October 2024
Tuesday, 10/1
Wednesday, 10/2
Thursday, 10/3
Friday, 10/4
Saturday, 10/5
Sunday, 10/6
Monday, 10/7
Tuesday, 10/8
Wednesday, 10/9
Thursday, 10/10
Friday, 10/11
Saturday, 10/12
Sunday, 10/13
Monday, 10/14
Tuesday, 10/15
Wednesday, 10/16
Thursday, 10/17
Friday, 10/18
Saturday, 10/19
Sunday, 10/20
Monday, 10/21
Tuesday, 10/22
Debut Authors in Horror, Romance, Historical Fiction, & More
12:00 PM in person
sponsored by: the Creative Writing Program
hosted by: Kitsi Watterson
rsvp: register here to attend in person
Navigating the publishing world as a debut author can be by turns exciting, confusing, joyful, and scary. Three Philadelphia-area 2024 debut authors will discuss their journeys to publication, their experiences as debuts, and the finer points of craft across the genre kaleidoscope of fiction and nonfiction. Moderated by Penn faculty and award-winning writer and journalist Kathryn "Kitsi" Watterson.
Ashton Lattimore is an author, award-winning journalist and former lawyer. Her debut historical fiction novel, All We Were Promised (Ballantine Books), was released in April 2024. By day, she is the editor-in-chief at Prism, a nonprofit news outlet whose work centers on communities of color. Her nonfiction writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, Slate, CNN, and Essence. She is a graduate of Harvard College, Columbia Journalism School, and Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. A New Jersey native, Ashton now lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband and two sons.
Laura Piper Lee writes adult romantic comedies. Her debut novel, Hannah Tate, Beyond Repair released in February 2024 in the U.S. and in the U.K. from Union Square & Co. It was named One of the Best New Rom-Com Books of 2024 by Brit & Co and One of the Best (and Most Anticipated) Romance Books of 2024 by Elle magazine. She is currently working on her second novel, Zoe Brennan, First Crush, which is set to release in February 2025, also from Union Square & Co. Laura also writes fantasy and science fiction novels for children, and when she is not writing, works as an education policy attorney for school districts, colleges, and universities.
NICOLE M. WOLVERTON is the author of the young adult horror novel A Misfortune of Lake Monsters (CamCat Books, released July 2024). Her short fiction and creative nonfiction have been published in the Saturday Evening Post, Aji magazine, and the Nighty Night podcast with Rabia Chaudry, among others, and she served as editor of the 2021 anthology Bodies Full of Burning (Sliced Up Press). She is the assistant editor of Penn Nursing Magazine and a 2023 graduate of Penn's Masters of Liberal Arts program, with a degree in horror and storytelling.