2023 Adult Authors
More authors will be added as we get closer to the festival.
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Alicia Bessette’s first mystery, Smile Beach Murder, was an Edgar finalist; a Southern Indie hardcover fiction bestseller; an Amazon Editors’ Pick; and one of Real Simple’s Best Beach Reads of 2022. The New York Times Book Review called Smile Beach Murder “a fresh shot of warmth and verve...the first in a new series I already know I want to read more of,” while Publishers Weekly called the sequel, Murder on Mustang Beach, “delightful...fast-paced...an intriguing plot that will keep readers guessing.” Bessette’s journalism has won a first-place award from the New England Newspaper & Press Association. A pianist, published poet, and enthusiastic birdwatcher, she loves living in coastal North Carolina with her husband, novelist Matthew Quick.
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Josh Weiss is an author from South Jersey. Raised in a proud Jewish home, he was instilled with an appreciation for his cultural heritage from a very young age. Today, Josh is utterly fascinated with the convergence of Judaism and popular culture in film, television, comics, literature, and other media. After college, he became a freelance entertainment journalist, writing stories for SYFY WIRE, The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, and Marvel Entertainment. He currently resides in Philadelphia with his incredible wife, Leora; their adorable Cavapoo, Archie; as well as an extensive collection of graphic T-shirts, movie posters, vinyl records, and a few books, of course.
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Angelo Cataldi is an award-winning American sports journalist and radio personality who spent over three decades as the host of 94.1 WIP's morning show in Philadelphia before retiring in 2023. A graduate of Columbia University's school of journalism, Cataldi has also written for The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Providence Journal, and The Narragansett Times. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1987 for his coverage of the Philadelphia Eagles for the Inquirer.
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Sara Nović is the author of the instant NYT Bestseller True Biz, as well as the books Girl at War and America is Immigrants. She holds an MFA in fiction and literary translation from Columbia University, and is an instructor of Deaf studies and creative writing. She lives in Philadelphia with her family.
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Matthew Quick is The New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook—which was made into an Oscar-winning film—and eight other novels, including We Are the Light, a #1 Indie Next Pick and a Book of the Month selection. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, received a PEN/Hemingway Award Honorable Mention, was an LA Times Book Prize finalist, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a #1 bestseller in Brazil, a Deutscher Jugendliteratur Preis 2016 (German Youth Literature Prize) nominee, and selected by Nancy Pearl as one of Summer’s Best Books for NPR. The Hollywood Reporter has named him one of Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors. Matthew lives with his wife, the novelist Alicia Bessette, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
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Leth Oun’s memoir, A Refugee’s American Dream: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the U.S. Secret Service, was published by Temple University in February and will be released as an audio book on October 10. It tells his story of growing up in Cambodia, surviving the Killing Fields, immigrating to America, and ultimately becoming a U.S. Secret Service officer. A political refugee who immigrated to Maryland in 1983, he became an American citizen in 1990. Before going to work for the federal government in 2000, he held numerous jobs that ranged from working as a bank teller to clerking at convenience stores to washing dishes for $3.15 an hour. Since 2002, he has protected presidents and vice presidents in four administrations in forty-nine states and more than a dozen countries. He and his wife, Sophy, also a survivor of the Killing Fields, have been married since 1985 and have two grown children.
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Jo Piazza is a bestselling author, podcast creator, and award-winning journalist. She is the national and international bestselling author of many critically acclaimed novels and nonfiction books including We Are Not Like Them, Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, The Knockoff, and How to Be Married. Her work has been published in ten languages in twelve countries and four of her books have been optioned for film and television. A former editor, columnist, and travel writer with Yahoo, Current TV, and the Daily News (New York), her work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Glamour, Elle, Time, Marie Claire, The Daily Beast, and Slate.
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Barbara Rubin is the author of More Than You Can See-A Mother’s Memoir. This is a story of joy, sorrow, humor, and rage as a mother advocates for her injured daughter. Barbara witnessed firsthand the battles that come when a person is most vulnerable and how kindness can make all the difference. This book helps others understand the lessons that can be learned from tolerance and gives hope to families whose paths have also been darkened by tragedy.
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Joe Samuel “Sam” Starnes is coauthor of Leth Oun’s memoir, A Refugee’s American Dream: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to the U.S. Secret Service, which was published by Temple University in February and will be released as an audio book on October 10. Previously he has published three critically acclaimed novels, including Fall Line in 2011, which was included in the Atlanta Journal- Constitution’s “Best of the South” list. His most recent novel, Red Dirt: A Tennis Novel, was released in 2015. His first novel, Calling, was published in 2005 and reissued in 2014 as an e-book. He has had journalism in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and various magazines, as well as essays, short stories, and poems in literary journals. He lives in Haddon Township, right on the edge of the Collingswood city limit.
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Christine Pride is a writer, editor, and longtime publishing veteran. She’s held editorial posts at many different trade imprints, including Doubleday, Broadway, Crown, Hyperion, and Simon & Schuster. As an editor, Christine has published a range of books, with a special emphasis on inspirational stories and memoirs, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. As a freelance editorial consultant, she does select editing and proposal/content development, as well as teaching and coaching, and pens a regular column—“Race Matters”—for Cup of Jo. She lives in New York City.