Everyone knows what it’s like to be a novelist. You work for an hour or two a day. You live in a beach-front mansion. You tour to exotic locations. You choose the titles for all your books. You personally select — and possibly draw — your cover art. You supervise and approve any Hollywood adaptation of your work. You dream of the day when you’ll be so famous no one dares edit your work. Right? Not exactly. This talk will get to the truth of novel writing, everything from the writer’s life to cover art to movie options. Ever wondered how any of that really works? Author Kelley Armstrong will tell you.

2016 Edna Staebler Writer-in-residence

Armstrong is a Canadian author of several immensely popular series, including Women of the Otherworld, The Darkest Power, the Cainsville series, The Blackwell Pages trilogy, and more, as well as several stand-alone novels. She writes both fantasy and crime novels, and writes for adults, middle-grade, and young adult readers.