Authors

A novelist, scriptwriter and actress, Alexia Stresi initially started her cinema career with a little role offered to her by Costa-Gavras in order to fund her studies. She studied screenwriting at the Prague Film School, and on the advice of Milos Forman, who she had met in Prague, she went to Columbia University School of Arts in New York. She also studied at the Cours Florent dramatic arts school in Paris, and was an artist-in-residence at the Villa Medicis from 1995 – 1996.

Alongside her acting career, her first great success being her role in the film Trop (peu) d’amour (1998) by Jacques Dillon, she also wrote and co-wrote numerous screenplays. Many of them were made into feature-length films, including Courrier posthume (1996) and Amour fou (1997), both directed by Franck Appréderis, Sans plomb (2000) directed by Muriel Teodori, and The Piano Player (2002) by Jean-Pierre Roux.

She ventured into the world of literature in 2017 with her first novel, Looping, which won the Madame Figaro Prize and was a finalist for the Prix Goncourt for a debut novel.

 

Born in 1977, Nicolas Jacquard is a senior reporter for the French daily, Le Parisien, where he has worked for over twenty years. He has reported on major global issues such as the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the terrorist attacks across Europe, and the mass-immigration into Europe in recent years. He published his first work of narrative non fiction Les Inspirés (Robert Laffont), in 2021, and delved into the fascinating and secret French religious community called “The Family”. Les Inspirés is currently being adapted into a series for a streaming service.

Jacquard is currently co-writing a documentary series for streaming platforms.

Philippe Vilain, born in 1969, is the author of several prize-winning novels. He has a doctorate in modern literature from the Sorbonne University and is the editor for French contemporary literature at Gremese Publishing in Rome.

Sophie Bonnet is an investigative long-form journalist. Her previous book and documentary film was an account of four years visiting the infamous terrorrist Carlos at his prison in France (Grasset, 2018).
She has spent the past three years researching and interviewing the gigolo murderer Alexandre Despallières for Le Maître et l’assassin (Editions Robert Laffont).

Jenny and Dave Marrs moved to small-town Bentonville, Arkansas almost two decades ago, looking to put down roots, start a buisness and a family. Today, they have made a warm and welcoming home for their five children (and too many pets to count), and run a successful home renovation company. Their renovation projects are featured on their hit HGTV show Fixer to Fabulous, which boasts 3.6 million viewers and has been running for four seasons.

Shelley Read is a fifth generation Coloradoan who lives with her family in the Elk Mountains of the Western Slope. She was a Senior Lecturer at Western Colorado University for nearly three decades, where she taught writing, literature, environmental studies, and Honors, and was a founder of the Environment & Sustainability major and a support program for first-generation and at-risk students. Shelley holds degrees in writing and literary studies from the University of Denver and Temple University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. She is a regular contributor to Crested Butte Magazine and Gunnison Valley Journal, and has written for the Denver Post and a variety of publications. Go as a River, her first novel, is inspired by the landscape she comes from and will be published in over twenty-five territories.

On behalf of Spiegel & Grau.

Heinz Insu Fenkl grew up in Korea until he was twelve, and then in Germany and the U.S. A professor of English and Asian and Asian American literature at SUNY New Paltz, he is also a folklorist and translator. A section of Skull Water appeared in The New Yorker. Fenkl lives in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Foreign rights for Skull Water on behalf of Spiegel & Grau — Literary Agent: Rob McQuilkin, Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents

Ted Conover is the author of several books, including Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing (winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America’s Hoboes, and The Routes of Man: Travels in the Paved World. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, the New Yorker, and National Geographic. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he is distinguished writer-in-residence in the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University. He lives in New York City.

On behalf of Kathy Robbins and The Robbins Office, Inc.

Rachel Stark grew up in Perris, California. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from University of California, Riverside and her Master’s degree in Creative Writing at University California, Davis. She currently resides in remote Southern Colorado where she writes, runs mountain trails and teaches yoga.

Represented by Stephanie Cabot.

Laila Gohar is an internationally recognized installation artist and chef who works with food as her artistic medium. She creates immersive experiences that blur the line between art and dining.

Laila is know for her high-profile collaborations, and has partnered with such brands as Comme des Garçons, Chanel, Perrier Jouet, and Tiffany.

Her eye for curation, and ability to tell visual stories that are shared well beyond their initial audience has amassed her a very loyal and engaged following of over 200k followers on Instagram.

Beyond this, her work has evolved into product design, and has given her the opportunity to participate in a collaboration with the esteemed Danish homeware brand Hay, and is progressing onto further large scale and visible design opportunities.