Season IV (see 2009)
- September 14, 2010 »Jennifer Egan, Darin Strauss, Abby Sher
Jennifer Egan was born in Chicago, raised in San Francisco, studied in England, and backpacked the world. She has published short stories in The New Yorker, Harpers,Granta, McSweeney's and other magazines. Her first novel, The Invisible Circus was released as a movie starring Cameron Diaz in 2001. Also that year, her second novel, Look at Me, was a National Book Award Finalist. Her third, The Keep, is a highly acclaimed national bestseller. She is the author of the new book, A Visit from the Goon Squad, which has been receiving high praise and is well on its way to outpacing The Keep in sales. Also an award-winning journalist, Egan lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
Darin Strauss is the best-selling author of the New York Times' Notable novels The Real McCoy and More Than It Hurts You and the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year Chang & Eng. Strauss has seen his work translated into fourteen languages, and published in over 20 countries; he has received numerous awards, most recently a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction Writing. Also a screenwriter -- he has worked with Disney films, Julie Taymor, and, on the screen adaptation of Chang & Eng, Gary Oldman -- Darin has written fiction, essays, and criticism for the New York Times, GQ, Esquire, One Story, McSweeney's, The Washington Post, Salon, and many others.
His new book, Half a Life, has been excerpted on NPR's This American Life and GQ, and is being published in September, 2010. 
Abby Sher, 2010 Pen Parentis Fellowship Award Recipient, is a writer and performer, mama, wife, daughter, sister, lover of compost and fine naps. Her memoir, Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn’t Stop Praying was published by Scribner in October, 2009. It got a nod from Oprah and won ELLE Readers’ Prize, Chicago Tribune’s Best of 2009, and Moment Magazine’s Emerging Writers Award.
- October 12, 2010 »Jennifer Belle, Marcy Dermanskey, Pen-Mei Natasha Chang
- Jennifer Belle (bio coming)
- Marcy Dermanskey (bio coming)
Pen-Mei Natasha Chang is a Chinese-American memoirist and essayist who writes about identity, relationships, and the intersection of cultures, generations and the sexes. Pang-Mei wrote about China’s first modern divorcée, her great-aunt, in Bound Feet & Western Dress (Doubleday/Anchor) (www.pmchang.com). Her writings have been included in the New York Times Magazine, New Haven Review, and Saveur. She's on the board of the literary magazine, the New Haven Review, and has taught writing at Yale and Bard colleges. She lives on the Upper West Side with her two daughters.
- November 9, 2010 »Larry Doyle
- December 14, 2010 »Lena Roy, Liz Rosenberg
- Lena Roy (bio coming)
Liz Rosenberg is an award-winning novelist and poet as well as a prize winning children's book author. Her books include Home Repair, Nobody, Demon Love, and This is the Wind. Her forthcoming novel, A YEAR WITHOUT MAKEUP, will be her eighth published book. She has been a professor of English at SUNY Binghamton for more than twenty years, and is a visiting writer, faculty, or guest lecturer at writing colonies and conferences around the world.
Season III
- January 12, 2010 » Yona Zeldis McDonough & Ellen Umansky
Yona Zeldis McDonough, in addition to many acclaimed books for children, is the author of two novels for adults, THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS and IN DAHLIA’S WAKE—her third novel, BREAKING THE BANK, came out in September to stunning reviews. She presently lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, their two children and two small, yappy dogs.
Ellen Umansky’s articles, essays, and fiction have appeared in numerous publications, such as The New York Times, Salon, Playboy, and Tablet, as well as the short-story anthologies Lost Tribe and Sleepaway. She has worked in the editorial departments of The New Yorker, the Forward, and the late New York Sun. She has been awarded a residency at the Millay Colony for the Arts and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two young daughters.
- February 9, 2010 » Mark Shulman, Rachel Sherman, & Meg Mullins
Mark Shulman has published over 100 children’s books of every kind. He has also written nonfiction, preschool, trivia, readers, movie tie-ins, sticker books, and humor books for adults. His most recent projects include a young adult novel, Scrawl. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, a literacy teacher, and their two children.
