Authors

KIRTHANA RAMISETTI earned her MFA in creative writing from Emerson College and has had her work published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, The Atlantic, and more. Her debut book, Dava Shastri’s Last Day: A Novel, was published in 2021; her latest novel is Advika and the Hollywood Wives (Grand Central Publishing). Ramisetti lives with her husband in New York City.

MITZI RAPKIN is the founder, host, and producer of the literary podcast, First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing, which for the last decade has featured a new author interview every week. She is also a journalist, fiction writer, certified integral coach, facilitator, and fiction writing instructor. On First Draft, Rapkin and her guests explore the decisions and psychology that went into the featured book, the themes of a writer’s work, and questions focused on the human experience. You can learn more about Rapkin, the podcast, and listen to episodes at FisrtDraftWriters.com.

BETH RAYMER is the author of Lay the Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling, about her years in Las Vegas and her work in the sports betting industry, which was made into a feature film. She received an MFA from Columbia University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship.

SHELLEY READ’s internationally bestselling debut novel, Go as a River, is being translated into more than 30 languages and has been optioned for film by Mazur Kaplan in partnership with Fifth Season. She taught writing and literature as a senior lecturer at Western Colorado University for nearly three decades, where she was also a founder of the environment and sustainability major, as well as a program for at-risk students. She holds degrees in writing and literary studies from the University of Denver and Temple University and is a regular contributor to Crested Butte Magazine and Gunnison Valley Journal. She is a fifth-generation Coloradoan who lives with her family in the Elk Mountains of the state’s Western Slope.

BUSHRA REHMAN grew up in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York. She is the co-editor of Colonize This!: Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism, and the author of the poetry collection Marianna’s Beauty Salon and the dark comedy Corona, named a New York Public Library favorite book about the city.

Former Utah Poet Laureate PAISLEY REKDAL is the author of four works of nonfiction, including Appropriate: A Provocation, and six collections of poetry, most recently Nightingale, which won the 2020 Washington State Book Award for Poetry. She is the recipient of fellowships, grants, and prizes from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, Pushcart Press, and the Academy of American Poets, among others. A Seattle-area native, Rekdal received her master's degree in medieval studies from the University of Toronto, and an MFA from the University of Michigan. Her work reflects her academic background in its frequent exploration and engagement with historical events that propel future narratives and identity politics that shape her life as an Asian American woman. She is a distinguished professor at the University of Utah, where she is also the creator and editor of community web projects Mapping Literary Utah and Mapping Salt Lake City. Her latest book, West: A Translation (Copper Canyon Press), has been longlisted for a 2023 National Book Award in Poetry.

REBECCA RENNER is a contributor to National Geographic whose writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Outside, Tin House, The Paris Review, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and other publications. She holds an MFA from Stetson University. Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades (Flatiron Books) is her debut book.

ANA REYES is the New York Times bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club pick The House in the Pines: A Novel. She has an MFA from Louisiana State University and teaches creative writing. She lives with her husband in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

JUSTIN RICHMOND is co-host of the music podcast Broken Record with author Malcolm Gladwell and music producer Rick Rubin, and the executive producer of the new Paul McCartney-helmed podcast, A Life In Lyrics, available everywhere now. He previously was a producer for NPR’s flagship program Morning Edition and its accompanying podcast, Up First, and an arts reporter for NPR.

JUSTIN RICHMOND is co-host of the music podcast Broken Record with author Malcolm Gladwell and music producer Rick Rubin, and the executive producer of the new Paul McCartney-helmed podcast, A Life In Lyrics, available everywhere now. He previously was a producer for NPR’s flagship program Morning Edition and its accompanying podcast, Up First, and was an arts reporter for NPR.

MEGHAN RIORDAN JARVIS is the host of the Grief Is My Side Hustle podcast, a two-time TEDx speaker, and a psychotherapist specializing in trauma, grief, and loss. After experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder following the deaths of her parents, Jarvis founded Talking Point Partners to help employers address complex emotions such as grief in the workplace. She is currently at work on Can Anyone Tell Me Why: 25 Essential Questions About Grief and Loss, which publishes with Sounds True Media in 2024. Originally from New England, Jarvis currently lives in Maryland with her husband and their three children, where competing piles of LEGO bricks and books cover most surfaces of their house.

