Authors

NATASHA TSAKOS is a visionary Miami-based artist and performer known for her groundbreaking fusion of theater, technology, and multimedia storytelling. As a 2024/2025 Future Earth Artist Fellow at Live Arts Miami, she captivates audiences with her innovative performances that blend live action with digital imagery and interactive elements. Tsakos explores themes of humanity, technology, and the environment, creating immersive experiences that push creative boundaries and inspire engagement with the future of performance art.

LORI TUCKER-SULLIVAN earned her MFA in her 40s and reset her path. Then her husband, Kevin, received a fatal diagnosis. Tucker-Sullivan then returned to writing and since her husband's death has written of the widowhood experience on the blog "The Widow's Apprenticeship." Her Pushcart-nominated essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Salon, and The Sun, and in the anthologies Detroit Guidebook, 100 Words of Solitude, and Red State Blues. Her essay, Detroit, 2015 was selected as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays. She holds an MFA from Spalding. I Can't Remember If I Cried: Rock Widows on Life, Love, and Legacy (Backbeat Books) is her first book.

TONY TULATHIMUTTE is the author of Private Citizens: A Novel (William Morrow) and Rejection: Fiction (William Morrow). His work has appeared in The Paris Review, n+1, The Nation, The New Republic, and The New York Times. The recipient of an O. Henry Award and a Whiting Award, he runs CRIT, a writing class in Brooklyn, New York.

CORNELIUS TULLOCH is a Miami-based interdisciplinary artist and designer. He attended Design and Architecture Senior High School in Miami, and in 2016 won the YoungArts award for design and visual arts and was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. His work was added to the permanent collection of the Studio Museum in New York's Harlem. His work has been shown in fairs and museums such as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; Miami's Pulse Art Fair; and the Museo Nazionale Delle Arti Del XXI Secolo in Rome. Born and raised in Miami to a Jamaican father and African American mother, Tulloch’s art focuses on the beauty and nuances of the Caribbean and African diaspora from a distinctly South Floridian point of view.

SCOTT TUROW is the author of many bestselling works of fiction, including The Last Trial, Testimony, Identical, Innocent, Presumed Innocent, and The Burden of Proof, and two nonfiction books, including One L, about his experience as a law student. His books have been translated into more than 40 languages, have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, and been adapted into movies and television projects. He has frequently contributed essays and op-ed pieces to publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. Suspect (Grand Central Publishing) is his latest book.

STUART TURTON is the bestselling author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water. The Last Murder at the End of the World: A Novel (Sourcebooks Landmark) completes what he describes as the "not a trilogy" trilogy. Turton’s books have won numerous awards, been translated into 37 languages, and sold more than 1 million copies.

NICOLA TWILLEY is the co-author of Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine, named one of the best books of 2021 by Time, NPR, The Guardian, and Financial Times. She is also a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and the co-host of Gastropod, an award-winning and popular podcast that looks at food through the lens of science and history, produced as part of the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with Eater. Her latest book is Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves (Penguin Press).

JUANA VALDÉS is a multidisciplinary artist who uses printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, and site-specific installations to explore issues of race, transnationalism, gender, labor, and class. Functioning as an archive, Valdés’ work analyzes and decodes migration experiences as a person of Afro-Caribbean heritage. Born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, she came to the United States in 1971. Her work is, in part, informed by this early experience of migration, her childhood memories of Cuba, and adjusting to life in the U.S. She received a BFA in sculpture from the Parsons School of Design, an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture. Recent solo exhibitions include Juana Valdés: Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories, at the Sarasota Art Museum; Rest Ashore at Miami's Locust Projects; Terrestrial Bodies at the Cuban Legacy Gallery of Miami Dade College; and An Inherent View of the World at Miami's Mindy Solomon Gallery, which was acquired in full by the Pérez Art Museum Miami.

