A Day with Santa Fe Authors

Jamie Figueroa is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer and the memoir in essays Mother Island: A Daughter Claims Puerto Rico. Her writing has appeared in American Short Fiction, The New York Times, Emergence Magazine, Boston Review, Elle, McSweeney’s and Kweli Journal, among others. She teaches in the Creative Writing MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts. Figueroa is Boricua (Afro-Taíno) by way of Ohio and is a longtime resident of northern New Mexico.

J.C. is a New York Times best-selling author. Her books for children, young adults, and adults have been published in more than twelve countries and have appeared on national lists, including the American Booksellers Association New Voices, Barnes and Noble’s Best Young Reader Books, as well as Amazon’s, Apple’s, and Audible’s Best Books of the Month. She has earned multiple awards and recognitions, including the New Mexico Book Award and the NM Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Bettye Kearse is a retired pediatrician. According to eight generations of family oral history, she is a descendant of an enslaved cook and her enslaver, and half-brother, President James Madison. Bettye’s multiple award-winning book, The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family, chronicles a journey of discovery—of our nation, her ancestors, and herself. Her 2022 TEDxABQ talk is “The Power of a Name.”

Jennifer Givhan is a Chicana and Indigenous poet & novelist who has earned NEA & PEN Emerging Voices Fellowships & published five full-length poetry collections & four novels, including Salt Bones (Mulholland/Little, Brown). Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in American Poetry Review, The New Republic, The Nation, POETRY, TriQuarterly, The Boston Review, The Rumpus, Salon, Ploughshares, and many others.

Katie Arnold is the author of Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World and Running Home: A Memoir. A Zen practitioner and elite ultrarunner, Katie teaches writing workshops exploring the link between movement and creativity. Her work has been featured in Outside, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, ESPN Magazine, Runner’s World, Elle, as well as on NPR Weekend Edition Sunday and The Upaya Zen Center Podcast.

Jeffe Kennedy™ is a multi-award-winning, USA Today bestselling author of 68 published titles, primarily in epic fantasy romance. Her work has been translated into seven languages. She also writes as Jennifer K. Lambert™. Jeffe lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.