ALEJANDRO RÍOS se ha desempeñado como periodista, jurado y conferencista en varios eventos y festivales de cine internacionales (La Habana, Miami (Festival de Cine de Miami y Festival de Cortometrajes de Miami), Brasil, Canadá y Calcuta). Desde 1992 es colaborador del Programa Iberoamericano de la Feria del Libro de Miami. Fue co-curador del Festival de Cine Cubano Alternativo en 2003, presentado por Miami Dade College (MDC) en el Tower Theatre y Forbidden Fruit, Cine Independiente Cubano en el Siglo XXI, presentado en Coral Gables Art Cinema en 2018. Actualmente es crítico de cine en AméricaTeVe, Canal 41 de Miami y programador de cine cubano para el Festival de Cine de Miami, producido por MDC. También escribe columnas semanales en Cubanet, sobre temas culturales, con énfasis en cine. Publicó el libro La mirada indiscreta (Ed. Hypermedia), una colección de sus columnas y ensayos personales, presentado en la Feria del Libro de Miami.

CRISTINA RIVERA GARZA is the award-winning author of The Taiga Syndrome and The Iliac Crest, among many other books. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize, she is an M.D. Anderson distinguished professor in Hispanic studies and director of the Ph.D. program in creative writing in Spanish at the University of Houston.

LAUREN ROBERTS is a writer based in Michigan. When she isn’t writing about fantasy worlds and bantering love interests, she can likely be found burrowed in bed reading about them. A Michigan resident for her whole life, Roberts is very familiar with potholes, snow, and various lake activities. She has the hobbies of both a grandmother and a child, i.e., knitting, laser tag, hammocking, word searches, and coloring. Powerless is her first novel, and she hopes to have the privilege of writing pretty words for the rest of her life.

JUSTIN ROBERTS is a Grammy-nominated all-star of the family music scene. Hailed by The New York Times as “the Judy Blume of kiddie rock,” Roberts logs thousands of miles on the road each year, dishing out unexpectedly intelligent and fun rocking music for kids and their parents. He lives in Chicago.

DOUGLAS A. ROBERTS, PH.D., is the president and CEO of the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, where he brings together scientific and technical expertise with contemporary learning methods that create engaging educational experiences for the museum. With more than two decades in the museum field, he deftly establishes strategic connections between informal science education and research. He has been involved in astrophysics research at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University, as well as scientific outreach through the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Although science education and public engagement takes up most of his time, Roberts is also engaged in active research, using telescopes like the Very Large Array radio telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope to better understand the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Looking up at the stars still gives him a thrill and he feels it's the next best thing to going to space.

LINDA ROBERTSON is a journalist who has written about a variety of compelling subjects during an award-winning career. As a sports columnist she covered 13 Olympics, Final Fours, World Cups, Wimbledon, the Miami Heat and Hurricanes, Super Bowls, Soul Bowls, Cuban defectors, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Lance Armstrong, and Tonya Harding. She golfed with Donald Trump, fished with Jimmy Johnson, learned a magic trick from Muhammad Ali, and partnered with Venus Williams to defeat Serena. She now chronicles our love-hate relationship with Miami, where she grew up.

ALEJANDRO ROBLES nació en Halle, Alemania, en 1962. Cursa estudios de Filosofía en la Universidad de La Habana (Cuba). En 1994 recibe un premio de cuento de la UNEAC (Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba) y viaja a Guadalajara, México. Más tarde se traslada a la Ciudad de México donde vive por más de una década. Trabaja como guionista de diversos programas de televisión, como creativo en agencias publicitarias e imparte clases de Filosofía en algunos Institutos. Desde el 2005 reside en Miami, donde se desempeña como guionista de televisión. Escribe relatos, novelas, ensayos, crónicas y cuentos infantiles. Ha colaborado con la revista de la Universidad de México y la revista de La Gaceta de Cuba, la revista 0 (revista bilingüe editada en español y francés) La Jornada, Nexos, Biblioteca de México, Picnic, Diario de Cuba, Rialta, Este País, entre otras. Sus relatos han aparecido en varías antologías de cuento y es autor de Gabinete de dragones publicado por Eolas Ediciones, que presenta este año en la Feria.