JOSÉ IGNACIO CHASCAS VALENZUELA Autor de exitosos libros infantiles, juveniles y para adultos. Es además creador de importantes proyectos televisivos, literarios, cinematográficos y teatrales en Chile, México, Estados Unidos, España y Puerto Rico. Sus más recientes proyectos audiovisuales son las series “¿Quién mató a Sara?” y “Donde hubo fuego”, ambas para Netflix. Participa este año en la Feria conversando con Sergio del Molino.

KEILA VALL DE LA VILLE Caracas/New York. Sus novelas: Los días animales (OT, 2016) Best Novel International Latino Book Award (ILBA) 2018; The Animal Days (Katakana, 2021, R. Myers) Best Novel Honorable Mention ILBA 2023. Sus cuentos: Ana no duerme (MonteÁvila, 2016) Finalista Concurso Nacional de Autores Inéditos MAELCA; Ana no duerme y otros cuentos (Sudaquia, 2016); Enero es el mes más largo (Sudaquia, 2021), Best Fiction Honorable Mention ILBA 2023. Poemas: Perseo en Si bemol (Valparaíso Ediciones, 2023) Finalist Paz Prize for Poetry 2022; Viaje legado (Bid&Co, 2016). Crónicas: De cuando Corre Lola Corre dejó sin aire a Murakami (Suburbano, 2022). Este año presenta Minerva (Pre-Textos) una novela que cuenta la historia de una chica nacida en el seno de una familia venezolana poliamorosa de sexualidad fluida. Criada en un país pacato, periférico y dividido, Minerva debe aprender desde temprano a luchar contra los prejuicios y a explorar límites y fronteras, unos heredados, otros elegidos. El ambiente hostil de la Venezuela de principios del siglo XXI la lleva a exiliarse en Nueva York, donde persigue el sueño de ser bailarina de ballet mientras trabaja posando desnuda como modelo para artistas. La convivencia junto a otros migrantes acabará revelándole el valor de la solidaridad y los afectos como forma de redención y afirmación de la propia identidad. Minerva es una novela femenina de aprendizaje con un claro acento contemporáneo.

LAURA VAN DEN BERG is the author of the story collections What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, The Isle of Youth, and I Hold a Wolf by the Ears – named one the 10 best fiction books of 2020 by Time magazine – and the novels Find Me and The Third Hotel, a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award and named a best book of 2018 by more than a dozen publications. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Strauss Living Award, a Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Bard Fiction Prize, a PEN/O. Henry Award, and a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, and she is a two-time finalist for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.

JEFF VANDERMEER is the author of Hummingbird Salamander, the Borne series novels (Borne, The Strange Bird, and Dead Astronauts), and the Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance), the first volume of which won the Nebula Award and Shirley Jackson Award and was adapted into a movie by Alex Garland. Vandermeer speaks and writes frequently about issues relating to climate change and urban rewilding. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, on the edge of a ravine with his wife, Ann VanderMeer, and their cat, Neo.

JOHN VERCHER has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in creative writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program. He serves as an assistant teaching professor in the Department of English & Philosophy at Drexel University and was the inaugural Wilma Dykeman writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. His debut novel, Three-Fifths, named one of the best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune and Booklist, was nominated for the Edgar and Strand Magazine Critics’ Awards for Best First Novel. His second novel, After the Lights Go Out, was named a "Best Book of Summer 2022" by BookRiot and Publishers Weekly, and a Booklist Editor’s Choice "Best Book of 2022."

GARY VICTOR is one of Haiti’s most celebrated contemporary authors, known for his satirical and often fantastical portrayal of Haitian society. Born in Port-au-Prince in 1958, he is the son of renowned sociologist René Victor. Initially trained in agronomy,  Victor transitioned into journalism and literature, quickly becoming one of Haiti’s most widely read authors. His works include novels, short stories, and plays, often addressing themes of political corruption, social injustice, and the complexities of Haitian life.

JUAN VIDAL is the author of the memoir Rap Dad, which explores father-son dynamics and Latino masculinity through the lens of hip-hop culture. A Second Chance on Earth (Holiday House) is his YA debut.