Rachel Sherman holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University. Her short stories have appeared in various publications including the anthology Full Frontal Fiction: The Best of Nerve Anthology. Her book of short stories, The First Hurt was short listed for The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, and was named one of the 25 Books to Remember from 2006 by the New York Public Library.
Meg Mullins, celebrated author of The Rug Merchant, joins the Pen Parentis Author Salon while on book tour for highly anticipated novel, Dear Strangers. Her short fiction is widely published. The story that formed the basis of The Rug Merchant appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2002. She lives in New Mexico with her husband and their two children.
- March 9, 2010 »Austin Ratner and Julie Metz
Austin Ratner’s first novel, The Jump Artist, was heralded as “a remarkable work” by Harper’s Magazine and named one of ten promising debuts of 2009 by Publishers Weekly. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine and has been honored with the Missouri Review Editors’ Prize in Fiction. He attended the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Before turning to writing he received his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and he is co-author of the textbook Concepts in Medical Physiology, which is used at Harvard Medical School and elsewhere.
Julie Metz is the author of the memoir PERFECTION, a Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal. She is a writer, graphic designer, and artist. Her freelance essays have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Huffington Post, Glamour, Publishers Weekly, and the online story site mrbellersneighborhood. The recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship, where she completed work on her memoir, Julie lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.
- April 13, 2010 »Max Watman and Anna Solomon
Max Watman is the author of Race Day, which was an editors choice in the New York Times Book Review. He was the horse racing correspondent for the New York Sun and has written for various publications on books, music, food, and drink. He lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife and son. A master storyteller, his current book "Chasing the White Dog, an amateur outlaw's adventures in moonshine," was well received in the New York Times Sunday Book Review.
Anna Solomon's short stories have been published in literary magazines including The Georgia Review, One Story, Harvard Review, and Shenandoah; her story "Lotto" was awarded a Pushcart Prize. An essay about new motherhood, "The Three-Month Itch," appeared in the New York Times Magazine. Anna's debut novel, The Little Bride, is forthcoming in 2011. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.
- May 13, 2010 »Kristen Schultz Dollard, Laura Vanderkam, Mary Ann Zoellner and Alicia Ybarbo - NON-FICTION NIGHT
Kristen Schultz Dollard lives with her daughter and husband in Manhattan. She has been studying yoga for 15 years and classical ballet for another 15. In 2004, she trained with Yogi Raj Alan Finger. Currently the Digital Director of SELF.com Magazine, she is launching dontwasteyourrace.com, a stubhub for endurance and athletic races and she is developing her next yoga book: CALM MOM: PUTTING THE OM IN MOM. She has launched Women's Health Magazine, YogaLife Magazine and the websites iyogalife.com, Prevention.com, and Women's Health.com. Schultz Dollard, a graduate of NYU in journalism and women's studies, also spent four years at ABC NEWS/Good Morning America where she launched the live audience component in Times Square and wrote live promos for Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson.
Laura Vanderkam, New York City-based writer and mother of two, is the author of GRINDHOPPING: BUILD A REWARDING CAREER WITHOUT PAYING YOUR DUES as well as the exciting new book 168 HOURS (promo video for 168 Hours here). She is a member of USA Today's Board of Contributors, and her work has appeared in Reader's Digest, Scientific American, Wired, The American, Portfolio and other publications.
Mary Ann Zoellner and Alicia Ybarbo are both Emmy award-winning producers for NBC’s TODAY, the number-one rated morning TV show. "Today's Moms: Essentials for Surviving Baby's First Year" was published in 2009 by Harper Collins. They’ve appeared on TODAY, MSNBC, FOX News, WNBC and LXTV as well as in People, Redbook, Cookie, OK! and Parenting Magazine. The book is a humerous and informative collection of first-year-of-parenting anecdotes by the personalities on the Today Show. They're currently working on their next book together and live in New York with their families.
Larry Doyle Larry Doyle is an earthling. His first novel, “I Love You, Beth Cooper,” won the 2008 Thurber Award for Humor Writing. His new novel, “Go, Mutants!” has just been released and is supported by an altogether too extravagant website. Doyle was a writer and producer of “The Simpsons” for four years, writes not great movies and is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker. More, mostly reliable information is available at larrydoyle.com.