Max Byrd (’83, ’96-’13, ’15, ’18) is the author of detective novels and historical novels, and several scholarly books about 18th-century literature. A former teacher at Yale and the University of California, Davis, Byrd is a winner of the Shamus Award for detective fiction, and the former President of the Board of the Community of Writers. He writes often for the New York Times Book Review and other journals. His more recent novels are The Sixth Conspirator and Pont Neuf.
2020 Writers Workshop Special Guests
New York Times bestseller and book club favorite Meg Waite Clayton (’00) is the author of eight novels, most recently the international bestseller The Postmistress of Paris — a Good Morning America Buzz Book, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a Publishers Weekly notable book, and a Costco Book Club, People Magazine, Indie Next booksellers, LoanStars librarian, Book of the Month, USA Today, and Amazon Editors’ pick. Her international bestseller and National Jewish Book Award finalist The Last Train to London is published or forthcoming in 20 languages. Her screenplay for that novel was chosen for the prestigious Meryl Streep- and Nicole Kidman-sponsored The Writers Lab. Meg’s novels include the #1 Amazon fiction bestseller Beautiful Exiles; the Langum Prize honored The Race for Paris; The Wednesday Sisters, named one of Entertainment Weekly’s 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time (on a list with The Three Musketeers!); and The Language of Light, a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. She has written more than 100 shorter pieces for the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Runner’s World, and public radio, often on the particular challenges women face. She mentors for the OpEd Project and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar.
Photo Credit: Adrienne Defendi
Selden Edwards (’69, ’70, ’71) grew up on a farm in the Sacramento Valley and attended both Princeton and Stanford. He was a private school English teacher and headmaster, where he began his New York Times bestselling novel, The Little Book (Dutton, 2008). His second novel, The Lost Prince, a WW1 sequel, was published in 2012.
Richard Ford is a novelist, story-writer, and essayist, and a Community of Writers lifer. His work has been awarded many international prizes, including the Prix Femina, in France, and the Princess of Asturias Prize in Spain, as well as the Pulitzer Prize and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction in the US. His novel Wildlife was recently developed as a film by the actor Paul Dano. His work has been translated into 35 languages. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and is Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University in New York City. He lives with his wife Kristina Ford in Boothbay, Maine, and in Billings, Montana.
Photo by Greta Rybus
Diana Fuller is a freelance curator, editor, and producer of Rift, Racing to Zero, Once Was Water. She I is the on-going director of the Screenwriting Program at the Community of Writers. She is the editor of Art/Women/California 1950-2000: Parallels and Intersections, published in 2004, by University of California Berkeley Press. She has been curator for contemporary art exhibitions for 40 years. She serves on the Boards of the Community of Writers, the The Artists in Residence Program at Recology and the Conflict Awareness Project. She was the last president of the Film Arts Foundation and past Chair of the Roxie non-profit theater.
Diane Johnson is the author of ten novels, including Le Mariage and Le Divorce, two books of essays, two biographies, and the screenplay for Stanley Kubrick’s classic film, The Shining. She has been a finalist four times for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Awards. She divides her time between San Francisco and Paris.
Photo Credit: Miriam Berkley
Anne Lamott is the author of seven novels, Hard Laughter, Rosie, Joe Jones, Blue Shoe, All New People, Crooked Little Heart, and Imperfect Birds. She has also written several bestselling books of nonfiction, including, Operating Instructions, an account of life as a single mother during her son’s first year; Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son; and the classic book on writing; Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. She has also authored several collections of autobiographical essays on faith; Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith; Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith; and Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith. In addition, she has written, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers; Stitches; A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair; Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace; and Hallelujah Anyway; Rediscovering Mercy. Her most recent book is Almost Everything: Notes on Hope (Riverhead Books). Lamott has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship, and has taught at UC Davis, as well as at writing conferences across the country. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Freida Mock has made a documentary on Lamott, entitled Bird by Bird with Annie (1999). Anne Lamott has also been inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
Photo Credit: Sam Lamott
Michelle Latiolais is the author of the novel, Even Now, which received the Gold Medal for Fiction from the Commonwealth Club of California. Her second novel, A Proper Knowledge, was published by Bellevue Literary Press, as was Widow, a collection of stories, involutions and essays. Her novel She was released in 2016 by W.W. Norton & Company. Recent work is forthcoming in Mississippi Review in 2025.
Photo Credit: Brett Hall Jones
Kem Nunn is the author of six novels, including the National Book Award nominee, Tapping the Source; Tijuana Straits, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Mystery/Thriller; The Dogs of Winter; Pomona Queen, Unassigned Territory; and Chance. In addition to writing novels, he writes screenplays for television and film, most notably John from Cincinnati, which he co-created with David Milch; Chance, adapted from his novel and co-created for television with Alex Cunningham; Deadwood; and Sons of Anarchy. His articles and book reviews have appeared in Rolling Stone, GQ, Surfer, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.
Photo Credit: Ulrike Nunn
Amy Tan’s novels are The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, Saving Fish from Drowning, and Valley of Amazement. She is the author of two memoirs, The Opposite of Fate and Where the Past Begins; and two children’s books, The Moon Lady and Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat. Tan served as co-producer and co-screenwriter for the film adaptation of The Joy Luck Club and creative consultant for the PBS television series, Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat. She wrote the libretto for the opera The Bonesetter’s Daughter and is the subject of the American Masters documentary Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir. Tan is an instructor of a MasterClass on Fiction, Memory, and Imagination. She is a recipient of the National Humanities Medal and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her most recent book, The Backyard Bird a Chronicles (Knopf, April 2024) marks her debut as a nature journalist and bird artist. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Community of Writers.