2024 Literary Lions

Our 2024 Literary Lions are an esteemed group of authors, including several who reside in the Pacific Northwest, who will be honored at the 2024 Literary Lions Gala on March 2.

The authors’ newest books will be available for purchase the evening of the Gala. You can also purchase books written by all of our 2024 Literary Lions from our partners Third Place Books right now by clicking the button below. Either way, don’t forget to have your books signed at the Gala!

20% of your purchase will go to the KCLS Foundation to support new and ongoing programs and initiatives across all King County Libraries.

You can also Find our 2024 Literary Lions' BookS in the KCLS Collection:
New Releases                Other Titles

Meet the 2024 Literary Lions

CHRIS BOHJALIAN is the 2024 Literary Lions Gala Keynote. A bestselling novelist, he uses his hugely popular novels to explore compelling social and historical issues like human trafficking, domestic violence, and the Armenian genocide, as well as the more intimate challenges of marriage, parenting, and sexuality. In more than 20 books, most of which have been New York Times bestsellers, Bohjalian has cultivated a wide and devoted audience. He is also outspoken about the perils of book bans and the important role that libraries play in our communities.

CLAIRE DEDERER is a memoirist, essayist, and critic. Her books include the national bestseller Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma; the critically acclaimed Love and Trouble: A Midlife Reckoning; and Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses, which was a New York Times bestseller. Dederer currently teaches at the Pacific University low-residency MFA program. She is the recipient of a Hedgebrook residency and a Lannan Foundation residency. Dederer lives on her late father’s houseboat in Seattle.

DEBRA MAGPIE EARLING is the author of Perma Red and The Lost Journals of Sacajewea. An earlier version of the latter, written in verse, was produced as an artist book during the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Earling, who is Bitterroot Salish, was born in Spokane, Washington and received her BA from the University of Washington and her MA and MFA in Fiction from Cornell University. Notable recognitions that Earling has received include a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and she was named professor emeritus at the University of Montana in 2021.

TARRYN FISHER is the #1 New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of fifteen novels. She is best known for her bestselling novels Never Never, The Wives and The Wrong Family. Born in South Africa, Tarryn now calls Seattle, Washington home, where she resides with her husband and children. She writes primarily in the romance, thriller, and new adult genres and specializes in writing villains.

LAURIE FRANKEL is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of novels such as The Atlas of Love, Goodbye for Now, and the Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Book Pick This Is How It Always Is. Frankel lives in Seattle with her husband, daughter, and border collie. She makes good soup.

DONNA BARBA HIGUERA is the New York Times best-selling author of Middle Grade, as well as picture books that reinvent history, folklore, or her own life experience into compelling storylines. She lives in Washington State with her husband, four kids, three dogs, and a frog. Her books include Lupe Wong Won't Dance, El Cucuy Is Scared, Too!, The Last Cuentista, The Yellow Handkerchief, and Alebrijes. Higuera has won awards including: the Newbery Medal, the Pura Belpré medal and honor, PNBA best book of the year award, and the Sid Fleischman award for best children's humor book of the year.

MARTHA HOLMBERG is a food writer living in Spokane Washington. Her long career in food media includes a decade as editor-in-chief of Fine Cooking magazine, five years as the food editor of The Oregonian, and founding MIX magazine, which covered the food scene in Portland. Most recently, she’s deep in the cookbook world, editing books for Noma, the renowned Copenhagen restaurant, as well as co-writing two books with Joshua McFadden, including the James Beard Award-winner Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables. Her most recent book is Simply Tomato, published in 2023 by Artisan.

RACHEL RUNYA KATZ is a contemporary romance writer living in Seattle with her partner, their cat, and far too many houseplants. She has a PhD in biomedical engineering, which is minimally helpful for this endeavor. Katz most recent book is Thank You for Sharing. Her books center queer Jews of color and their layered lives of joy, sadness, and love.

JULIE KIM is an author illustrator who lives in Seattle, Washington, whose titles include Where's Halmoni? and Where's Joon?. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, she has published picture books and has illustrated for magazines, educational/child developmental literature, and cool non-profit organizations. 

E.J. KOH is the author of the award-winning memoir The Magical Language of Others and is also the author of the poetry collection A Lesser Love, a Pleiades Press Editors Prize for Poetry Winner. Koh’s work has appeared in many publications. She earned her MFA at Columbia University for Creative Writing and Literary Translation and her PhD at the University of Washington in English Language and Literature, studying Korean American literature, history, and film. Koh has received National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, American Literary Translators Association, and Kundiman fellowships. Her debut novel The Liberators is forthcoming fall 2023.

