Moderators

Bringing to life the day’s most important conversations, meet our moderators and workshop hosts!

  • Sydney Amdurs is the Teen Librarian at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - East Liberty. She has been working for Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh since September 2025. Before that, she worked in public libraries in Westmoreland County. Sydney reads a little bit of every genre, but particularly loves young adult fiction. 

  • Catherine Baldwin is the Instruction Services Librarian at the University of Pittsburgh’s Bradford campus. Also a longtime educator and quilter, she wishes to share the history of quilting as an artform with historical significance and social impact for everyone. In addition, she would like to remind participants that finishing a project is more important than achieving perfection!

  • Jennie is one of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Local & Family History Librarians. Her background in Pittsburgh history includes thirteen years at the Frick Pittsburgh, ten years as the University Archivist for Carnegie Mellon University, and over thirty years (and counting) involvement with The Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund.

  • Mir Benitz is an eclectic reader, a haphazard gardener, and an overly ambitious carpenter. Her writing throws imperfect people into life’s great adventures. Like love. And dragons. Mir lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and houseplants.

  • Lara Brenckle Malmont is a Pittsburgh native living in Carlisle with her husband and daughter. Her first novel, Three Rivers Home, was published in March 2026 from Sunbury Press Books/Milford House. A former newspaper reporter, she is a magna cum laude graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, member of Pennwriters and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

  • Camille Cabrera is a 40-time #1 bestselling American author. Cabrera has written over 15 novels and short stories. She specializes in mystery and thriller novels. Cabrera’s tales run the mystery gambit ranging from cozy mystery to noir. She enjoys creating strong and complex female protagonists. Her recent mystery novel, Death at Devil’s Tail, debuted as #1 on four Amazon charts.

  • The staff of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Main (Oakland branch) are thrilled to not only be hosting BookFest but participating in the festivities! Staff from all public departments of the library have collaborated to bring you a curated list of some of our favorite books in the collection. We hope everyone finds a new favorite of their own at BookFest!

  • The Text & conText Lab, a University of Pittsburgh Center for Creativity/University Library System partnership on the Third Floor of Hillman Library, provides an active environment for the creation, manipulation, and disassembly of text. Madeleine Chesek-Welch is the Preservation Program Manager for the ULS. She is an active artist and lover of zines, their histories, and their social impact.

  • Lisa Dennis is a life-long romance reader (and cheerleader). Although her career at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh was focused on selecting books for children and teens, being at the library five days a week for 37 years ensured that she had easy access to the authors she loved as well as the opportunity to discover new favorites. She is delighted play a small part in today’s panel discussion.

  • Olive Fellows is a Pittsburgh-based book reviewer and literary content creator. Her work has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Harvard Review, The Rumpus, and Words Without Borders. She shares thoughtful, wide-ranging reading life commentary on her YouTube channel, abookolive, with a focus on adult fiction and nonfiction.

  • Sharon G. Flake is the author of The Skin I'm In, a modern-classic about colorism, bullying and finding your voice. She has authored over a dozen books, with nearly two million copies in print. She is a multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner, an NAACP Award Nominee, and a Kirkus Prize finalist. The University of Pittsburgh recntly established the Sharon G. Flake archive collection for research

  • Phil Getz has been a cryptanalyst, a computer game dev, an AI researcher, and a bioinformatician, but is best-known as the Harlan Ellison of My Little Pony fan-fiction, harvesting sweet brony tears with stories that make them lie awake at night questioning their life choices.

  • Sherrie Flick is the author of six books, including the essay collection Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist (University of Nebraska Press). She lives in Pittsburgh.

  • Nora Fussner's debut novel, The Invisible World, was described as "a masterpiece of innovative storytelling and psychological horror" by Library Journal. She has a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA from CUNY Brooklyn College and teaches at the University of Pittsburgh.

  • Annie Guest had a varied career in book publishing, advertising, and law, before she took another jump to work as a mental health therapist and publish her first book. In Design For Your Mind Annie combines her passion for people and their potential with her love for interior design and her appreciation for the design choices that support the mind and body.

  • Allen is a transplant to Pittsburgh from Delaware via Philadelphia. Allen has a horror movie podcast, Werewolf Ambulance, with cohost Katie since 2014. Allen is a life long horror fan, book lover, appreciator of music most people want nothing to do with, avid RPG player, and general nerd about town. Married with two dogs, a cat , and a very old hermit crab.

