LoL (Love of Literature)

Guest Bio-

Chyrel J. Jackson and Lyris D. Wallace are Literary visionaries and two-time #1 Ranked

Best Selling Amazon Authors. Reared and raised in the South Suburbs outside

Chicago. African American Literature influenced their writing and is one of their favorite

genres. Both writers write in the spirit of their past great Literary ancestors. Chyrel and

Lyris both were Pushcart Nominees in 2021-Poem Love Unspoken, Heartbeats

Anthology and 2023, Poem- No Justice for Breonna, Published in Social Justice Inks

Anthology.

This edgy writing duo is featured in numerous poetry anthologies, Literary Journals, and

International Global Magazines.

Chyrel and Lyris have published SistersRoc’N’Rhyme Presents Poems in the Key of

Life, Mirrored Images and Different Sides of the Same Coin.

You will find them always writing. Creating written legacies one book at a time.

These two writers have found their voice and can be found on Sistersrocnrhyme.com.

Guest Bio- Alka Joshi

Alka Joshi is the internationally bestselling author of the Jaipur Trilogy: The Henna Artist, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur and The Perfumist of Paris. Her debut novel, The Henna Artist, immediately became a New York Times Bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Pick and was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. It has been translated into 29 languages and is currently in development at Netflix as a tv series. Joshi was born in India and came to the U.S. with her family at the age of nine. She has a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from California College of Arts. 

Guest Bio- Radhika Iyengar

Radhika Iyengar is the author of her debut book, ‘Fire on the Ganges: Life Among the Dead in Banaras’. She’s a graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, New York. Radhika won the Red Ink award for Excellence in Indian Journalism (2018), and has been a recipient of the Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship, the Sanskriti Prabha Dutt Fellowship and Sangam House Residency.

Guest Bio- Zaid Hasan

Zaid Hasan is an aspiring author, currently editing his debut novel. It’s an epic adventure story in the High Fantasy genre with elements of Sci-Fi mixed in.

Zaid is a proud Muslim-American, born and raised in New York, hoping to explore deep themes and offer new perspectives through his art.

Guest Bio- Lalitha Ramanathan

Lalitha is a Finance Manager turned writer. She is an avid blogger and has published her stories with many online platforms and anthologies. She is a 2022 Orange Flower Award Runner-up. Her upcoming debut book on parenting humor will be published by OM Books International.Lalitha lives with her family in Singapore. When not writing, she loves to read, play the violin, and design Rangolis, all the while gathering ideas for her next plot.  She loves writing stories with a pinch of humour!

Guest Bio- Kerry Kriseman

Kerry Kriseman is the author of Accidental First Lady: On the Front Lines and Behind the Scenes of Local Politics, published by St. Petersburg Press. The memoir recounts her 22 years as a political spouse to her lawyer-turned-politician husband, Rick Kriseman, St. Petersburg Mayor from 2014-2022. Historical dramas, traveling, scratch cooking, drinking wine, and daily walks are her interests. The St. Petersburg native is a graduate of University of South Florida with a B.A. in Mass Communications/Broadcasting and has worked in print media for the St. Petersburg Times (now Tampa Bay Times) in various positions in the Newsroom and Marketing Department. She volunteers in the community and serves on multiple non-profit boards. She joined Creative Clay as the public relations manager. The non-profit creates equality through art with programs for individuals with neuro-differences. She has served as mentor with the 'Take Stock in Children' program in Pinellas County Schools since 2014. She also volunteers at Tampa General Hospital in their pet therapy program.

Guest Bio- Kathryn P Carter

Kathryn is an educational consultant, children’s book author, and speaker.  Her goal is to elevate, energize and encourage children to become reading rockstas. She is the author of The Lizzie B. Hayes children’s book series about a precocious eight-year-old and three generations of her colorful family. Her historical fiction series is just right for children ages 8-12. Through her Ten Steps to Reading Success © parent workshop, participants learn tips and strategies to support  children on the journey to success in school and in life. Kathryn is available to speak about children's literacy development and tips for aspiring authors.

