Alice Martin will read from her new novel, Westward Women. Described as "a hypnotic and hopeful debut—part fever dream, part dystopian road trip that claws its way towards a jaw-dropping finale," Westward Women is praised by Joyce Carol Oates as "an audacious first novel to set beside Margaret Atwood," while Anna North, New York Times bestselling author of Outlawed, says: "This taut and shocking debut is part Western, part zombie thriller, and all cautionary tale about what happens when women’s bodies and desires are marginalized for too long. With twists you won’t see coming, Martin weaves an alternate history that’s only too relevant today."

Alice Martin is a writer, reader, and teacher from North Carolina. She holds a PhD in Literature from Rutgers University and works as an Assistant Professor of English Studies at Western Carolina University, where she teaches fiction writing and American literature. She lives outside of Asheville, North Carolina with her husband, her son, and too many typewriters. Westward Women is her debut novel.

Paige Lewis will read from their new novel, Canon. Described by Publisher Penguin Random House as "Two unlikely heroes embark on quests to win God’s favor," Canon is praised by bestselling author John Green as "A scorchingly brilliant, wildly funny, and deeply moving epic," while Karen Russell, bestselling author of The Antidote, says: "An unprecedented page-turner . . . I wish I could spend a thousand more pages with the narrator of Canon, whose keenness, kindness, associative brilliance, storytelling authority, and crow-black humor make every line of this utterly singular novel a surprise and a delight . . . Canon filled me with overwhelming joy, joy that such an extraordinary story exists."

Paige Lewis is the author of the poetry collection Space Struck and coeditor of Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance. Lewis teaches at the University of Iowa; Canon is their first novel.