Tessa Fontaine

Tessa Fontaine is the author of THE ELECTRIC WOMAN: A MEMOIR IN DEATH-DEFYING ACTS (FSG, 2018), a New York Times Editors' Choice; Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick, and best book of the year by Southern Living, Refinery29, Amazon Editors', and The New York Post.  

THE RED GROVE (FSG, 2024), her debut novel, was named a best book by Amazon Editors’ and People Magazine, and longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Tessa is faculty in the MFA program for writers at Warren Wilson College.

Other writing can be found in Outside, The New York Times, Glamour, AGNI, The Believer, People, LitHub, Creative Nonfiction, and more. Raised outside San Francisco, Tessa holds an MFA from the University of Alabama and 4/5 of a PhD (I know, I know) from the University of Utah. She founded Salt Lake City’s Writers in the Schools program, and has taught in jails and prisons. She has been awarded residencies and fellowships from Tin House, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, In 2022, she co-founded the Accountability Workshops with writer and pal Annie Hartnett, and lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her daughter, dopey dog and sassy cat.

Annie Hartnett

Annie Hartnett is the bestselling author of novels RABBIT CAKE (Tin House Books, 2017) and UNLIKELY ANIMALS (Ballantine/Random House, 2022), and THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS (Ballantine/Random House, 2025).

The Road to Tender Hearts is Annie’s latest novel, a national bestseller, and it received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist.

Unlikely Animals was listed as one of the best books of 2022 by the Washington Post and BookRiot. It was the winner of the 2023 Julia Ward Howe prize for fiction, and was longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. It was the April 2022 book club selection for Good Housekeeping magazine and Amerie’s Book club. It received starred reviews from Booklist and Bookpage, and was an April Indie Next pick.

Rabbit Cake was listed as one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2017, was a finalist for the New England Book Award, an Indies Introduce and an Indie Next Pick, and was long-listed for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. It received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, and Library Journal, and was People magazine's Book of the Week.

Annie has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the MacDowell Colony, Sewanee Writers' Conference, and the Associates of the Boston Public Library. She holds degrees from the MFA program at the University of Alabama, Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English, and Hamilton College. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and dog.