SANTIAGO CHAGO RODRÍGUEZ nació en Guantánamo el 5 de octubre de 1940. Graduado de ingeniero químico e ingeniero agrónomo. Pintor y escritor por vocación, reside en Miami desde 1990, ciudad donde publica su primera novela: La vida en pedazos. Cinéfilo empedernido, publica la trilogía: En el vientre de la ballena: Onto, gnosis y praxis, El regreso de la ballena y La venganza de la ballena en 3D. En el 2023 publica la novela policíaca Buscando a Inés en la Calle 8, obra que presenta en la Feria.

GUSTAVO RODRÍGUEZ nació en Lima en 1968. Ha publicado las novelas La risa de tu madre, La semana tiene siete mujeres, Cocinero en su tinta, República de La Papaya, Te escribí mañana y el volumen de relatos Trece mentiras cortas. También ha escrito libros infantiles y juveniles que se leen en escuelas. En Traducciones Peruanas se compendian diez años de artículos suyos publicados en El Comercio de Lima. Ha sido galardonado con el Premio Alfaguara de Novela 2023 por su obra Cien cuyes, que presenta este año en Miami, y fue finalista del Premio Herralde y del Premio Planeta-Casamérica.

ANTONIO ORLANDO RODRÍGUEZ nació en Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, en 1956. Es narrador, poeta, dramaturgo, crítico, investigador literario y ensayista. Licenciado en Periodismo en la Universidad de La Habana. Ha publicado para los lectores adultos las novelas Chiquita (2008, Premio Alfaguara de Novela) y Aprendices de brujo (2005); los libros de cuento Salchichas vienesas y otras ficciones (2016), Querido Drácula (1989) y Strip-Tease (1985), y la obra de teatro El León y la Domadora (2016). Para los niños y jóvenes, entre sus libros se destacan El señor Luciérnaga (Panamericana, 2021), El abrazo invisible (Norma, 2020), Los arreglavoces del bosque (Panamericana, 2019), Cuentos de cuando La Habana era chiquita (Panamericana, 2018), Mi bicicleta es un hada y otros secretos por el estilo (Panamericana, 2017), El viejito del sillón (Panamericana, 2016), Abuelita Milagro (Panamericana, 2015), Conoce a José Martí (Vista Higher Learning / Loqueleo, 2015), Los helados invisibles y otras rarezas (SM, 2014), Concierto para escalera y orquesta (Ekaré, 2013), Romerillo en la cabeza (Panamericana, 2006) y El rock de la momia y otros versos diversos (Loqueleo, 2005). Como investigador ha dado a conocer: Formación de valores desde la literatura infantil (1998), Panorama histórico de la literatura infantil en América Latina y el Caribe (1994) y Literatura infantil en América Latina (1993). Creador, junto a Sergio Andricaín, de la Fundación Cuatrogatos y director de Programas de esa institución. Participa en el X Seminario de Literatura Infantil y Lectura en la mesa Literatura y escena: la experiencia de Artefactus.

AIDA RODRIGUEZ is a comedian, writer, and actor. Her comedy special Fighting Words is streaming on HBO Max, and she is a key collaborator on the platform’s Entre Nos franchise, which features the brightest up-and-coming Latinx comedy talent. Rodriguez was not only a breakout star of the series early in her career, but also stepped behind the camera to direct its current batch of specials. She is a guest writer for BuzzFeed and Oprah Daily as well as a regular commentator on The Young Turks.

