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Admired and best-selling authors offer advice and discuss their latest books.
Historical Fiction
Pam Jenoff, The Last Twilight in Paris
Martha Hall Kelly, The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club
Jessica Anya Blau, Shopgirls
Radha Vatsal, No. 10 Doyers Street
Hosted by Ilana Levine, actress and podcaster, Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine
Pam Jenoff is the author of several books of historical fiction, including the NYT bestsellers The Lost Girls of Paris and The Woman with the Blue Star. She holds a degree in international affairs from George Washington University and a degree in history from Cambridge, and she received her J.D. from UPenn. She lives with her husband and three children near Philadelphia, where, in addition to writing, she teaches law school.
Martha Hall Kelly is the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls, Lost Roses, Sunflower Sisters, and The Golden Doves. Born and raised in Massachusetts, she was inspired to write this novel by her mother’s family, the Smiths, who settled on Martha’s Vineyard in 1891. She received journalism degrees from both Syracuse and Northwestern universities and worked as an advertising copywriter for many years before becoming a novelist. With more than two million copies of her books sold and translated in fifty countries, Martha Hall Kelly lives in Litchfield, Connecticut, and Hobe Sound, Florida.
Jessica Anya Blau’s novels have been featured on The TODAY Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and NPR, and in Cosmo, Vanity Fair, Bust, Time Out, Oprah Summer Reads, Oprah Daily, and other national publications. Jessica’s books have been translated into many languages and have been optioned for film and television. Her short stories and essays have been published in numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies. Jessica sometimes works as a screenwriter, a ghost writer, and has taught writing at Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, and The Fashion Institute of Technology. Jessica grew up in Southern California and now lives in New York City.
Radha Vatsal is the author of the acclaimed Kitty Weeks mystery novels set in World War I-era New York. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Born and raised in Mumbai, India, she earned her Ph.D. in Film History from Duke University and has worked as a film curator, political speechwriter, and freelance journalist. She lives in New York City.
As an actress, Ilana Levine has performed on stage and screen to critical acclaim. On Broadway, Ilana is best known to musical theater fans for her comedic turn as "Lucy Van Pelt" in the Broadway revival of, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown. Ilana also starred in the Broadway productions of Jake's Women, Wrong Mountain and The Last Night Of Ballyhoo. She has performed on the Tony Awards. Her ability to portray characters with raw honesty, humor, and pathos, has sustained her career as an actress for over 25 years. She first appeared on the scene in the HBO series Tanner ’88 directed by Robert Altman and quickly was plucked by Vanity Fair journalist James Wolcott as an “up and comer to watch.” Seinfeld fans recognize her from the infamous episode "The Contest." She has appeared in many television shows and films including Divorce, Law and Order, Tanner on Tanner, Damages, The Job, Cashmere Mafia, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Kissing Jessica Stein, Gigantic, Ira and Abby, Failure to Launch, The Nanny Diaries, Friends With Kids and Five Flights Up. As a voice over artist she has done commercials and audio books. For the past three years Ilana has been cited as a “Twitter Influencer To Follow”. She resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, actor Dominic Fumusa, her two children, and their dog, Lola.