Stories Behind the Story Creators & Guests

Jennifer Jane Saunders is an English comedian, screenwriter, singer and actress. She has won three BAFTAs (including the BAFTA Fellowship), a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award, two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, and a People's Choice Award.

Amy Goldstein is a film director, producer, and screenwriter of music videos & television series.

Min Jin Lee is a writer, novelist, and author of the book, Pachinko.

Armando Lucas Correa is a Cuban writer, journalist, editor, and author of the book, The Daughter's Tale.

George Saunders is a writer and professor at Syracuse University. He writes short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels.Saunders writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, McSweeney's, and GQ. His first story collection, "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline," was published in 1996. His most recent novel, "Lincoln in the Bardo," won the 2017 Man Booker Prize.Before becoming a full-time writer and professor, Saunders worked as a technical writer and geophysical engineer.Saunders was born in Amarillo, Texas and raised in Oak Forest, Illinois. He received his B.S. in Geophysical Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. He received his M.A. in Creative Writing from Syracuse University.

Susan Allott is a mystery fiction writer.Allott's first novel, "The Silence," was published in 2020. Her second book, "The House on Rye Lane," was published in 2024.Allott received her B.A. in English from Leeds University and her M.A. in Media & Communication Studies from Goldsmiths College.

Tessa Lunney is an author.

Shane Jenek is better known under the stage name Courtney Act, she is a drag queen, pop singer, entertainer, and reality television personality.

Emma Viskic is an Australian novelist, writer, and musician.

Rachael Brown is a writer, author, and journalist. She won numerous awards as an Australian broadcast journalist.

Richard Glover is a talk Radio Presenter, Journalist, and Author.

Jeffery Deaver is an American mystery and crime writer.

Tara Westover is a memoirist, essayist, and historian.

Jeff Goodell is an American author and contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine. His writings are known for a focus on energy and environmental issues.

Ben Okri is a poet and novelist, and one of the foremost African authors in the post-modern and post-colonial traditions.Okri's first book, "Flowers and Shadows," was published in 1980. He became the poetry editor at West Africa magazine, and regularly appeared on the BBC World Service.Okri was born in Minna in west central Nigeria, and is a member of the Urhobo people. In 1978, he moved to England to study comparative literature at Essex University.

Michael Connelly is an author of detective novels and crime fiction.

Chloe Hooper is an Australian novelist, journalist, writer, and author of the book The Arsonist.

Jennifer Egan is a novelist, short-story writer, and President of the PEN America Center.

Colson Whitehead is a novelist.