People and Places: A Reading of New Fiction

Dasha Kelly holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University. As a spoken word artist, Dasha has performed throughout the U.S., in Canada and appeared on the final season of HBO presents Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam.  In 2014, Kelly was selected as a U.S. Embassy Arts Envoy to teach and perform in Botswana, Africa. She is the author of Hither, a chapbook, and three books, All Fall Down, Hershey Eats Peanuts, and Call It Forth. In her new novel, Almost Crimson (Curbside Splendor Publishing), Kelly portrays a young woman's struggle to break free from the grips of codependency, her mother's crippling depression, their severe poverty, an absentee father, and her own insecurities to find confidence and success in her career and her personal life. Kirkus Reviews calls it, "A multilayered exploration of the intricate nature of family ties in defining who we are – and how, ultimately, we can choose who we want to become."

Fatima Shaik is the author of books for adults and children, including The Mayor of New Orleans, Melitte, and On Mardi Gras Day, among others. Her work has appeared in the Review of Contemporary Fiction, the Southern Review, Callaloo, the New York Times, In These Times and others. She is an Assistant Professor at Saint Peter's University and a former assistant editor of McGraw-Hill World News. Fatima Shaik has written a love letter to the entertaining, unpredictable, and flawed characters who populated New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina in What Went Missing and What Got Found (Xavier Review Press), a lyrical short story collection with undertones of the blues. Set in a deep-rooted community, the book describes the inner lives of outsiders with humor and tenderness. There are religious zealots, day-dreaming musicians, failed romantics, and more. What Went Missing and What Got Found adds to the rich diversity of voices in contemporary fiction and to our understanding of Southern literature.

Phillippe Diederich is a Haitian-American writer and photojournalist raised in Mexico City and Miami, Florida. In his debut novel, Sofrito (Cinco Puntos Press), a young man trying to save his failing Manhattan restaurant returns to Cuba to steal a recipe that’s not only delicious—it’s a state secret.  

Born in Miami to Cuban-emigré parents, Vanessa Garcia is a multidisciplinary writer and artist whose paintings and installations have been exhibited throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Her most recent plays include The Cuban Spring; Grace, Sponsored by Monteverde; and The Crocodile's Bite. She is currently writing a memoir about American-born Cubans entitled Our Cuban Routes. In Garcia’s novel White Light (Shade Mountain Press) tells the story of an artist torn between the need to mourn her father and the chance to break into the art world.