  • For 28 years, Hoover was the award-winning book and drama editor and feature writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His duties included reviewing books, plays, movies and television programs and profiling national and local authors and poets. He established a weekly poetry column, wrote a weekly column on books and produced a Sunday literary section.

  • Gwendolyn Kiste is the author of Reluctant Immortals, The Haunted Houses She Calls Her Own, The Rust Maidens, Pretty Marys All in a Row, and The Haunting of Velkwood. She’s a Lambda Literary Award winner and a four-time Bram Stoker Award winner, and her work has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson, Dragon, and Ohio Book Awards.

  • Katie Kurtzman is a book publicist and publicity director for Littsburgh: Celebrating Literary Pittsburgh, and has written for Pittsburgh Magazine, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Literary Hub, and Electric Literature. A concert enthusiast, she lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, two sons and closet full of band t-shirts.

  • Jamie Lackey lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their cats. She has had over 200 short stories published in places like Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Apex Magazine, and Escape Pod. In addition to writing, she spends her time reading, playing tabletop RPGs, and hiking. Find out more at www.jamielackey.com.

  • Dr. Denise LaRosa is an educator, author, and literacy advocate with a Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh. Featured on Oprah's Book Club in 2004, she now hosts the LaRosa Reads BookTube channel and Rooted in Story podcast, and is the author of two picture books—championing literature as a force for connection and change.

  • Bonita Lee Penn is a Pittsburgh-based poet, educator, and workshop facilitator advancing literacy through community writing programs. She mentors high school writers and serves on the Board of Directors at Sweetwater Center for the Arts. Penn is the author of When the Trees Finally Testify and Every Morning a Foot is Looking for My Neck, and Managing Editor of Soul Pitt Quarterly Magazine.

  • Ashley Lowery, an avid reader, stewards The Paper Trail Bench, a traveling Little Free Library sharing books across Pittsburgh. Passionate about ensuring literary access and banned books, she brings all stories to all ages. The bench frequently pops up at Dress for Success Pittsburgh EmployHER Opportunity Fairs.

  • Kevin McGuire is the Library Media Specialist at Woodland Hills High School, where he has worked since 2008. He has degrees in History and Education from Grove City College and a Masters of Library and Information Science from Clarion University.

  • In 2020, Bridgerton hit the small screen and Cecily made regency romances her entire personality. Since then, she’s branched out, launched a #bookstagram, founded Pittsburgh’s largest community book club (Page Turners Book Club) and developed a network of indie bookstores and women-owned small businesses. Follow her @pghgoodreads for more!

  • Isabella Moreno, founder of Illuminating Our Voices - workshops that center the creativity of People of Color: a Nuyorican author, storyteller, workshop facilitator & writing coach from The Bronx living and blossoming in Cleveland; an Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) certified facilitator and affiliate. Isabella believes joy can always be found in collective spaces of shared creation. IlluminatingOurVoices.org

  • Mallika Narayanan is a writer, singer, and digital artist based in Pennsylvania. Her short fiction stories have appeared in print and online, and her work has been longlisted and shortlisted for several awards, including the Bath Flash Fiction Prize and the Fractured Lit Micro Fiction Prize. Mallika is the author of the critically acclaimed thriller, In The Dark I See You.

  • Tom Ndiaye is a library services associate in the Teen Space at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in Oakland. He is also a visual artist who relishes any opportunity to bring diverse and multicultural narratives to life–illustrated or written. 

  • Kelly Peña (she/they) is an Assistant Professor of Speech–Language Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, a speech-language pathologist, and an unapologetic nerd who never leaves home without a book. Kelly trains future clinicians through improv and clinical simulation—and uses the same principles to spark lively, engaging conversations about books.

  • Elizabeth serves as RIF Pittsburgh’s Director of Education. She began her career teaching fifth-grade through Teach for America, sparking her passion for literacy. She previously served as RIF’s Books for Keeps Director (2013–2018) and has since worked in DC-area schools and libraries with a focus on early literacy. She is a trained children’s librarian, holding a degree from Pitt.

