How do you draw on real life and turn that into a fictional narrative? In this program, authors Jennifer K. Morita, Audrey Lee, and D.M. Rowell will share their experience on incorporating personal experience and culture into fiction and celebrating diverse voices with authenticity and enthusiasm. 

About the authors:

Jennifer K. Morita is a former newspaper reporter who juggled freelance jobs with being a stay-at-home mom for several years before becoming a writer for the communications department at a local university. Her debut novel GHOSTS OF WAIKĪKĪ weaves family, food and culture into a story about greed, the cost of development, and getting priced out of paradise. She is a past president of her local Sisters in Crime chapter and continues to serve on the board. She is a member of Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers and lives in Sacramento with her family.

Audrey Lee received her master’s degree in education from UC Berkeley (Go Bears!) and spent over two decades in public education. When she isn’t writing books she consults with school districts about creating environments for students that are more equitable, culturally responsive, and socially just. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, son, and Maltipoo, Luna. Edgar Award-nominated The Mechanics of Memory is her first novel.

D.M. Rowell (Koyh Mi O Boy Dah) comes from a long line of Kiowa Storytellers within a culture that treasures oral traditions. She’s an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and has spent decades preserving sacred stories shared by tribe elders. She is an award-winning and nominated producer and scriptwriter on several documentaries, including Vanishing Link: My Spiritual Return to the Kiowa Way, seen on PBS and winner of TrailDance 2007 Best Oklahoma Documentary. After her three-decade hi-tech career, Rowell started a new chapter writing a mystery series that features a Silicon Valley professional Kiowa woman and her Plains Indian tribe. The first in the series is Mary Higgins Clark Award nominated, Never Name the Dead, followed by Silent Are the Dead.