LITERARY WOMEN
Celebrating Women Authors Since 1982
MEET THE 2025 FESTIVAL AUTHORS
Patti Callahan Henry
In The Secret Book of Flora Lea by bestselling author Patti Callahan Henry, a young woman discovers a rare book that reopens the most shattering event of her life: the disappearance of her younger sister from a countryside village where they were evacuated to during the London Blitz of World War II. When Hazel seeks the truth, she is met by guarded responses. Across a generation of war survivors, this compelling novel explores family, fear, loss, love, forgiveness, and captures the essence of sisterhood.
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Marcela Fuentes
Set in a fictional Texas town on the U.S.– Mexico border, the memorable debut novel, Malas, links the stories of two women: Pilar a young wife and mother in the 1950s and Lulu a 14-year-old in 1994. Fuentes creates a vibrant portrait of these two strong women who are considered mala, bad and willful, by those around them. When Pilar crashes the funeral of young Lulu’s grandmother, Lulu’s curiosity about the glamorous stranger leads to their unlikely friendship.
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Emily Habeck
The unforgettable, even wild story, Shark Heart: A Love Story, is set in an alternative world where human-to-animal mutations are a medical reality. In this oddly heartwarming tale of a newly married couple, Lewis and Wren are faced with a tragic diagnosis: Lewis is mutating into the largest predator on earth – the great white shark. Emily Habeck’s daring debut novel marks the arrival of a talented new writer of “originality, humor, and heart.”
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Lara Love Hardin
New York Times Bestselling Author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict, to jailhouse shot caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter for Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama in this harrowing, no-holds-barred memoir The Many Lives of Mama Love. A heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that made it almost impossible for her to move beyond the worst thing she had ever done.
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Shannon Sanders
In her award-winning debut collection Company, Shannon Sanders crafts an exceptional multigenerational saga. Through interconnected short stories, she explores the complexities of identity, intimacy, and inheritance, bringing to life characters who bicker, celebrate, and confront their pasts. With sharp prose and deep affection, Company weaves a richly detailed tapestry of Black familial bonds, heralding Sanders as a powerful new voice in contemporary fiction.
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Safiya Sinclair
Prize winning poet Safiya Sinclair lends her poetic voice to the writing of How to Say Babylon: A Memoir. A beautifully crafted story of a woman “with a fire in her belly and a poem in her heart” who liberates herself from a rigid Rastafarian upbringing and strict patriarchal rule through education and writing poetry. Rich in emotion, lyrical prose, and page-turning drama, readers will feel the author’s soul in every passage.
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Kate Zernike
In The Exceptions, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Kate Zernike unveils the compelling story of sixteen trailblazing female scientists at MIT who exposed systemic sexism within the institution, sparking a national reckoning in the world of science. Centering on Nancy Hopkins, a reluctant feminist and leader among her peers, this powerful nonfiction account chronicles a battle against decades of discrimination. Zernike’s meticulous reporting sheds light on the subtle, persistent biases faced by women in academia.
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