Leslie Daniels in the author of the novel, Cleaning Nabokov’s House, published by Simon & Schuster, translated into four languages and optioned for film. Her fiction and essays have been published in literary journals including The Santa Monica Review, Ploughshares, and The Missouri Review. Her background in publishing includes over a decade as a literary agent, as well as serving as the fiction editor for Green Mountains Review. Two of her theatrical pieces have been produced recently. Daniels lives in Ithaca, New York. llesliedaniels.com [F]
2021 Festival Day – Craft Talks
Janet Fitch is the bestselling author of White Oleander, an Oprah Book Club selection and chosen as a Winter ’26 California Book Club selection; Paint it Black, adapted and directed for the screen by Amber Tamblyn; and a duet of novels set during the Russian Revolution, The Revolution of Marina M. and Chimes of a Lost Cathedral. Her short stories have appeared in journals and anthologies including Los Angeles Noir and Palm Springs Noir, and a film of her noir story “The Method,”was recently released as “The Long Game” starring Kathleen Turner. Longtime faculty with the Community of Writers, Fitch hosts her popular Writing Wednesdays writing series on YouTube. janetfitchwrites.com [F]
Photo credit: Cat Gwynn
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 published by W.W. Norton & Company. Recent work is forthcoming in Mississippi Review in 2025. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Community of Writers.
Photo Credit: Brett Hall Jones
Patricia K. Meyer has written screenplays for Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and the major studios and produced movies for television. Her producing debut, the ABC miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place, starring Oprah Winfrey, earned an Emmy® nomination and Image Award. Meyer has taught screenwriting for 25 years, at Chapman, the AFI Conservatory, and, currently, at Loyola Marymount University. In 2019, she was named top film educator by Variety. Meyer earned a BA in History & Literature from Harvard University and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Boston University. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Megan Fay Raveneau is a staff writer in the writers room for a yet-to-be-announced Netflix adult animation series, where she leads break-out room discussions on character and episode development. Prior to securing that much-coveted position, she wrote on staff for a Disney Junior television series. Megan also has worked as a freelance screenwriter for several years, developing and writing screenplays for various production companies. She also assisted in television development at the Blumhouse production company. After receiving her B.A. in Film Production from Brooklyn College, she earned her MFA in the Writing for the Screen Program at Loyola Marymount University.