This page will be updated as more faculty members are
confirmed for the 2024 Kentucky Writing Workshop.
Lacy Phillips is a social media strategist currently handling digital communications and content creation for P.S. Literary Agency.
She has worked with over 40 local, national, and international nonprofit organizations, helping them tell stories about the good they do in the world, manage online communities, and curate their digital presences.
At the 2024 in-person KWW, Lacy is teaching a class on social media.
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Wesley Chu is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twelve published novels, including Time Salvager, The Rise of Io, and The Walking Dead: Typhoon. He won the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. His debut, The Lives of Tao, won the Young Adult Library Services Association Alex Award.
Chu is an accomplished martial artist and a former member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has acted in film and television, worked as a model and stuntman, and summited Kilimanjaro. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Paula, and two boys, Hunter and River.
At the 2024 KWW, Wesley is offering add-on virtual manuscript critiques for attendees.
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Brian A. Klems (@BrianKlems) is the former online editor of WritersDigest.com. He is current the director of Writing Day Workshops.
He is the coordinator of the 2024 Kentucky Writing Workshop. At the event, he is offering add-on query critiques for attendees.
His blog during his tenure there, The Writer’s Dig—which covered everything writing and publishing—was one of the largest blogs in the writing community.
Brian’s first book, Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl: A Dad’s Guide to Raising Daughters (Adams Media) was released in 2013. It received high-level buzz and praise from some of the funniest writers alive, including Dave Barry and Bruce Cameron. Brian is also a proud graduate of the Ohio University E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, a husband, softball infielder, perennial fantasy sports underachiever, and father of three lovely girls.
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Brittany J. Thurman writes award-winning books for kids. At the 2024 Kentucky events, she is offering add-on virtual manuscript critiques for attendees. She is also teaching a speech.
She is the author of Fly, (Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text) and Fearless: Boulevard of Dreams. Her upcoming works include Forever and Always, illustrated by Shamar Knight Justice (2024), Fearless: The Takeover (2024), The First Library: The True Story of the First Library by and For Black America, illustrated by Cozbi Cabrera (2025) and Come Catch a Dream, illustrated by Islenia Mil (2025). (Find all her books here.)
She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Bachelor of Art in Theater from Kingston University, London, England. Her plays have been produced in Aspen, Colorado, and in New York City. Brittany is a former children’s early literacy specialist. She lives in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, where she holds tight to her elders, roots, and her childhood home.
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USA Today bestselling author and Agatha, Anthony, Barry, and Macavity-award finalist Kristi Belcamino writes dark mysteries about fierce women seeking justice. At the 2024 KWW, she is offering add-on virtual critiques for attendees.
She is a crime fiction writer, cops beat reporter, and Italian mama who also bakes a tasty biscotti. In her former life, as an award-winning crime reporter at newspapers in California, she flew over Big Sur in an FA-18 jet with the Blue Angels, raced a Dodge Viper at Laguna Seca, and attended barbecues at the morgue.
Her nonfiction writing has appeared in several publications, including the New York Times, Salon, Writer’s Digest, Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, and the San Jose Mercury News. Kristi now works part-time as a police reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
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Shauna Golden is a freelance editor and former literary agent.
At the 2024 Kentucky event, she is offering add-on virtual manuscript critiques.
Shauna is a blogger, YouTuber, avid reader and searching for her purpose. She usually has her nose in a book and a cup of tea next to her. She loves reading a variety of genres, including Fantasy, Upmarket, and Memoirs.
She also loves to discuss these books with anyone who will listen, mainly her husband and cat. When she’s not reading or writing she’s watching dog videos, experimenting with new dinner recipes, or dreaming about opening a cozy bookstore and cafe.
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Katy Yocom is author of an award-winning debut novel, Three Ways to Disappear.
Her writing has appeared in Newsweek, Salon, LitHub, American Way (the American Airlines magazine), and elsewhere. She is associate director of the low-residency MFA program at Spalding University and works privately with fiction and nonfiction writers.
At the 2024 KWW, she is teaching a class. She is also offering add-on optional manuscript critiques for attendees.
The 2024 Kentucky Writing Workshop 