Guest Bio- Winnifred Tataw

Winnifred, or as most know her by Winnie, is an artist, entrepreneur, and Amazon Bestselling author of her debut series: The Gods’ Scion. Winnie has had a lifelong love of literature and art. She wants to create a beautiful fantasy world with compelling and intriguing characters as a writer. Winnie loves to spread positivity and joy to those around her and look at the world through a glittery pink lens.
website- https://winsbooks.blog/

Guest Bio- Ankush Bharti

Ankush Bharti is the Chief Operations Officer of Writers' Kalam, India's latest knowledge-based education venture. Also, the Editor-in-Chief of The Holistic Pine, the independent monthly lifestyle international journal released by Writers' Kalam, Ms Bharti, keeps an open mind towards the possibilities of content creation in the new media. She is trained in content writing and content marketing. A writer with experience in the publishing industry, Ankush Bharti has coauthored several books. Previously, she worked as a content reviewer for a prominent organisation. She was also the co-founder of a content writing company.

An avid reader, she spent hours of her time as a youngster in the libraries of Shimla. This experience proved crucial in providing her with the necessary material for the writer in her. Known as a prodigy since an early age, she has won many national and international competitions in writing.

She writes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays. She has directed plays and worked as a theatre artist. A public speaker and all-rounder, she is also a performing artist. When she is not writing, she is seen making caricatures.

Her recent books include Letters to Life and Stories from the Soil.

She is also a life coach, motivational speaker, NLP practitioner, and NLP Trainer.

Guest Bio- Rajni Mala

Rajni Mala Khelawan is an Indo-Fijian Canadian writer and researcher. She has given numerous inspirational speeches and public readings in Canada and in the Fiji Islands. In addition to being a visiting writer at the University of South Pacific, Fiji Islands in 2011, Khelawan was profiled on hit TV and radio shows such as Bollywood Boulevard, CBC Radio, Omni News, NUTV, and Asian Magazine TV. She was the Writer-in-Residence at Fiji National University in 2014. Her short story “Bucket of Cherries” was a winning entry for New Asian Writing Journal; and "Still Standing" was published in The Voice Magazine. Khelawan's two novels are Kalyana (2016) and The End of the Dark and Stormy Night  (2008). Her third novel In the Shade of a Bougainvillea Hedge is forthcoming. Khelawan holds a Master of Arts Degree from the University of Toronto. Her SSHRC-funded research entitled "Gender and Ritual among Fijian Hindu Women" studied gender and Hinduism among descendents of indentured Indians. Khelawan's areas of academic research includes South Asian religions; indentured history and colonization; and transnational and diaspora studies. Currently, she lives in Toronto, Ontario, and is working on her fourth novel "Across the Black Waters" under the Canada Council for the Arts grant.

Guest Bio- Anuja Ghimire

Nepal-born Anuja Ghimire (Twitter @GhimireAnuja) writes poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction. She is the author of two poetry books in Nepali: Ankur andArthaat. She recently published a poetry chapbook in English: Kathmandu (Unsolicited Press, 2020). Her poetry chapbook  fable-weavers is forthcoming from ethel-zine in fall of 2022. An associate editor for Up the Staircase Quarterly, her poems and essays have been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart prizes. She works as a senior publisher in an online testing company.  She enjoys teaching poetry to children in summer camps. Her work found home in print and online journals and anthologies in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Scotland, and Australia. She lives near Dallas, Texas with her husband and two children.

