upcoming events

Ava Homa is an acclaimed author, speaker, activist, and faculty member at California State University, Monterey Bay. Her debut novel, Daughters of Smoke and Fire (HarperCollins & Abrams, 2020), was featured in Roxane Gay's Book Club, the Unplugged Book Box, and Women for Women International. The novel earned a place among the 'best books' in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the Independent (UK), and Globe and Mail (Canada). It received the 2020 Nautilus Silver Book Award for Fiction and was a 2022 William Saroyan International Writing Prize finalist. A groundbreaking work in English by a Kurdish woman, Daughters of Smoke and Fire has been incorporated into university curricula at institutions such as George Mason University, the University of Toronto, and Southern Methodist University.

​

Ava's collection of short stories, Echoes from the Other Land, was nominated for the 2011 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award. Her essays, written in English, Kurdish, and Persian, have been published in outlets like the BBC, Literary Review of Canada, Open Democracy, and Literary Hub. Her short stories and non-fiction pieces have been anthologized and she has delivered speeches across North America and Europe, including a memorable appearance at the United Nations in Geneva. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing and is a 2023 California Arts Council fellow.

Learn how to build the enduring world of a crime series by exploring how geography and climate shape crime narratives, and discover techniques for transforming close observations of a place into rich, immersive fiction. 

John Straley has published twenty books. He is best known for his crime writing but has also published non-fiction and poetry.  He has authored thirteen previous crime novels, including the Cecil Younger Investigations and the Cold Storage novels, two series both set in Alaska. John has won a Shamus Award and a Spotted Owl, and his books have been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He has worked professionally as a wilderness guide, a horseshoer, and for thirty years as a private investigator in Alaska.

John Straley graduated from the Browning School for Boys in New York City in 1971.   On his way to earning degrees in literature from the University of Washington, John worked summers in the wilderness of north central Washington State as a wrangler, horseshoer, mill worker, and trail crew foreman.

John married Janice (Morrison) Straley - now a prominent marine biologist - and her work took them to Sitka, Alaska where John became a private investigator and wrote The Woman Who Married a Bear, the first in the Cecil Younger series, published in 1992.  In the years since, John continued the Cecil Younger series, has written four books in the Cold Storage, Alaska series, and has published five books of poetry. He won the best first mystery Shamus award and the Spotted Owl award for the best northwest mystery, was appointed Writer Laureate of Alaska in 2006, and was awarded an honorary PhD from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

In 2017, John retired from the Alaska Public Defender Agency. In October 2022, he and Jan moved to Carmel, California, to be closer to family. After more than 40 years in Sitka, John remains an Alaskan at heart.  His latest novel was a stand-alone entitled “Big Breath In” published in November 2023 by Soho Press. 

Explore the transformative possibilities of AI for writers and creators. Through engaging discussions and practical demonstrations, we'll uncover how AI tools can enhance creative practice without compromising authenticity or human voice. This talk from Sam Stern provides a balanced, hands-on introduction to integrating AI meaningfully and ethically into your creative work. Join us to demystify AI, spark your imagination, and empower your creative journey in an ever-evolving technological landscape.

Sam Stern is a Senior Content Creator at Esalen Institute, where he hosts the Voices of Esalen podcast, a deep-dive interview program focused on Human Potential with over one million downloads to date. He is a cum laude graduate of Brown University and received an MFA in Critical Studies and Integrated Media from CalArts. His deep interest in emergent technologies focuses in particular on the creative and relational impact of AI on everyday humans.