Jane Smiley, Novelist; Author, Early Warning
Peter Fish, Editor-at-Large, Sunset Publishing; Juror, California Book Awards — Moderator

Jane Smiley is the author of more than a dozen lyrical novels – including A Thousand Acres, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction – as well as many works of nonfiction and a series for young adults. A graduate of Vassar College and the University of Iowa, Smiley first began publishing novels and short stories while teaching at Iowa State University. Since her first novel in 1980, Smiley has gone on to be inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and to receive the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature. Her latest book, Early Warning, is set against a Midwestern backdrop, telling the remarkable story of a family from the Iowa heartland and their journey into mid-century America. Don’t miss the chance to hear from this prolific author as she discusses her inspirations, her work and her first trilogy of novels, The Last Hundred Years.