Sharyn McCrumb, Keynote Speaker
Sharyn McCrumb is an award-winning Southern writer, best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels, and five New York Timesbest sellers, including The Ballad of Tom Dooley, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, and She Walks These Hills. Ghost Riders won the Wilma Dykeman Award for Literature from the East Tennessee Historical Society and the national Audie Award for Best Recorded Book. She has been named a Virginia Woman of History by the Library of Virginia and a Woman of the Arts by the national Daughters of the American Revolution. She has spoken about her work at Oxford, the Smithsonian, the University of Bonn, and at universities and libraries throughout the U.S and Canada. She has been writer in residence at several universities, at Chautauqua in western New York, and she taught a writers workshop in Paris. Her books have been named New York Times and Los Angeles Times Notable Books.
Johnny Camacho
Johnny Camacho is a writer, actor, and comedian. He has been a playwriting contributor to the Sewanee Writer’s Conference and studied improv with the Upright Citizens Brigade. In addition to founding Alternative Arts Inc. and producing the Roanoke Comedy Fest, he is also a student at Washington and Lee School of Law.
Amanda Cockrell
Amanda Cockrell is the author of more than 15 novels, mostly historical, some written under her own name and some under the pseudonym Damion Hunter. She is a former college professor and the daughter of two screenwriters. She has written novels about the Romans and about the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The first three books were written in the 1980s and the story was wrapped up more recently. Her first young adult novel, What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay, was published in 2011 and was named one of the best children’s books of the year. Her most recent two novels are Coyote Weather and Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
Diane Fanning
Diane Fanning is the Edgar-nominated, best-selling author of 15 true crime books and 12 mysteries and a recipient of the Defender of Innocence award from the Innocence Project. She has served as a consultant to “48 Hours,” was a regular presence on 14 seasons of “Deadly Women,” and appeared on numerous other shows including on the BBC. She now lives in Bedford.
Jan Fuller
Jan Fuller has been part of the Roanoke community since 1988 when she came as the Chaplain to Hollins. She completed 41 years of chaplaincy, retired from Elon University, and now serves as the co-director of the Master’s in Chaplaincy at Hartford International University, and Associate Professor of Chaplaincy, teaching the core courses. She considers Beirut Lebanon her home, and the conflicts of the Middle East are both resource and impetus for her work with interfaith communities. Her book Blessings for your Students: Prayers for Interfaith Communities in Higher Education is a compilation of blessings written for the universities she served, and is for more than students. If you appreciate inclusion and poetry, you will like this book.
Kathleen (Kate) Goggin
Kathleen (Kate) Goggin is the author of 10 Little Rules When Good Jobs Go Bad. She is a contract writer-editor, writing workshop leader, and a listed consultant at the Center for Plain Language.
Nelson Harris
Nelson Harris is the author of 14 history books focused on the Roanoke Valley and is primarily responsible for six historic markers in the Roanoke Valley. He is a local history columnist for TheRoanoker magazine and co-producer/host for “Eye on the Past”on Blue Ridge PBS. He is a former Roanoke City Councilman and mayor and is the minister at Heights Community Church.
Ran Henry
Ran Henry is the author of the definitive biography Spurrier: How the Ball Coach Taught the South to Play Football and the forthcoming spiritual true crime book The Preacher: Mother Emanuel Pastor Clementa Pinckney and the Confederate Storm. Henry teaches writing at the University of Virginia with a stint at the nation’s top-ranked Honors College at the University of South Carolina. He and wife Linda live atop Afton Mountain. They are parents to Sarah and Kristen. Henry grew up in Bluefield, WV, thinking Roanoke was Manhattan.
Lindsey Hull
Lindsey Hull is a freelance journalist and creative writer. She was selected as Roanoke’s 2024 “Writer by Bus” and her resulting chapbook, a poetry collection entitled “the mountains rumble,” is now available. She has performed at Hoot and Holler and is obsessed with Appalachian storytelling culture.
Lee Hunsaker
Lee Hunsaker, creator of Roanoke’s Hoot and Holler: Our Stories. Out Loud., as she reflects upon her years of witnessing the transformative power of live storytelling. Lee is a story coach and a storyteller’s cheerleader, confidant, and guiding force. She works tirelessly to help others shape their stories into compelling narratives, ultimately making the leap from page to stage. Lee believes that radical change can happen within ourselves, our communities, and in the greater world at large when we bravely share our truths.