  • The Text & conText Lab, a University of Pittsburgh Center for Creativity/University Library System partnership on the Third Floor of Hillman Library, provides an active environment for the creation, manipulation, and/or disassembly of text. Workshop leaders Leslie Poljak enjoys bookbinding in the lab and Carrie Donovan enjoys papermaking. Both are librarians at the University of Pittsburgh.

  • Adriana E. Ramírez is an award-winning nonfiction writer, columnist, critic, and poet based in Pittsburgh. She used to write twice a week for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and is the author of The Violence: My Family's Colombian War (Scribner, 2026).

  • Readin’ Magazine is an emerging digital publication for readers, by readers. Dedicated to celebrating readers and their passions, Readin’ Magazine is a place for books, culture, community, and connection. Readers can enjoy diving into bimonthly volumes and monthly issues – centered around topics ranging from reading to culture to community. We’re all about how readers see the world we live in.

  • Shannon is the author of the best-selling Why We Read, as well as Why Did I Get a B? and the upcoming My Girls. She's the Director of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program at Pitt.

  • Deborah Rogers is the first Director of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (CLP). She is a graduate of Schenley High School and Howard University. At CLP, Deborah leads efforts to ensure equitable access to library services; eliminate barriers facing patrons and staff; and shape the organization's strategic vision and practice around IDEA.

  • Brandy Schillace is a historian, mystery novelist, and author of nonfiction. Having grown up in an underground house (next to a graveyard, in abandoned coal lands), it's not surprising her work tends toward intrigue. Like the heroine of The Framed Women of Ardmore House and The Dead Come To Stay, she is also autistic, though has not (to her knowledge) been a suspect in a murder investigation.

  • Jamie Sterling is a book reviewer, mom of three boys, five dogs, and a wildly overgrown collection of plants and books. She champions diverse, thought-provoking reads (especially the ones that feel a little rebellious) and founded the nonprofit I’m With the Banned Book Club. When not reading, she’s dreaming up and attempting to write her own debut novels. Follow @sterlingbookclub

  • Ed Simon is Public Humanities Lecturer in the English Department at Carnegie Mellon University where he publishes the Pittsburgh Review of Books and is a widely published author.

  • Kat Stefanik (she/they) has been a youth-serving assistant librarian with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh for the past two years. They love mystery, romance, horror, and any book with queer characters. When not reading or discussing books, Kat can be found hanging out with their cat, Buffy, and thinking about whales or bones. 

  • Lauren and Jillian are booksellers at Passionate Pages, Pittsburgh’s first exclusively romance bookstore. Passionate Pages is located in the heart of Lawrenceville and shelves love stories for everyone! Lauren and Jillian co-lead the store’s book club, Passionate Readers and love to talk all things romance and romantasy!

  • Carina Stopenski is a writer, scholar, and librarian out of Pittsburgh, PA. They are the author of the Appalachian folk horror novel Stuffed and the transgressive fiction collection The Things We Do For Blood. They are currently pursuing a PhD in Literature at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Carina also serves as co-chair of the Pittsburgh chapter of Horror Writers Association.

  • The Scribbler’s Den is on a mission to provide personalized craft advice to help writers level up and build community! We offer transformative writing workshops and immersive writing retreats to help writers pursue self-publication or traditional publication. Whether you're developing your manuscript, polishing prose, or preparing to query, our programs provide structure, feedback, and community.

  • Diane Turnshek is a Pittsburgh astronomer. She is the Executive Director of Parsec, Pittsburgh’s premier SF organization. She mentored grad students at Seton Hill’s Writing Popular Fiction MFA program and founded Write or Die, a local critique group since 1996, Alpha, a residency teen writing workshop since 2002, and the Triangulation anthology series, editing in 2003, 2019, 2020 and 2021. dianeturnshek.com

  • UBBCP is an association of librarians, readers, writers, members of book clubs and members of the community in Pittsburgh. UBBCP was officially formed in 2004. Through a united and effort, UBBCP mission is to promote literary activities and events, to provide community outreach programs and to spread the love of literacy throughout the community.

  • Angela Wiley is the Coordinator of Children's & Teen Collections at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

  • Kara M. Zone is an award-winning, best-selling indie author who crafts tales of magic, mayhem, and mischief. Kara provides creative writing & indie publishing workshops along with digital products to help writers at any stage create the best stories for their voice, ideas, and brand. Her true passion is helping others reach their goals no matter what publishing path they're interested in.