SASHA TAQʷšəBLU LAPOINTE is from the Upper Skagit and Nooksack Indian Tribe. Native to the Pacific Northwest, she draws inspiration from her coastal heritage as well as her life in the city. She writes with a focus on trauma and resilience, with topics ranging from PTSD, sexual violence, the work her great grandmother did for the Lushootseed language revitalization, to loud basement punk shows and what it means to grow up mixed heritage. With strange obsessions revolving around Twin Peaks, the Seattle music scene, and Coast Salish Salmon Ceremonies, Sasha explores her own truth of indigenous identity in the Coast Salish territory.

KIRBY LARSON was transformed from history-phobe to history fanatic by a snippet of a family story. Her debut historical novel, Hattie Big Sky, earned a Newbery Honor. She’s pursued her passion for historical fiction with titles such as Hattie Ever After, Duke, Dash, Liberty, and Code Word Courage and combined her love for both history and mystery in Audacity Jones to the Rescue, and Audacity Jones Steals the Show. Ironically, the next two books for this history lover are contemporary fiction, including the second title in the Shermy and Shake series, Shermy and Shake: The Not-So-Nice Neighbor and Gut Reaction, which is co-written with her daughter Quinn Wyatt. Kirby lives in Kenmore Washington with her husband Neil and very naughty dog Raleigh. 

QUINN WYATT lives in Kenmore, Washington, with her two wonderful daughters, fabulous husband, and so-so dog. She loves to grow things in her garden, learn new crafting techniques, volunteer at her kids' school, and bake yummy things (especially with chocolate). She has lived with Crohn's for most of her life and is encouraged by all the progress that has been made over the years in the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. This is her first book.

KARL MARLANTES graduated from Yale University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University before serving as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. He is the bestselling author of Deep River, Matterhorn and What It Is Like to Go to War. He lives in rural Washington.

TIM MCNULTY is a poet, essayist, and natural history writer. He is the author of ten poetry chapbooks as well as three poetry collections: Ascendance, In Blue Mountain Dusk, and Pawtracks. Tim is also the author of twelve books on natural history, including Olympic National Park: A Natural History, and Salmon, Cedar, Rock & Rain: Washington's Olympic Peninsula, which he wrote with contributions from Native American writers of the Olympic Peninsula. Tim has received the Washington State Book Award and the National Outdoor Book Award. He lives in the foothills of Olympic Mountains.   

MARISSA MEYER is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Renegades trilogy, The Lunar Chronicles series, the Wires and Nerve graphic novels, and The Lunar Chronicles Coloring Book. Her first standalone novel, Heartless, was also a #1 New York Times bestseller. Marissa created and hosts a podcast called The Happy Writer. She lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her husband and their two daughters.

KEVIN O’BRIEN is the author of 23 internationally-published thrillers, and winner of the Spotted Owl Award for Best Pacific Northwest Mystery. Before his thrillers landed him on the USA Today and New York Times Bestseller lists, he was a railroad inspector. O’Brien’s work has been translated into over a dozen languages. His latest nail-biter is a serial-killer thriller set in Seattle during World War II, The Enemy at Home. He is one of 13 bestselling, award-winning thriller authors contributing to the anthology, Nothing Good Happens After Midnight. He lives in Seattle, where he is hard at work on his next thriller.

SHAUN SCOTT is a Seattle-based writer and organizer and the Policy & Field Campaign Manager for the Statewide Poverty Action Network. A member of the Seattle Democratic Socialists of America and an Executive Councilmember for the union Campaign Workers Guild, he is a former field organizer for Pramila Jayapal’s 2018 re-election campaign, and he was the Washington State Field Director for Bernie Sanders 2020. He is the author of Heartbreak City: Seattle Sports and the Unmet Promise of Urban Progress and Millennials and the Moments That Made Us. His writings about sports, politics, and popular culture have appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Guardian, Jacobin Magazine, and elsewhere.

MICHELA TARTAGLIA is an Italian native, born in the province of Turin, Piedmont. She moved to Seattle in 2006 after completing her master's degree in philosophy at Alma Mater Studiorum–Univeristy of Bologna, and has since made Seattle her adopted city. Her passion for linguistics and languages is captured in her first book, Una Mela al Giorno. She is a chef by heart more than by trade. She cofounded Pasta Casalinga, an intimate lunch spot in the heart of Pike Place Market. Since its opening in 2018, it's become a destination for locals and visitors alike.

JOSH TUININGA is an author, artist, and designer living in North Bend, Washington. After studying fine art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he founded an art and design agency, where he continues to work as its creative director. His work has been published in Communication Arts magazine and HOW Design magazine, and he was awarded with the Communication Arts Award for excellence in illustration. Tuininga is the author of the children’s books Why Blue? and Dream On. We Are Not Strangers, which has been awarded a 4Culture Heritage Grant, is his first graphic novel.