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

Senior Editor Terri Bischoff joined Crooked Lane in 2019. In her twenty-six years working in the book world, she has been a bookseller, bookstore manager, mystery bookstore owner, and finally, an acquiring editor. Previous to CLB, she spent ten years at Midnight Ink as their acquiring editor. Her authors have won many awards, including the Anthony, Agatha, Lefty, and IPPY. She has previously published Jess Lourey, Catriona McPherson, Leonard Goldberg, and acquired the debuts of Kellye Garrett and May Cobb.

Terri’s interests run the gamut of crime fiction from cozies to serial killers. She is looking for domestic and psychological suspense, thrillers, LGBTQIA2S+,
marginalized voices, plots that have an underlying social commentary, cults, and strong female protagonists. Terri has often been heard saying, the more bodies the better.

Clint McCown offers actionable, essential advice gleaned from decades of writing, teaching, publishing, and consulting.

Clint McCown is an award-winning American author, poet, journalist, editor, actor, and university professor. He teaches fiction writing and screenwriting in the Department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and in the low-residency Master of Fine Arts program for the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Olesya Salnikova Gilmore was born in Moscow, Russia, raised in the US, and graduated from Pepperdine University with a BA in English / political science, and from Northwestern University School of Law with a JD. She practiced litigation at a large law firm for several years before pursuing her dream of becoming an author. She is happiest writing historical fiction and fantasy inspired by Eastern European folklore. She lives in a wooded lakeside suburb of Chicago with her husband and daughter. The Witch and the Tsar is her debut novel.

T.M. Dunn (Patricia Dunn) is the author of three novels, Her Father's Daughter (Crooked Lane, July 2023), Last Stop On The 6 (Bordighera Press, 2021,) and Rebels By Accident (2014). She has served as Senior Director of the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, where she holds an MFA in creative writing. In addition to writing, she coaches aspiring and established writers and teaches creative writing workshops.  

Patricia lives in Stamford, Connecticut, where she is currently working on her next novel, with her rescue puppy Blanqui snuggled at her side.

Kate Brandt is a graduate of the MFA Writing program at Sarah Lawrence College.  Her work has appeared in literary anthologies, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Literary Mama, Ginosko, and Redivider, among other publications. She’s a teacher trainer in adult literacy in New York City.

Hope for the Worst is an autobiographical novel that illuminates the twists and turns we take in seeking wisdom and spiritual understanding. Kirkus Reviews has called this book “illuminating,” commenting that “keen perception and frank self-awareness… spare, direct writing style and pithy descriptions of people and places vividly portray late 1980s New York City …[and] draw the reader in.”

 Kate says, “I write because I have a problem to solve or a question to ask, thus writing becomes a form of meditation for me--a way to escape time but also ruminate on the questions that concern me. These questions are the fundamental ones--what is the right way to live, to be happy, and to be in tune with reality. I chose to write this story because I knew it would take me a long time, but I also knew I would not get tired of it. This book is really for people who are concerned with loss and deep disappointment, and how we navigate around those.”

 For more information on  Kate and her writing go to her website, Katebrandt.net. You can also find her on instagram and twitter @Kbrandtwriter.