Featured Authors

Hilary Austen

“I don’t know about fiction writers, but writers in my arena are putting emerging ideas onto the page so we can all get a good look at them and, hopefully, contribute to important conversations and learning. That said, I hope in the day and age of tweets, blurbs, and pings we are taking time to elaborate ideas that would otherwise be overlooked or forgotten.”

Uncustomary reviews of her work: Artistry Unleashed

Thomas A. Bass

“[Writers are for truth] telling, pleasure, illumination, and perturbation.”

Uncustomary reviews of his work: The Newtonian Casino

Nityasya Belapurkar

“Writers are responsible for creating worlds that their readers can escape to. They willingly take on the task of making fantasy appear realistic through a medium that is much more effective than any other since words have the ability to build extremely vivid images. They compel a reader to involve not just one but all of his senses.”

Uncustomary reviews of her work: You’re Not Alone

Michael Benanav

“[My imagination is sometimes] like a kangaroo, bouncing along in it’s funny kind of way; sometimes like a bulldog, it grabs me and won’t let go; sometimes like a bird with a broken wing, feeling like it should be able to soar but is stuck fluttering on the ground.”

Uncustomary reviews of his work: The Caravan of White Gold

Stephen Clarke

“I hope writers are there to inform and entertain. Personally, I try to do both, and still get a huge buzz when someone laughs while I’m reading from one of my books.”

Uncustomary reviews of his work: A Year in the Merde

Alain de Botton

“[The role of writers is to] put into words, and hence to clarify and preserve a record of, the feelings that we all have but that generally slip through our fingers. To provide a sense of self-recognition. To help us understand ourselves. To expand conscious and possibilities for empathy.”

Uncustomary reviews of his work: The Art of Travel

Kathy Freston

“[My imagination is all] over the place. I imagine how the world would be if we were kinder. But I often imagine what it feels like to be a helpless animal in a bad situation (factory farm or experimental lab)…the images constantly gnaw at me.”

Uncustomary reviews of her work: Quantum Wellness

Mark David Gerson

“Writers are for expressing the truths of the human heart into words on the page. Writers are for finding the universal in the human experience. Writers are for painting worlds of wonder beyond the conscious imagination.”

Uncustomary reviews of his work: The Voice of the Muse

Laraine Herring

“[My imagination is a] little bit of smokey, steamy haunted soup, fresh from the deepest swamp, followed by pure Carolina pulled pork BBQ (with the vinegar) so you’ve got some meat to hang the ghosts on, ending with a touch of yellow cake with chocolate icing so there’s enough sweetness to pull people through the darkness of the vine-covered trees.”

Uncustomary reviews of her work: Writing Begins with the Breath

Manav Sachdeva Maasoom

“[My favorite places are airports] where we are all migrants; anywhere on wheels; Indian roads on a rainy day with all the difficulties and its joys; ask me again in a year as I may be in a different place in my head; a tomato garden.”

Uncustomary reviews of his work: The Sufi’s Garland

Michelle Maisto

“Writing, for me, has always started with a desire to as closely as possible commit to the page a moment/feeling/idea/image just as it is in my head. With that accomplished (or very nearly) I can move forward and explore where the piece is going, though still not in any way I’d necessarily call creative. It’s maybe the reverse. I try to be open but disciplined — I’m in search of a thing that exists (the truth), so it’s not so much about being imaginative as trying to figure out how to pull back the layers and find that kernel of truth at the center. The best writing is in the truest statements.”

Uncustomary reviews of her work: The Gastronomy of Marriage

John David Mann

“[My favorite place to read is in the] red armchair my wife put downstairs just outside my study. But here’s the thing: since I put the Kindle app on my iPhone, my favorite place to read has become just about everywhere—in line at the bank, standing in the bathroom brushing my teeth (I kid you not), at the stove waiting for the tea kettle to boil. Thank you, Steve Jobs! (You too, Jeff Bezos!)”

Uncustomary reviews of his work: The Go-Giver, Code to Joy