Judy Jenks
Judy Jenks is a native of Appalachia from Southwest Virginia and a Nurse Practitioner specializing in rural health. She is an Associate Professor of Nursing at Radford University and holds a post-graduate certificate in Appalachian Studies. She is a public speaker, published photographer, and author of creative nonfiction, humor, poetry, journalism, and academic writings.
Roland Lazenby
Roland Lazenby has written dozens of titles over his 50-year writing career, the most prominent being Michael Jordan, The Life, published by Little, Brown in 2014 and now available in 24 languages worldwide. It was an Editor’s Pick by the New York Times Book Review, a Good Reads Choice Awards finalist in history and biography, one of Chicago Public Library’s 10 Best Books of 2014, and the Polish Sports Book of the Year in 2015. He has also written biographies of several sports figures, including Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, Magic Johnson and Phil Jackson. Lazenby holds a master’s from the Hollins Graduate Writing Program.
Liz Long
Liz Long is the editor of The Roanoker, Virginia’s longest-running city magazine, and hosts its regional storytelling podcast, overseeing editorial and content strategy for parent company LeisureMedia360. A USA Today bestselling author and certified Chicago Manual of Style editor through the University of Chicago, she brings over a decade of publishing experience to her work, including writing, editing, marketing, and acquisitions. She specializes in developmental and copyediting for speculative fiction, helping authors strengthen voice, structure, and storytelling—and catch all those pesky typos.
Beth Macy
Beth Macy is a Virginia-based journalist who writes about outsiders and underdogs. She is the New York Times best-selling author of four books, including Factory Man and Dopesick, which won the L.A. Times Book Prize for Science and Technology, and was described as a “masterwork of narrative nonfiction” by The New York Times. Dopesick was made into a Peabody- and Emmy Award-winning Hulu series; Macy was an executive producer and cowriter on the show. Her 2022 book, Raising Lazarus: Hope, Justice, and the Future of America’s Overdose Crisis, was a follow-up to Dopesick and explored on-the-ground solutions to the nation’s drug epidemic. A 2023 Guggenheim Fellow and a 2010 Nieman Fellow for Journalism at Harvard, Macy has also written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post. Her next book, Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America, is a combination memoir and reported examination of the rural-urban divide told through the lenses of declining upward mobility, political polarization, and the decimation of local and regional news. It will publish October 7, 2025.
Todd R. Marcum
Todd R. Marcum is a Roanoke, Virginia-based marketing consultant and creator with an absurd passion for candy corn. He has won hundreds of awards for advertising and public relations, is a recipient of the American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal, and is a member of the Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications Hall of Fame. He also co-wrote and co-produced the documentary Shine: The Legacy of Roanoke’s Advertising Men and Women. Todd lives with his wife, Rhonda, and writes on his screen porch with his dog Gracie by his side. They have two grown children: Trenton, a dental recruiter in Roanoke, and Amanda, a music therapist in Phoenix. His daughter-in-law Kristin is a public school teacher. How Chloe Became the Candy Corn Queen is his third book.
Debbie Craig Seagle
Debbie Craig Seagle is a Dublin-based author of two works of nonfiction (Coffee Cups & Wine Glasses and 10 Steps to Get Over Dickhead). She has a third novel and a movie based on Coffee Cups due shortly. She has worked in air shows, as a manager for major corporations and has rubbed elbows with the top of the international diplomatic corps, among many other professional efforts.
Dan Smith
Dan Smith is an award-winning, veteran journalist, photographer and author wholives in Roanoke and is the founding and director of the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference. He has written eight books (including recent novels CLOG! and NEWS!), thousands of articles for a variety of print and electronic publications and is a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. He was the Virginia Business Journalist of the Year in 2010 and a two-time winner of the Perry F. Kendig Award, among many other awards including those for environmentalism and ethics. He won the AP Marshal Johnson Career Achievement Award when he was 26.
Greg Trafidlo
Award-winning troubadour Greg Trafidlo has performed from Beijing, China to Cork, Ireland, the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Chicago’s Wrigley Field and on Capitol Hill. His songs have been performed by folk icons such as Pete Seeger, Steve Gillette, Robbie Fulks and recorded by numerous performers including renowned bluegrass artist, Charlie Sizemore. Greg performs solo and with his trio, Trifolkal (with Neal Phillips and Laura Pole). He has opened for Emmylou Harris, John Hartford, John McCutcheon, Robin and Linda Williams and John Hammond, Mark O’Conner. He has released eight solo CDs and eight with Trifolkal.
Josh Urban
Josh Urban is a columnist, blogger, and author of Cities on a Hill. He is a writer, speaker and award-winning columnist. Urbancollects stories, andpublishes a newsletter for the elderly.