Book Riot Live

Who’s Who at Book Riot Live 2016: Round 1

Jenn Northington

Director, Editorial Operations

Jenn Northington has worked in the publishing industry wearing various hats since 2004, including bookseller and events director, and is currently Director of Editorial Operations at Riot New Media Group. You can hear her on the SFF Yeah! podcast nerding out about sci-fi and fantasy. When she’s not working, she’s most likely gardening, running, or (obviously) reading. Find her on Tumblr at jennIRL and Instagram at iamjennIRL.

Please join us in welcoming our first round of speakers for Book Riot Live 2016!

We’re hard at work building a speaker list that’s as inclusive, smart, funny, and talented as last year’s — no small feat, but I am delighted to say that we’re off to a roaring start. We are thrilled to announce that Rumaan Alam, Baz Dreisinger, Maria Dahvana Headley, Jeph Jacques, Ken Liu, and Nisi Shawl will be on stage at Book Riot Live 2016. Learn more about them below!

Rumaan Alam: says that writing for Luckytaught me a hell of a lot about writing, possibly more than my undergraduate writing workshops.

Baz Dreisinger: believes that “there is at least the possibility of another way, another paradigm” when it comes to justice and prison reform.

Maria Dahvana Headley: gets a tattoo for every book she writes, and was interviewed by MTV while getting one!

Jeph Jacques: talked Arcade Fire jokes, mental health, and writing diversely with The Mary Sue.

Ken Liu: wrote The Grace of Kings as “a deliberate attempt to meld two literary traditions, both of which [he considers his] own: the Western tradition of Homeric epics, Anglo-Saxon poetry and contemporary epic fantasy, and the Chinese tradition of historical romances, lyric poetry and wuxia [martial arts hero] fantasy.

Nisi Shawl: dared herself to write a steampunk novel set in the Belgian Congo and then had to figure out “how to turn one of the worst human rights disasters on record into a book.