Kathleen Basi and Trust Falls

Author, composer, and speaker Kathleen Basi writes character-driven contemporary women’s fiction about ordinary people living, loving, and doing the best they can to find beauty in the life they’ve been given. As a writer, Kathleen brings a lyrical approach to storytelling that invites readers to linger with the language and the emotion of the story. As a composer, she crafts music that touches the deepest places of our hearts. As a speaker, she communicates with care, intention, empathy, and authenticity… and a dash of humor for spice. Her latest novel is Trust Falls. Learn more at kathleenbasi.com Intro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].

Tina Schwartz is an author, public speaker, and literary agent, and founder of The Purcell Agency. She has a B.A. in Marketing Communications with an Advertising Emphasis from Columbia College Chicago. Her big dream was to write Super Bowl ads for television. When that dream didn't come to fruition, she became a media buyer, and then a sales rep for over 500 radio stations, selling airtime to advertisers. After several years, she made a career pivot to stay home and raise her three children and began writing books. Seven years after her first publication, she opened The Purcell Agency to help others get published as well. Schwartz is an active member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), Chicago Writer's Association, Women's Fiction Writers of America, and the American Association of Literary Agents.  Learn more at thepurcellagency.comIntro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].

Seth Fleisher is an American author whose work has appeared in the Bellevue Literary Review, Pearl, the Journal of Anthropological Research, and elsewhere. Based in Berkeley, California, he has worked with the World Bank Group and other NGOs in South Africa, India, and more than 40 other countries, and co-founded a U.S.-based democracy initiative to counter the rising tide of authoritarianism. A former Fulbright scholar in Sri Lanka, Seth did Ph.D. work at Harvard in Buddhist social history, a fellowship at Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions, and a B.A. in literature at Swarthmore, where he and his wife first met in a Chaucer seminar. The Farther Shore is his first novel. Learn more at sethfleisher.com Intro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].

Kathleen Fox is a former teacher, school librarian, and corporate trainer. She developed games, children’s books, and music for the school library market, and founded a local art school in her community. She also helped co-founder a digital platform to helpchildren elevate their innovative thinking. When she isn’t writing, Fox can usually be found cruising around the country in her Sprinter van with her husband and two dogs. She’s navigated her van “Grey” through most of the continental US, the Canadian providences, and Alaska. She prefers rural towns and scenic routes. Kathleen calls the coast of South Carolina home, and her debut novel is Evie Walters Takes the Wheel. Learn more at kathleenfoxbooks.comIntro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].

Jonathan Edward Durham (@thisone0verhere) was born in Eastern Pennsylvania where he read voraciously through his youth and beyond. He studied literature at William and Mary while pursuing a degree in neuroscience, and now writes to bridge the wonder of his favorite childhood books with the pop sensibilities of the classic thrillers he grew up with. He still lives in the Lehigh Valley with his husband and a house full of animals. His debut novel is Winterset Hollow. Learn more at jonathanedwarddurham.com Follow him on social media at @thisone0verhereIntro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].

Sara Z. Carson is a public relations professional who lives with her family in Brooklyn. Dark Messiah is her first book. Learn more at sarahzcarsonauthor.com Intro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].

Laleh Khadivi is the author of The Kurdish Trilogy. She is the recipient of a Whiting Award, a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, a Pushcart Prize and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Oakland, California with her family and teaches fiction at the University of San Francisco. Her latest novel is FEMALE LIFE ON PLANET EARTH. Learn more at LalehKhadivi.comThank you, NetGalley for an early copy of Female Life on Planet Earth. Intro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].

Charlotte Lillie Balogh is an author, a screenwriter, and a comic book writer born and raised outside Boston. She self-published her first book at sixteen years old and later graduated as a Remembrance Scholar from Syracuse University. CLB is a lifelong superhero fanatic, and she launched into the television and film industry by working at DC Entertainment on projects including Wonder Woman 1984 and the CW’s Stargirl. When she’s not writing, CLB mentors young women through RowLA and WriteGirl, helping to create the next generation of real-life superheroes. She is the author of KILL THE LAX BRO (available now). Her next novel, CAPSIZED is currently adapting a pilot for Hulu. Learn more at CharlotteLillie.com View the table reading Charlotte mentioned here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYItQ6FEN9k&t=3s Intro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].

USA Today bestselling author HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN is the author of 17 thrillers, including her newest, the instant USA today bestseller ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS, which just won the coveted 2026 Mary Higgins Clark Award and has been nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Novel of the Year. • Her books have won every major mystery award in the industry and have been translated into multiple languages throughout the world. • Her fiction is inspired by a lifetime of investigating true crime during her storied career as an on-air television reporter. She’s been awarded multiple honors for her groundbreaking journalism, including an unprecedented 37 Emmy Awards. • Her work has resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in refunds and restitution for victims. • A TedX speaker and in-demand literary moderator, national reviewers have hailed her a as “master of suspense” and “a superb and gifted storyteller.” • • A native of Chicago with roots in Indianapolis, Ryan lives in Boston with her husband, a nationally renowned civil rights and criminal defense attorney. Her next standalone cat-and-mouse thriller, MOTHER DAUGHTER SISTER STRANGER, comes out Sept. 1. Learn more at hankphillippiryan.com Intro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].

Rebecca Stafford is a YA author, poet, and writing teacher. Her debut novel, Rabbit and Juliet, was named a Best YA Book of 2024 by both Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal. Her second novel, The Ending You Deserve, is forthcoming from Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins in September 2026. She is also the author of four poetry collections — Fair Copy, Vow, Gloss, and Generic Husband — and a two-time Pushcart Prize winner whose poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, The New Yorker, and Best American Poetry. She holds an MFA from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD from Florida State University, and has been teaching writing for twenty years, currently as a Professor at North Central College. Her latest novel is The Ending You Deserve. Learn more at rebeccastaffordauthor.com Intro reel, Writing Table Podcast 2024 Outro RecordingFollow the Writing Table: @writingtablepodcastEmail questions or tell us who you'd like us to invite to the Writing Table: [email protected].