Writing F(r)iction

Eowyn Ivey is the author of The Snow Child (a New York Times bestseller published in more than 25 languages, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, a UK National Book Award winner, an Indies Choice award for debut fiction, and a PNBA Book Award winner) and To the Bright Edge of the World.

Nathan Englander is the author of the story collections For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, an international best seller, and What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, and the novels The Ministry of Special Cases, Dinner at the Center of the Earth and kaddish.com. His books have been translated into twenty-two languages. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN/Malamud Award, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. His play, The Twenty-Seventh Man, premiered at the Public Theater in 2012. He is Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and daughter.

Michael continues to ramble about the publishing of "Fight, Kid!", how easy it is to impress people, the hopelessness of individuality, the beginnings of his relationship with Green Apple Books, record store hangs, being your own salesman, plus much more!

Michael Farris Smith is an award-winning writer whose novels have appeared on Best of the Year lists with Esquire, Southern Living, Book Riot, and numerous others, and have been named Indie Next List, Barnes & Noble Discover, and Amazon Best of the Month selections. He has been a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, the Gold Dagger Award in the UK, and the Grand Prix des Lectrices in France, and his essays have appeared with The New York Times, Bitter Southerner, Garden & Gun, and more. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters.

Michael rambles about his admiration for Stand-up comedians, the world of Literary Agents, writing a Query letter, Transsexual Martian Detective Novels, why it’s alright to fail, the beginnings of how he published “Fight, Kid!”, plus much more!!!

Rebecca Makkai is the author of the novels "The Great Believers", "The Hundred-Year House", and "The Borrower", as well as the short story collection "Music for Wartime". "The Great Believers" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and received the ALA Carnegie Medal and the LA Times Book Prize, among other honors. Makkai is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University, and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.

Kevin Ryan is the co-owner of Green Apple Books in San Francisco.

Michael rambles about the loneliness of writing, time spent pursuing your dreams, making your hobbies your passion, the weather in California vs. New Jersey, writing wherever you can, plus much more!

Danny Bland is the author of "In Case We Die", "We Shouldn't Be Doing This" and "I Apologize in Advance for the Awful Things I'm Gonna Do".

Michael rambles about his thoughts on the “Economy of Language”, mixing audio like editing words, AJ Finn’s “Woman in the Window”, why some books are too long, how many times he has seen Phish, modern readers attention spans, Mad Men, writing about sex, and much more!