FICTION BIOS
Guest of Honor
Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times #1 internationally bestselling author of 26 thrillers including the Orphan X series. His novels have won numerous literary awards and have been published in 33 languages.
Gregg currently serves as the Co-President of International Thriller Writers (ITW). Additionally, he’s written screenplays and television scripts for many of the major studios and networks, and is an award-winning documentary producer. Gregg also wrote comics for AWA (including the critically acclaimed anthology NewThink), DC, and Marvel, and poetry.
Currently, Gregg is working against polarization in politics and culture. To that end, he’s penned dozens of op-eds and pieces for The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Bulwark, Salon, and others, and pieces of creative content which have won numerous industry awards and achieved several hundred million views on digital TV platforms. He also helped write the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup.
GREGG HURWITZ
Jessica knoll
Jessica Knoll is the New York Times bestselling author of LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE, THE FAVORITE SISTER, BRIGHT YOUNG WOMEN, and HELPLESS. LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE was adapted into a Netflix film starring Mila Kunis; Knoll wrote the screenplay and served as an executive producer. Her books have been published in more than forty languages. Before becoming a full-time author and screenwriter, she worked as an editor at Cosmopolitan and Self, and she lives in New York City.
BRENDAN SLOCUMB
Host of Trivia Night
Brendan Nicholaus Slocumb was raised in Fayetteville, NC, and holds a degree in music education (with concentrations in violin and viola) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
For more than twenty years he has been a public and private school music educator and has performed with orchestras throughout northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC. He is currently based in DC.
emily carpenter
Emily Carpenter is the bestselling author of suspense novels including BURYING THE HONEYSUCKLE GIRLS, THE WEIGHT OF LIES, EVERY SINGLE SECRET, and A SPELL FOR SAINTS AND SINNERS. A native of Alabama and graduate of Auburn University, she has worked as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind the scenes in daytime television. Her fiction is known for its Southern settings and elements of psychological suspense and Gothic storytelling. She lives in Georgia with her family.
tara goedjen
Tara Goedjen is the author of the young adult mystery novels THE BREATHLESS and NO BEAUTIES OR MONSTERS. Her adult debut, PLEASE ENJOY YOUR STAY, will be published in October 2026. Goedjen has lived and worked around the world and previously worked as a college lecturer and as a fiction editor for a publishing house in Sydney. She holds an MFA and a PhD, and her short fiction has appeared in publications including AGNI, BOMB Magazine, Meanjin, and Fairy Tale Review.
heather graham
Heather Graham is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author whose career spans more than 150 novels and more than 75 million books in print. Heather’s latest book THESE ANCIENT BONES was released in August 2026. She writes across suspense, mystery, romance, historical fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal, and her work has been published internationally in nearly thirty languages. Graham has received numerous honors, including the International Thriller Writers’ Thriller Master Award and lifetime achievement awards from the Strand and Romance Writers of America. Heather lives in South Florida.
wanda morris
Wanda Morris is the author of ALL HER LITTLE SECRETS, ANYWHERE YOU RUN, WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND, and the forthcoming thriller THIS NEVER HAPPENS HERE. Her books have received Anthony, Lefty, and Georgia Author of the Year awards and have been recognized by the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Prize and other major crime-fiction honors. WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND was nominated for a 2025 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work–Fiction. A former corporate attorney, Morris lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Hallie Shepherd
Debut Author
Hallie Shepherd is an author, screenwriter, producer, and actress. Her debut novel, CALL OFF THE DARK, will be published in September 2026. Shepherd grew up in a small town in western Washington and began writing a weekly newspaper column at age eleven. She earned a B.A. in English from Western Washington University before building a career in film and television. Her experience as a screenwriter continues to influence her approach to pacing, visual storytelling, and character. She lives in Los Angeles.
melissa Anderson sweazy
Debut Author
Melissa Anderson Sweazy is a screenwriter, filmmaker, and podcaster based in Memphis, Tennessee. Her debut novel, THE SISTERS OF CRIMSON HOUSE, will be published in September 2026. Sweazy is also the co-creator of You Can See Me in the Dark, a monthly podcast devoted to true ghost stories from around the world. Her work frequently explores haunted places, family histories, and the ways the supernatural intersects with ordinary life.
Emma c. wells
Emma C. Wells is the USA Today bestselling author of THIS GIRL’S A KILLER and WE ALREADY DUG THE GRAVE. Her debut, THIS GIRL’S A KILLER, introduced readers to Cordelia Black, a pharmaceutical representative with a secret life dispensing her own brand of justice. Her second novel, WE ALREADY DUG THE GRAVE, was published in September 2026 and follows two estranged sisters drawn back into a shared and dangerous past. Wells writes thrillers that combine suspense, dark humor, complicated relationships, and morally unconventional protagonists.
shanora williams
Shanora Williams is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author whose work spans psychological thrillers, contemporary romance, and romantasy. Her suspense novels include THE PERFECT RUIN, THE WIFE BEFORE, THE OTHER MISTRESS, THE BITTER TRUTH, and WHISPERS OF THE LAKE. Williams describes herself as a “mood writer” and has built a career moving between genres while focusing on emotionally charged characters and high-stakes stories. She lives near Charlotte, North Carolina.