PABLO VIERCI El 13 de octubre de 1972 un avión de la Fuerza Aérea Uruguaya se estrelló en la cordillera de los Andes. Iban a bordo cuarenta y cinco personas, dieciséis de las cuales fallecieron en el acto o pocas horas después. Con alrededor de veinte años, a cuatro mil metros de altura y treinta grados bajo cero, sin abrigo ni comida, la relación entre víctimas y sobrevivientes se invirtió y solo regresaron con vida dieciséis. Compañero de colegio de los sobrevivientes y de muchos de los que murieron, Pablo Vierci recrea en La sociedad de la nieve (Planeta) a través de sus voces el mundo del que provenían, los momentos previos al accidente, la experiencia en la montaña, la decisión de alimentarse de los cuerpos de sus compañeros, la expedición en busca de ayuda, los días posteriores al rescate y la vida que siguió a la tragedia. Trascendiendo la anécdota, su texto compone un mosaico grandioso sobre el que se proyectan dieciséis cordilleras, así como las historias truncas de los que no volvieron. Tras medio siglo madurando y aprendiendo las lecciones detrás de la tragedia y la adversidad que vivieron, en un escenario desmesurado y solitario, perdidos en medio de la nada, abandonados por el mundo, quienes sobrevivieron lograron crear una sociedad diferente a todas las conocidas, marcada por un pacto de entrega mutua.

ELAINE VIETS has written 35 mysteries in four series; her latest is A Scarlet Death, an Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery (Severn House, London). No doubt her time at St. Louis University’s School of Medicine's MedicoLegal Death Investigators Training Course informs her work. Deal with the Devil and 13 Short Stories is her collection of short stories, and Sex and Death on the Beach will be the first book in her new Florida mystery series, debuting next fall. Viets is a recipient of Agatha, Anthony, and Lefty Awards, and she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Malice Domestic Mystery Conference.

JONATHAN VIGLIOTTI is an Emmy- and Edward R. Murrow Award-winning CBS News national correspondent whose work has appeared on numerous platforms, including CBS Sunday Morning, Face the Nation, 48 Hours, and more. His reporting has taken him to more than 40 countries and territories across six continents. Before It's Gone: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change in Small-Town America (Atria/One Signal Publishers) is Vigliotti’s first book.

MARÍA DEL CARMEN VILLANUEVA Creadora y escritora de La familia Stone, la primera telenovela original de Televisión Española. Escritora y productora del documental La naturaleza mujer, que representó a América Latina en la Conferencia de Mujeres en Beijing, y autora de la novela publicada Se vende el recuerdo. Llega a la Feria con Sirenas en el balcón, su segunda novela, inspirada en los primeros episodios de la vida de la narradora entre las décadas de 1940 y 1950. Son las memorias sumergidas en el naufragio de su isla, en el que se hundieron su infancia y adolescencia; las que desancla ahora cuando el otoño comienza a blanquear sus sienes, en ese tiempo muerto que para los relojes del presente y pone en marcha los del pasado.

VANESSA ANGÉLICA VILLARREAL was born in the Rio Grande Valley to Mexican immigrants. She is the author of Beast Meridian: Poems (Noemi Press), which received a Whiting Award, a Kate Tufts Discovery Award nomination, and the Texas Institute of Letters John A. Robertson Award. She was a 2021 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles with her son.

OMAR VILLASANA CARDOZA Nació en la Paz Baja California Sur, México, el 7 de enero de 1972. Ingeniero Biomédico de profesión. Desde 2010 es Director de Publicaciones Digitales y Editor General de la revista Nagari en sus versiones impresa y digital a partir del 2013. Director General y fundador del sello Katakana Editores (2017), que tiene como propósito divulgar la literatura hispana a los lectores anglosajones empleando la traducción como medio para este propósito. Poemas, ensayos y cuentos suyos han sido publicados en diversos medios impresos y digitales tanto en Estados Unidos como en México. Publicó el poemario Árbol de tu olvido con ediciones Baquiana en el 2017. Este año participa en la presentación del libro Agua sagrada de Rubí Arana en su versión bilingüe, con el cual se dará un homenaje póstumo a la vida y obra de la poeta nicaragüense, con la participación de escritores cercanos a la artista, que compartirán sus poemas y anécdotas más preciadas.

