Annabel Monaghan, bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script and Summer Romance, shares openly about her leap from writing YA – which felt comfortable and safe – to writing romantic comedies for adults and the vulnerability it demands. She explains why awkwardness is her perfect recipe for humor in romance. With insights into her messy creative process and her philosophy of embracing what is fun and interesting, Annabel inspires us to embrace the imperfections of the writing life and focus on writing the stories that belong to us.

Annabel is the USA Today bestselling and Library Reads Hall of Fame author of Summer Romance, Same Time Next Summer and Nora Goes Off Script, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.

She is also the author of two novels for young adults, A Girl Named Digit and Double Digit, as well as Does This Volvo Make My Butt Look Big?, a collection of essays based on her column that appeared on the Huffington Post, The Week and The Rye Record. She has a BA in English from Duke University and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania. She hosts an author series called Friends with Words and spent several years on the novel writing faculty at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in Connecticut with her family.

Rosie Schaap, author of The Slow Road North: How I Found Peace in an Improbable Country, shares her experience of moving from Brooklyn to a tiny Irish village after losing both her husband and mother, and how Ireland's rugged beauty helped to transform her grief. This heartfelt conversation explores resilience, reinvention, and finding laughter in the shadows of loss.

Rosie is the author of Drinking With Men, named one of 2013’s best books by Library Journal and NPR. A columnist for The New York Times Magazine from 2011 to 2017, she has also written for the paper’s book review, dining, opinion, sports, and travel sections, Food & Wine, Lucky Peach, and Saveur, among other publications. She is a contributor to This American Life, and her essays have appeared in many anthologies.

Born and raised in New York City, Rosie now lives in the Glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland, a terrifically beautiful place you should visit sometime. She enjoys the robins and blackbirds in her backyard, walking in the forest, reading, feeding her friends (and sometimes strangers) the things she cooks, teaching, and traveling. She would also probably like writing or editing for your magazine or newspaper, consulting on your manuscript or book proposal, or being graced by your presence in one of her online classrooms.

Rhonda Britten – Emmy Award-winner, 4x Bestselling author, Repeat Oprah guest, Tedx Speaker, and Master Coach – has devoted her life to one thing: teaching people how to master fear. She has created a method for anyone to overcome the insidious fear of “not being good enough” using the “Wheel Technology” she developed to save her own life.

What she teaches is what she has lived.

Marianne Williamson says, "Rhonda Britten has risen from the ashes of genuine catastrophe. She has seen the deepest darkness and found her way beyond it. Hers was not an easy path by any means. What she has accomplished within herself, and now helps others to accomplish as well is nothing short of miraculous."

Rhonda's passion for overcoming emotional fears was born of personal tragedy. She became an orphan at fourteen when she was the sole witness to her parent’s murder-suicide. In overcoming the legacy of this terrifying life-stopping trauma, Rhonda developed the principles and resources that she would later use to heal herself and so many others.

Find out more at fearlessliving.org