EDEL RODRIGUEZ is a Cuban American artist who has exhibited internationally with shows in New York, Los Angeles, Havana, Berlin, Prague, London, and Cape Town, South Africa. A regular contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Time, he has created more than 200 magazine and book covers and illustrated several children’s books, including Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx. He is also the author of Sergio Makes a Splash and Sergio Saves the Game. Rodriguez’s artwork is collected by various institutions, including the Smithsonian, and he has received numerous awards from the Art Directors Club and the Society of Illustrators. Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey is his first graphic novel. He lives in New Jersey.

LEGNA RODRÍGUEZ IGLESIAS nació en Camagüey, en 1984. Escribe la columna Irrelevante en la revista digital El Estornudo y la columna 53 Noviecitas en Hypermedia Magazine. Obtuvo el Premio Casa de Las Américas, teatro, 2016; el Premio Iberoamericano de Cuentos Julio Cortázar, 2011; y el Paz Prize for Poetry, otorgado por The National Poetry Series y la Feria del Libro de Miami, 2016. Es autora de las novelas Mayonesa bien brillante, Ediciones Matanzas, 2012; y Las analfabetas, Bokeh Press, 2015. Mi novia preferida fue un bulldog francés fue publicado en Alfaguara, Narrativa Hispana, 2017.Este año presenta en la Feria los poemarios No creo en la poesía (Alliteration, 2023), Ilusiones de botánica (Ediciones Furtivas, 2023), y la antología Ni locas ni solas. Narrativa escrita por mujeres en Estados Unidos.

NATASHA LANCE ROGOFF is an award-winning American television producer, filmmaker, and journalist of TV news and documentaries in Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union for NBC, ABC, and PBS. She executive produced Ulitsa Sezam, the Russian adaptation of Sesame Street, between 1993 and 1997. She also produced Plaza Sesamo in Mexico. In addition to her TV work, Lance Rogoff has reported on Soviet underground culture as a documentary director, and as a magazine and newspaper writer for major international media outlets. Today, she creates current affairs videos and is the CEO and founder of an ed-tech company that produces KickinNutrition.TV, a children’s cooking and nutrition program, and is an associate fellow at Harvard University’s art, film, and visual studies department. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and New York City.

DAVID ROSENBERG is the co-author and editor of more than 20 books, including The New York Times bestsellers The Book of J, with Harold Bloom, and Congregation: Contemporary Writers Read the Jewish Bible. His book A Poet’s Bible: Rediscovering the Voices of the Original Text won a PEN prize, and he has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Hopwood special award in poetry, and a Canada Council grant. He has taught at the City University of New York and Princeton University. Born in Detroit, Rosenberg is Israeli American and lives in Miami with his wife, Rhonda Rosenberg.

RHONDA ROSENBERG is an associate research professor at Florida International University. She has co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and completed many National Institutes of Health grants in HIV research. With her husband, David Rosenberg, she co-founded Field Bridge, a think tank in translating ecosystem science into the cultural arts. She has also collaborated on several books about ancient biblical history and poetics.

JESS ROW is the author of the novel Your Face in Mine: A Novel, the essay collection White Flights: Race, Fiction, and the American Imagination, and The Train to Lo Wu: Stories and Nobody Ever Gets Lost: Stories. He’s received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Whiting Award, and his writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Granta, and many other publications. Row teaches at New York University and lives in New York and Plainfield, Vermont.

Un proceso de iniciación chamánico de la mano de uno de los máximos exponentes del neochamanismo en occidente. DON MIGUEL RUIZ JR., hijo del reconocido maestro nagual Don Miguel Ruiz, presenta su obra más práctica y accesible La maestría de la vida (Urano, 2023): un viaje de poder, articulado por etapas, que nos aleja de una vida de inconsciencia y miedo para acercarnos a la libertad, el conocimiento y el despertar. Inspirado en el centro espiritual de la sabiduría tolteca – las pirámides de Teotihuacán, al noroeste de la Ciudad de México – la obra realiza un recorrido simbólico por los distintos espacios chamánicos que componen ese espacio físico con el fin de ayudarnos a vencer el engaño de la realidad tal como la conocemos.