Guest Bio- Landis Wade

Landis Wade is a recovering trial lawyer, dog and sports lover, host of Charlotte Readers Podcast, speaker, teacher, moderator, fly-fisherman and author of books and stories whose third book—The Christmas Redemption— won the Holiday category of the 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards. He won the 2016 North Carolina State Bar short story contest for The Deliberation and received awards for his non-fiction pieces, The Cape Fear Debacle and First Dance. His short work also has appeared in Writersdigest.com, The Charlotte Observer, News and Observer, Flying South, Fiction on the Web and in anthologies by Pamlico Writers’ Group, High Country Writers and the Daniel Boone Footsteps Personal Story Publishing Project.

website- https://landiswade.com/

Guest Bio- Shahnaz Ahmed

Shahnaz Ahmed's a dentist by profession yet her heart has always been with books. She’s an avid reader and a bookish podcaster.  She dreams of being an author and her first full manuscript is currently in the editing zone.  In her free time, she loves to travel and hang out with family and friends.

Guest Bio- Harsh Agarwal

Harsh Agarwal is a book reviewer, critic, content creator and a student. For years, he has served as a useful source of motivation, help or advice. He finally decided to own that role and be intentional about it. He started Keetabi Keeda with a mission to give others a taste of his thoughts and experiences, and has been at it ever since. What started as weekly posts has evolved into a rich site filled with information about various topics that are near and dear to his heart.

Guest Bio- Sharon Dev

A Fashion Designer & Stylist of 20+ years , Sharon Dev recently quit her full-time day job to focus on her love for illustration. While her illustrative style is centered around fashion, food & nature, Sharon enjoys conceptualizing, illustrating & laying out Graphic Novels & Kid’s picture books.

Having collaborated with Kids authors, Sharon co-published her first picture book ; The Adventures of Grandpa & Ray. She is presently writing & illustrating her first independent series of Kid’s Graphic Novels, while also pursuing her second collaborative picture book.

When she’s not doodling, Sharon can be found annoying her pet cat or buried beneath a pile of old comics & travel magazines. She also loves local travel, is a tree-hugger, recreational baker & a lover of all four-legged creatures.

Guest Bio- Megan Rich

Megan Rich studied creative writing at the University of Michigan and is a recent graduate of Lighthouse Writers Workshop's Book Project Program. She has received the Virginia Voss Writing Award and recently won first place in the 2019 North Carolina Confucius Institute's Chinese Essay Contest. She is the author of a memoir, Six Years of a Floating Life and is currently seeking representation for a literary novel. She's a 2022 recipient of the Arts and Science Council Charlotte's Creative Renewal Fellowship. Photo credit: "Courtesy of Nancy Pierce"

Author Bio- Yasmin Angoe

Yasmin Angoe is a debut author of the critically acclaimed novel Her Name Is Knight and first-generation Ghanaian American. She is a developmental editor and has worked in education for nearly twenty years. She received the 2020 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Emerging Writers of Color from Sisters in Crime and is also a proud member of Crime Writers of Color, and several other literary organizations.

Guest- Joe Garrick

Joe Garrick is the author of "Whose Hoof Is That?", "Billy the Dentist," and "The Best Bagel Book." Joe is a North Carolina native who grew up in Hickory, NC, and attended "THE" Appalachian State University. Joe currently works as the Director of Business Development for a full-service digital marketing agency based in Charleston, SC. Joe is also an aspiring custom hat maker, occasional wedding officiant, and a new dad!

Joe has always had a love for music, especially rap and hip-hop (and he even has a little musical talent himself). Though Joe's hip-hop career hasn't quite taken off yet, he thought it would be nice to transition his creative skills into a different avenue that will hopefully reach a lot of people. Joe loves to make others laugh, and the goal of all of his books is to do just that.

Website- https://whosehoofisthat.com/

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/joegarrickschildrensbooks/

Guest Bio- Dr. Megha

The author, Megha is a dental surgeon by profession and loves to work around words too. She has been writing short stories and poetry in English for a while. Megha completed her education in Bangalore and presently lives in Raipur with her lovely family. She is friendly, loves talking to people, an animal lover and a traveller. ' By two coffee - and other tales brewed in Bangalore' is a collection of short stories, that she self-published. It is largely based on her life as a child in Bangalore.

Guest bio- Ruth Adeyemi is a multidimensional woman achieving great feats both in career and business.

She is a Biochemistry graduate of Jacksonville University, USA. She graduated as a part of the top 1% and the best Chemistry student who recently published her first scientific research in the Georgia Journal of science.

She is currently doing her doctorate degree in Pharmacy at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy in Jacksonville, Florida.

As the founder of SARMLife, an organization focused on helping brands grow their blog traffic and income with business blogging and digital marketing strategies, she has done a tremendous job in raising 5-figure business owners and other bright minds in the digital space.

Ruth desires to help and be a shining light to everyone that crosses her path even as she carves a future that enables her to continue to help others grow.

Guest Bio- Meredith Ritchie

Meredith Ritchie has made a career in business communications and wrote this, her first novel, as a cure for acute empty nest syndrome. She lives in Charlotte with her husband and two cats, who encourage her curiosity of the forgotten triumphs of the spirit, especially those in our own backyard.

Guest bio- Subashini prasad

An MBA from the Indian School of Business, Subhashini Prasad quit her banking job to pursue her passion for writing. Her first book, Not Really Indian, is a collection of ten short stories about women who have lived in India and abroad. It ranked among Amazon’s 50 Bestsellers in the first month of release and has over 100 reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Outlook India and The Statesman named the collection as a must-read anthology for 2021. In 2020, she won Runner-Up, Beyond-the-Box Storyteller of the Year Award. She has also written a children’s story called Hoo and Hau, published on Story weaver. Recently, Deccan Herald named her among 10 personalities to have ventured into a field unknown to them. Subhashini currently lives in London with her husband and two children. In her spare time, she loves dancing and doing yoga..

Guest Bio- Sarah Archer

Sarah Archer is a Black List Screenwriting Mini-Lab fellow who has had material produced for Comedy Central and published short stories and poetry in numerous literary magazines. After living in Los Angeles, where she worked in literary management and development on projects including House, Concussion, Roots, and Girls Trip. Sarah Archer's debut novel, The Plus One, was published by Putnam. As a screenwriter, she has been recognized by the Black List organization and the Nicholl Fellowship, and had material produced for Comedy Central. After working in TV and film development in Los Angeles, she currently lives in North Carolina.

Guest Bio- Parag Shah

Parag Shah is a techie turned writer. He has diverse literary interests and has begun the writing journey with his first passion: The Mahabharata. Parag has published several short stories from the epic and plans to continue spreading lesser-known stories from Indian Mythology to a wider audience.

Amazon link- https://www.amazon.in/Parag-Shah/e/B09B66RL8S?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1648365098&sr=8-1

Guest Bio- Surabhi Koushik Writer & Literary Artist. You can find all her published works on her blog https://surabhiwritersmind.blogspot.com

Guest Bio- Lata Gwalani

Lata is a narrator of human experiences and spends time pondering the how and why of relationships. She has X-ray vision into human psyche, and deduces more than what meets the eye, and is usually wrong. She is wary of people and is highly impressed with Noah for allowing only animals on his ark. She has authored two books – Incognito and Prisoners of Secrets. Her third book was released in January 2022 and has been winning readers since. She has been a corporate trainer for over two decades, specialising in Leadership through Emotional Intelligence. She has done considerable and pioneering work with women in this context.

Guest Bio- Abha Iyengar

Abha is a British Council certified creative writing mentor. She is an award-winning, internationally published poet, author, editor and translator.

Abha has been a writer-in-residence at the Sangam House Residency and received the Lavanya Sankaran Writing Fellowship for 2009-2010.

Her short fiction, The Marshlands, was shortlisted in the DNA-Out of Print short story contest (2015). Abha's poems have appeared in the Anthology of Contemporary Indian Poets and her fiction in The Indo-Australian Anthology of Short Fiction. Her story, The High Stool, was nominated for the prestigious, Million Writers Award.

