The Curious Cat Bookshop is the independent bookstore of Winsted, CT, offering curation, selection, expertise, and a place to meet with bookish friends at our book clubs, author events, and storytimes. This podcast is our in-store events feed, combined with remote interviews with authors who live elsewhere. We help you satisfy your curiosity in a community of readers--bringing the authors of Connecticut to the world, and the authors of the world to northwest Connecticut.
Stacy Whitman is the owner of The Curious Cat Bookshop in Winsted, CT, and the founder, former publisher, and now editor-at-large of Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books that publishes diverse middle grade and young adult fiction. In 2013, Stacy founded the New Visions Award, which honors a new unpublished writer of color. She holds a master’s degree in children’s literature from Simmons College.
Anne Broyles is the award-winning author of I'm Gonna Paint: Ralph Fasanella, Artist of the People (2025 Oregon Book Award winner). Previous children's books include Arturo and the Bienvenido Feast, Arturo and the Navidad Birds, Priscilla and the Hollyhocks, and Shy Mama’s Halloween.
Eating to Save the Planet: How Veganism Helps Fight Climate Change, a middle grade nonfiction book in the "Books for a Better Earth" series is available August 26, 2025.
In 2026 Scholastic will publish Words Spoken True, a young adult historical novel based on a Cherokee girl's real-life experience on the Trail of Tears in 1838.
Beth Revis is an internationally acclaimed bestselling author with books available in more than 20 languages and has toured internationally to meet her fans. Five of her novels have listed in the NY Times.
Beth primarily writes science fiction and fantasy for both adults and young adults. She’s written three books for Star Wars, including the fan-beloved The Princess and the Scoundrel. Her most recent books include the historical romantasy duology starting with Night of the Witch, co-written with Sara Raasch, and a snarky sci fi novella series called Chaotic Orbits.
Beth is the co-owner of Wordsmith Workshops and the author of the Paper Hearts series, both of which aid aspiring authors. A native of North Carolina, Beth is currently working on multiple more books. She lives in rural NC with her son, husband, and dog.
Erin M. Evans is the author of the Books of the Usurper series, beginning with Empire of Exiles, and the award-winning Brimstone Angels Saga, set in the Forgotten Realms. She is a co-host of the podcast Writing about Dragons and Shit, and a cast member of the actualplay series, Dungeon Scrawlers. Erin lives in the Seattle area with her husband and sons.
Buy her books here: https://curiouscatbookshop.com/search?type=author&q=Evans%2C%20Erin%20M
Author Kimm Topping, Ed.M., is an educator, writer, and historian dedicated to preserving LGBTQIA+ history. Their first book, Generation Queer, is a nonfiction YA highlighting the stories of LGBTQIA+ youth activists. As founder of Lavender Education, a national program promoting LGBTQIA+ history and youth leadership, Kimm leads impactful workshops, professional development, and historic walking tours.
Kimm lectures at Harvard Graduate School of Education, specializing in gender, sexuality, and equity. Their historic tours of Cambridge and New York City spotlight queer and feminist activism from the 1970s to the 1990s, and their widely recognized publication series, Mapping Feminist Cambridge, is available through the Cambridge Women’s Commission. Their work has been recognized by the 2025 Curve Power List and the 2023 Inaugural In-Service Award from the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.
Leah Juliett (they/them) is an award-winning writer, speaker, LGBTQ+ advocate, and organizer from Connecticut. Leah is a survivor of image based sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation, and a lived experience expert on technology-facilitated gender-based violence. In 2016, Leah founded and led The March Against Revenge Porn across the Brooklyn Bridge, which garnered global support and moved the needle on cultural conversations around internet abuse. Leah champions LGBTQ-inclusive Internet protections and survivor-centered justice.
Lisa Mangum has worked in publishing for more than twenty-five years. She has been the managing editor for Shadow Mountain since 2014 and has worked with several award-winning and New York Times best-selling authors. Lisa is also the author of four national best-selling YA novels (The Hourglass Door trilogy and After Hello), several short stories and novellas, and a nonfiction book about the craft of writing based on the TV show Supernatural. She regularly teaches at writing conferences across the country as well as hosts a writing weekend twice a year in Capitol Reef National Park. She lives in Utah.
Lori Fena is a cofounder and the Head of Business Development at Personal Digital Spaces. A recognized technology policy thought-leader, entrepreneur and author, Lori works with pioneering high-tech companies to introduce new forms of technology, as well as innovative policy. Since the start of the networked computing era to the Blockchain, Big Data, AI world of today, she has combined technical curiosity, business acumen, and an activist nature to help found ground-breaking technology companies and to institute international policy.
In addition to running her own companies, Lori is an active investor and board advisor to a number of technology companies. She was Executive Director and later the Chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She is the founder and Chairman Emeritus of TRUSTe.org, and served as the Internet Policy Program Director at the Aspen Institute.
Martha Brockenbrough (rhymes with broken toe) is the author of more than twenty books for young readers, including YA fiction and nonfiction, picture books, a middle grade mystery, and a chapter book series.
She founded National Grammar Day, wrote game questions for Cranium and Trivial Pursuit, and was co-chair of faculty at VCFA’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program.
Martha won a Pacific Northwest Bookseller Association Award and a Washington State Book Award for her novel The Game of Love and Death. She was also a finalist for the Kirkus Prize.
Megan Collins is the author of Cross My Heart, The Family Plot, The Winter Sister, and other thrillers. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Boston University and teaches a novel-writing course online. She is also Editor-in-Chief of the literary journal 3Elements Review. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, her poetry and short fiction have appeared in many publications. She lives in Connecticut, where she obsesses over dogs, miniatures, and cake.
Susan J. Morris is a fantasy author and editor best known for a writing-advice column featured on Amazon’s Omnivoracious blog (which TIME magazine online once called “clever,” and which she hence forth has never let anyone forget), and her work editing Forgotten Realms novels. Susan delights in running workshops for Clarion West and in moderating panels for writing symposiums. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her partner; her cats, Adora and Kitava; and entirely too many plants. Strange Beasts is her debut novel. Find her online at susanjmorris.com.
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Yamile Saied Méndez is the award-winning author of many books for young readers and adults, including Furia, Where Are You From?, the Horse Country series, and On These Magic Shores, among others. She was born and raised in Rosario, Argentina, but has lived most of her life in a lovely valley surrounded by mountains in Utah. She's a graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Writing program, and a founding member of Las Musas, a marketing collective of Latine writers. Connect with her at yamilesmendez.com.