Guest Speakers

From New York Times bestselling authors Nelson DeMille and Alex DeMille, Blood Lines features the return of Special Agents Brodie and Taylor who are on the hunt for the cold-blooded murderer of one of their fellow agents.

Nelson DeMille's first major novel was By the Rivers of Babylon, published in 1978, and is still in print as are all his succeeding novels. He is a member of American Mensa, The Authors Guild, past president of the Mystery Writers of America, and Book-of-the-Month Club Judge. He is also a member of International Thriller Writers and was chosen as ThrillerMaster of the Year 2015.

Alex DeMille received his MFA in Film Directing from UCLA, where he wrote, directed and produced a number of award-winning films. His thesis film, The Absence, played at dozens of festivals around the country and received numerous awards, including Best Film at the San Diego Comic-Con.

Come learn strategies to bolster your mental wellbeing while navigating through adversity and beyond. Dr. Shanok, Clinical Psychologist, Director of the Wellness Center at the Graduate Center and author of Thriving in Graduate School: The Expert’s Guide to Success and Wellness will share practices that work for graduate students where rates of depression and anxiety are six times higher than the general population. This talk is for current or soon-to-be graduate students, those who love them and frankly any human living in today’s world.

Christopher Mason writes and performs funny musical toasts and roasts. Above, Leonard Lauder’s 90th: “Nifty at Ninety. He is also is a longtime contributor to The New York Times, New York magazine, Town & Country, Departures, Travel & Leisure, Architectural Digest, The World of Interiors and Airmail. Christopher Mason wrote The Art of the Steal about the Sotheby's-Christie's Auction Scandal, and Songs for the Rich & Famous.

Deborah Willis is a writer based in Calgary, Canada, who has published two acclaimed books of short fiction and a novel. Her work has been longlisted for The Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award, and has appeared in The Virginia Quarterly, The Iowa Review, Lucky Peach, and Zoetrope. Her first novel, Girlfriend on Mars, was published in 2023 by Penguin (Canada), W.W. Norton (U.S.), and Serpent's Tail (U.K.) and is forthcoming in Italy, Denmark and France. The New York Times lauded the novel's "scorching" humor and Kirkus called the book "[w]insome, sweet, and apocalyptic—a perfect blend for the end of times."

Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, Yellowface, and Katabasis (forthcoming). Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. She has been named to the 2023 Time100 Next list and the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2024. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies Sinophone literature and Asian American literature.