March 22. 2025
Back at the Pasadena Hilton
Introducing our 2025 Festival Authors
Rachel Khong
And 6 More Acclaimed Authors
Marie-Helene Bertino
Rita Bullwinkel
Essie Chambers
Yangsze Choo
Eve J. Chung
Xochitl Gonzalez
Ballroom Authors
Marie-Helene Bertino
2025
NYT’s Best Book of the Year (So Far)
Marie-Helene Bertino’s novel, Beautyland, tells the story of Adina Giorno, an alien girl sent to Earth as an infant to gather intelligence about whether the planet is habitable. The discovery of a fax machine becomes a path for her to navigate life in Philadelphia with a single and somewhat distant mom. Adina’s outsider’s perspective takes ordinary life and describes it so perfectly that it is as if the reader is seeing it for the very first time. Beautyland is a novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life on Earth and in the universe. Bertino is the author of two novels and a story collection. She won the O. Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize, and was the 2017 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Fellow. She teaches at NYU and Yale and lives in Brooklyn.
“Astonishing.” – The New York Times. “Poignant, bracing. . .” – The LA Times. “Warm, witty, and touching.” – Esquire. “A monumental accomplishment, a shimmering masterpiece.” – The Boston Globe.
Author's WebsiteYangsze Choo
2020, 2025
Time Magazine Best Book of February
“Some people think foxes are similar to ghosts because we go around collecting qi, but nothing could be further than the truth. We are living creatures, just like you, only usually better looking.” So begins The Fox Wife, an enchanting tale told by Snow, a hypnotically beautiful woman on a journey seeking vengeance for her child’s death. Snow is enigmatic, and one wonders, is she a woman or is she a white fox who has transformed herself into a woman? Set in 1908 in Manchuria, Snow’s story involves murder, disappearances, and bumbling detectives. The Fox Wife is a novel of mortals and spirits, humans and beasts, and their dazzling intersection. Choo is a fourth generation Malaysian of Chinese descent. Her first novel, The Ghost Bride, became a Netflix series. Her second, The Night Tiger, was a Reese’s Book Club Pick and a New York Times bestseller. She lives in California.
“Like all the best supernatural stories, The Fox Wife reveals something profound about humanity.” – The Washington Post.
Author's WebsiteXochitl Gonzalez
2025
Reese’s Book Club Pick
In Anita de Monte Laughs Last, the mysterious death of rising star Anita de Monte is the talk of the New York art world – until both her art and her life are erased by her famous avant garde artist husband. Decades later, Raquel, a Latina, first-generation college student, studying art at an Ivy League college, becomes involved with a fellow student artist from a privileged and well-connected family. After stumbling upon de Monte’s story, Raquel examines her own relationship, which has some eerie parallels to the forgotten artist. Gonzalez injects magic and spirituality, issues of class, and the question of how women of color fit in the elite world of fine art into this beautifully written story, named a Reese’s Book Club Pick. Gonzalez earned her BA from Brown University and her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her bestselling debut novel, Olga Dies Dreaming, was named a Best Book of 2022 by The New York Times, Time, Kirkus, The Washington Post, and NPR. Gonzalez lives in Brooklyn.
“This novel is the best, most elusive combination: a thought-provoking and a brilliantly entertaining triumph.” – NPR. “Unflinching and thought-provoking.” – People.
Author's WebsiteRachel Khong
2025
New York Times Bestseller
In Real Americans, a multigenerational novel that spans three continents, Khong asks the big questions: Who are we? How do we decide what’s important to us – and how do we become who we are? Reaching backwards and forward in time, from the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre to Y2K to 2021, Khong tells the story of Lily Chen, her son, and her mother, a brilliant genetic scientist, who escaped the Communists in China. Along the way, Khong explores class, race, genetics, scientific ethics, ambition, and the power of a lotus seed. The novel was a May Read With Jenna’s Book Club Pick. Khong’s debut novel, Goodbye, Vitamin, was named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, and Esquire. Born in Malaysia to a Malaysian Chinese family, Khong lives in Los Angeles.
“Riveting in its unexpected turns, Real Americans is a novel about past mistakes and their echoes – and a reminder that those histories need not be binding.” – San Francisco Chronicle. “Real Americans is both a novel of ideas and of beautiful sentences.” – Minneapolis Star Tribune
Author's WebsiteBreakout Group Authors
Rita Bullwinkel
2025
Longlisted for the Booker Prize
Eight teenage girls compete for a boxing national title in Rita Bullwinkel’s debut novel, Headshot. The girls are underdogs with something to prove who have chosen to enter the demanding, unglamorous, and unheralded world of women’s boxing. Bullwinkel takes the reader inside the minds of these girls as they experience the pain and jubilation that come from a violent, aggressive sport, typically experienced only by men. Along with the left hooks and knockouts, each girl’s background is an integral part of the story. Bullwinkel’s honors include the Believer Book Award for her story collection, Belly Up, and the Whiting Award. She is an editor at large for McSweeney’s, deputy editor of The Believer, and she teaches at the California College of the Arts and the University of San Francisco. She lives in Northern California.
“Make room, American fiction, for a meaningful new voice.” – The New York Times.
“Headshot feels like the complete deal in a way we rarely see in debut fiction.” – The Guardian.
Essie Chambers
2025
Longlisted for 2024 First Novel Prize
It’s 1987 and Diamond Newberry has questions. Why is she the only Black person in Swift River? Why did her father mysteriously vanish seven years ago? Why were there so few guests at her parents’ wedding? And why doesn’t she know any of her father’s people? An unexpected letter from an unknown relative opens up the mysteries of Diamond’s family’s past and two generations of African American women. Essie Chambers’ debut novel is a coming-of-age story and a history of the “sundown towns” in America. This mesmerizing account of inherited trauma is A Read With Jenna Today Show Book Pick. Essie Chambers earned her MFA from Columbia University. A former film and television executive, she was a producer on the documentary Descendant, released by the Obamas’ Higher Ground production company and Netflix. She lives in Brooklyn.
“A sparkling debut about a young girl you’ll never forget…”– Washington Post. “A heartbreaking, yet hopeful coming of age story about the high cost of family secrets.” – Time
Author's WebsiteEve J. Chung
2025
Good Morning America Buzz Pick
In Eve Chung’s dazzling debut novel, 12-year-old Hai grows up in post-WWII Shandong, China, knowing her place in the world. She’s firmly at the bottom of her family’s ladder – just another worthless daughter of a woman who cannot produce sons. When her father and his family flee before the advancing Communists, Hai, her sisters, and their mother are left to fend for themselves. The discarded women must fight to survive, using their courage and resourcefulness to make the thousand-mile journey across a war-torn China to find a better life for themselves.
An instant bestseller, Daughters of Shandong is a powerful story about the resilience of women and the bond between mothers and daughters. Eve J. Chung is a Taiwanese American human rights lawyer, focusing on gender equality and women’s rights. She lives in New York.
“Unforgettable. . .” – The New York Times. “Throw open the doors of your heart for the lionhearted girls of Chung’s gripping debut.” – People.
Author's Website
