Each season BKBF presents debut authors, who we want to shine the light on for our audience. This year we introduce novelists Elizabeth Gonzalez James (Mona at Sea), Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu (The Theory of Flight), and Colleen Van Niekerk (A Conspiracy of Mothers). Acclaimed author, Jonathan Lethem, will introduce the debut authors and talk about his own debut experience some 40 books ago. Introduced by author C.J. Farley.

In Nudes, Elle Nash’s short stories traverse the lives and desires of working-class women, from ex-sex workers to brides-to-be. Brontez Purnell’s 100 Boyfriends follows queer men across the country as they navigate messy relationships and emotional minefields. And Melissa Broder’s Milk Fed follows a woman who obsessively counts calories as she severs ties with her mother and finds herself on an unexpected spiritual journey. Join these authors for a conversation about their new books and how the sexiest stories are sometimes also the funniest. Moderated by Rakesh Satyal (No One Can Pronounce My Name).

Getting by is never easy, especially when the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against you. Join Publishers Weekly’s “Writer to Watch” Dantiel Moniz, whose Florida-based story collection Milk Blood Heat explores lives interrupted by violence; award-winning novelist Francisco Goldman, who illuminates the profound challenges of living between worlds in his new novel Monkey Boy; and New York Times bestselling author Morgan Jerkins, whose novel Caul Baby depicts women who don’t give up the fight. These three authors explore what it means to survive and the pursuit of perseverance in their novels. Moderated by Natalie Green, National Book Foundation.