Keynote Speaker

Jess Walter

Jess Walter is the author of eight books, most recently the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Beautiful Ruins and the story collection We Live in Water. He was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award for The Zero and won the 2005 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Citizen Vince. He’s been a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and the PEN/USA Literary Prize in both fiction and nonfiction, twice won the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, and has been long-listed for the Story Prize and the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize. His books have been published in 32 languages and his short fiction has appeared twice in Best American Short Stories, as well as in Harper’s, McSweeney’s, Esquire, Tin House, and others. He lives in Spokane, Washington with his family.