwriter Gary Goldman wrote, “The Sightless City is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Fantasy, dieselpunk, and…

2021 Debuts author Alison Cochrun is flying high these days. Her debut novel, The Charm Offensive, released last week to great praise. The book garnered a starred review from Booklist and Bookpage, and Library Journal said “this novel shines, especially for readers underrepresented or underappreciated in mainstream romance.” Always a sucker for a good love…