The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has become the largest and most prestigious book festival in the country, attracting more than 130,000 book lovers each year.

Susan Salter Reynolds is a Los Angeles Times staff writer. She writes the Discoveries column for the Books section as well as frequent full-length reviews. She is a regular contributor to the Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times.

Nina Revoyr, an Edgar award-nominated author, was born in Tokyo and grew up in Japan, Wisconsin and Los Angeles. She is the author of three award-winning novels. Her most recent, The Age of Dreaming, is a finalist for the 2008 Mystery/Thriller Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Maria Silver has written a collection of award-winning short stories called Babe in Paradise as well as No Direction Home, her debut novel. Silver's latest novel, The God of War, is nominated for a 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction.

Marianne Wiggins is the author of 10 books of fiction including Evidence of Things Unseen, for which she was nominated for a National Book Award in fiction as well as named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her most recent novel is The Shadow Catcher, which was a finalist for the 2007 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction.