WOMEN’S STORIES/ WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

Patricia Engel is the author of, most recently, the story collection The Faraway World. Her novel Infinite Country was an instant New York Times Bestseller and a 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Big Read. Infinite Country is the winner of the New American Voices Award, was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.

Kai Harris is the author of the acclaimed debut novel What the Fireflies Knew (Tiny Reparations, 2022), a Silicon Valley 2023 Read, A Marie Claire Book Club pick as well as being an NAACP Image Award nominee and longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. She is a writer and educator from Detroit, Michigan, who uses her voice to uplift the Black community through realistic fiction centered on the Black experience.

Susan Abulhawa speaks widely on the subjects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the power of storytelling, particularly for marginalized communities. Susan is one of the most widely-read Arab authors. Her debut novel, Mornings in Jenin, is a multigenerational family epic spanning five countries and more than sixty years.

Kristen Arnett is the author of With Teeth: A Novel (Riverhead Books, 2021) and the NYT bestselling debut novel Mostly Dead Things (Tin House, 2019) which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction. She is a queer fiction and essay writer. She was awarded Ninth Letter's Literary Award in Fiction, has been a columnist for Literary Hub, and was a Spring 2020 Shearing Fellow at Black Mountain Institute.

Jasmine Brown began writing TWICE AS HARD when she was twenty-two. A 2018 recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship, she used her time at the University of Oxford to complete the in-depth research and oral histories synthesized in this book. She graduated from Oxford with Merit, earning an M.Phil. in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. Brown leverages her connection to her topic to create a work that is both immensely well-researched and personal.

Bridgett is the author of the critically-acclaimed memoir The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers, a New York Times Book Review “Editor’s Pick” and an Entertainment Weekly “Must Read.” She has been invited to speak at numerous venues about her memoir and its historical context. She teaches creative and film writing at Baruch College, CUNY.

Hafizah Augustus Geter is a Nigerian-American poet, writer, and literary agent born in Zaria, Nigeria, and raised in Akron, Ohio, and Columbia, South Carolina. Her debut memoir, The Black Period: On Personhood, Race & Origin, won the 2023 PEN Open Book Award. Hafizah is also the author of the debut poetry collection Un-American, nominated for a 2021 NAACP Image Award, a finalist for the 2021 PEN Open Book Award, and longlisted for the 2021 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize.

An anthropologist and graphic novelist, Sherine speaks nationally and internationally on the role of comics as a teaching tool and on social justice and representation in comics. In addition to her acclaimed academic work, she is the co-author of the graphic novel Lissa and author of the forthcoming YA graphic novel Jabs, the story of a Muslim-American girl’s coming-of-age.

Faylita Hicks (she/they) is a queer Afro-Latinx writer, spoken word artist, and cultural strategist. With an appreciation for powerful narratives that lead to cultural shifts and community safety, Hicks works with justice-focused nonprofits, arts and literary organizations, and performance venues throughout the US to actively engage in anti-carceral liberation efforts through dynamic storytelling. Hicks is also the author of the critically-acclaimed debut poetry collection HoodWitch, a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award.

Ladee is an award-winning author and scholar. Her critically-acclaimed novel, The Talented Ribkins, was awarded the 2018 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for the Debut Novel and the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, among many other honors, and garnered her an appearance on Seth Meyers.

Priya Huq is a Bangladeshi Texan cartoonist living in New York who speaks widely on issues related to the comics industry, art, race, culture, identity and their intersections. Her appearances include the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Emerald City Comic Con, and New York Comic Con. In her talks, Priya focuses on practical advice for marginalized artists and cartoonists.

Alisha Fernandez Miranda (she/her) is the author of My What If Year, which was released in February 2023. Detailing her year of unpaid internships in the dream jobs of her childhood, the book follows Alisha on her quest to figure out what might have happened if her life had taken a different path.