JULIE MARIE WADE writes and publishes poetry, prose, and hybrid forms. Her most recent and forthcoming collections include The Mary Years (Texas Review Press), which was selected by Michael Martone for the 2023 Clay Reynolds Novella Prize; Quick Change Artist: Poems (Anhinga Press), selected by Octavio Quintanilla for the 2023 Anhinga Prize for Poetry; and The Latest: 20 Ghazals for 2020 (Harbor Editions), co-authored with Denise Duhamel. A finalist for the National Poetry Series prize and a winner of the Lambda Literary Award for lesbian memoir, Wade teaches in the creative writing program at Florida International University in Miami and makes her home with Angie Griffin and their two cats in Dania Beach, Florida.

CARVELL WALLACE is a New York Times bestselling writer and podcaster who covers race, arts, culture, film, and music for a wide variety of news outlets. He won a Kaleidoscope Award for his podcast Closer Than They Appear and was nominated for a Peabody Award for the podcast series Finding Fred. He has written profiles for GQ, Esquire, Glamour, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other publications. Carvell co-authored The Sixth Man with Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala, which spent 14 weeks on The New York Times list, and was a finalist for a Northern California Book Awards. His latest book is Another Word For Love: A Memoir (MCD).

CLARISSA WARD is CNN’s chief international correspondent. In her 15-year career spanning Fox, CBS, and ABC, she has reported from front lines across the world. She has won seven Emmy Awards, two George Foster Peabody Awards, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, two Edward R. Murrow Awards for distinguished journalism, honors from the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association, the 2016 David Kaplan Award from the Overseas Press Club, and the Excellence in International Reporting Award from the International Center for Journalists. She graduated with distinction from Yale University, and in 2013 received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Middlebury College in Vermont. She lives in London.

KENT WASCOM is the author of The New Inheritors, Secessia, and The Blood of Heaven, which  was named a best book of the year by The Washington Post and NPR, was a semifinalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and was longlisted for the Flaherty-Dunnan Award for First Fiction. Wascom was also awarded the 2012 Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival Prize for Fiction and selected as one of Gambit’s "40 Under 40." Born in New Orleans and raised in Pensacola, Florida, today he lives in Norfolk, Virginia, where he directs the Creative Writing Program at Old Dominion University. The Great State of West Florida (Grove Press, Black Cat) is his latest book.

JOE WASILEWSKI grew up in Chicago and was very active in several sports fields, but his heart wished to work with various forms of wildlife. Upon joining the U.S. Army in 1973, he trained as a military policeman working with sentry dogs at a NIKE Hercules missile base in South Florida. While serving, he was employed at the Miami Serpentarium, which kicked off a long career of hands-on work with reptiles. A biologist by training, he has been called “the snake man of the Everglades" and is now president of Natural Selections of South Florida, an environmental consulting firm.

ERIC WEINER is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Geography of Bliss – now a docuseries featuring Rainn Wilson – and The Geography of Genius, as well as the critically acclaimed Man Seeks God and The Socrates Express. A former international correspondent for NPR, his work has appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the anthology Best American Travel Writing. He lives with his family and a menagerie of animals in the Washington, D.C., area.

ROCHELLE B. WEINSTEIN is the USA Today and Amazon bestselling author of seven novels, including What You Do To Me ((Lake Union Publishing), When We Let Go, This Is Not How It Ends, Somebody’s Daughter, and Where We Fall. Weinstein spent her early years with a book always in hand, raised by the likes of Sidney Sheldon and Judy Blume. A former entertainment industry executive, she splits her time between South Florida and North Carolina. When she’s not writing, she can be found sharing monthly book recommendations at NBC-6 Miami, AQUA Magazine, Women Writers, Women's Books; teaching workshops at Nova Southeastern University; and hiking, reading, and finding the world’s best nachos.