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Her published works include Yearnings, Flash Bites, Shrayan, Many Fish to Fry and The Gourd Seller and Other Stories. She has co-edited an anthology titled The Other, which is a collection of 33 stories by several authors on this theme.

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Abha holds Creative Writing Workshops, edits fiction manuscripts and personally mentors aspiring writers. She writes/speaks on motivation, confidence building and finding the creative self.

Guest Bio- Tanushree Podder

A hundred travel tales, 15 novels, and a bagful of dreams – that’s Tanushree Podder. An adventurous soul, she has dabbled in multiple genres like historical, military, crime, romance and paranormal. Two of her books, Boots Belts Berets and The Girls in Green, are soon to be adapted into web series.

Guest Bio- Vidhya Velayudham

Born in coimbatore, did her schooling in Udumalpet. Completed UG in Psychology from Madras University and Masters in Applied Psychology from Bharathiyar University. She was a meditation teacher for 17 years. As of now she is a layout artist with zero degree publishing from its inception. She is a hobby artist who loves to work with pencils.

Guest Bio- Gayathri (Zero Degree Publishing)

Born and brought up in a village near Udumalpet, Tiruppur district.

Studied D pharm. Learning English made her switch over to languages and literature after marriage. Studied MA, Mphil in French in 2010.

Worked in Stella Maris college from 2011 to 2018 as Assistant professor of French. Quit the job to start Zero Degree Publishing with Mr. Ramjee Narasiman. Translated Sudha Murthy's book Here There and Everywhere into Tamil. Translated Anne Hebert's 2 stories from French to Tamil which were published in Vikatan's Thadam and Yaavarum.com.

Guest Bio- Ramjee (Zero Degree Publishing)

Training professional with 20 years of progressive Sales & Training experience in Professional Training, NBFC,FMCG, Insurance & Banking domain. Specialties: Leadership and Management, Customer service, Sales and Human Dyanamics. Branched in to business from 2013,Produced 5 movies and distributed many In to building flats and plots And partner of zero degree publishing for the last 4 years.

Zero Degree Publishing aims to introduce to the world some of the finest specimens of modern Indian literature in English translation. To begin with, they take great pride in introducing Tamil literature in English translation because, as Henry Gratton Doyle said, "It is better to have read a great work of another culture in translation than never to have read it at all."

Guest Bio- Sakshi Arora

Sakshi Arora is a post graduate in English Literature and holds a diploma in French Language. She is a poet and also a Verbal, Communication and Personality Development trainer.

Apart from writing for various anthologies, she has also written online journals. She is also an author of the book, Aisling.

For her, poetry is the way to find emotional catharsis. She believes that poetry sheds a light on the world and provides the best way to express yourself and understand others.

Moreover, she loves everything revolving around arts in general and literature in particular.

Guest Bio- Gopa Bhattacharjee

English Poet Gopa Bhattacharjee is born and brought up in Kolkata. She is an entrepreneur and has been the Director of a Private Limited Manufacturing Company for the past 26 years. But she is passionate and enthusiastic about weaving poetry relating to the realities of lives and diversities of nature.

She completed her Masters in English and has been a part time teacher trainer in CMTC for many years

Her poetry book UNTURNED VERSES was published in Kolkata International Book Fair 2020

She has been the guest poet in many poetry meets in and out of Kolkata. She is one of the leading actors and producer of ‘Kolkata Cocktail’, the short poetry film presented by ICCR. Her poetry has been published in various national and international magazines, journals like Different Truths , Our Poetry Archive, The Raven Claw ( Germany ), Soflay .Inc ( Mexico ) , Universal Culturi ( Poland ), IPPL journal December 2019, SETU  and also in an anthology named “Muffled Moans Unleashed “,as well as in the international anthology named ‘Women’

She has been the featured poet at the American Consulate, Kolkata Lit Meet 2020 ,Nagar Kirrtibas  and many other cultural meets in and out of Kolkata.