Grant Faulkner is the co-founder of 100 Word Story, the co-host the Write-minded podcast, and an executive producer on America’s Next Great Author.
He has published three books on writing: The Art of Brevity: Crafting the Very Short Story; Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo; and Brave the Page, a teen writing guide.
He’s also published All the Comfort Sin Can Provide, a collection of short stories, Fissures, a collection of 100-word stories, and Nothing Short of 100: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story.
His “flash novel,” Something out there in the distance, a collaboration with the photographer Gail Butensky, is coming out in September 2025 with the University of New Mexico Press.
His stories have appeared in dozens of literary magazines, including Tin House, The Southwest Review, and The Gettysburg Review, and he has been anthologized in collections such as Norton’s Flash Fiction America; New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction; and in several editions of the annual Best Small Fictions and Best Microfiction anthologies.
His essays on creativity have been published in The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Lit Hub, Writer’s Digest, and The Writer. He serves on the National Writing Project Writers Council, Litquake’s board of directors, the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Words’ Creative Council, and Left Margin Lit’s Advisory Board.
Find Grant online on Facebook and Instagram. Listen to his podcast Write-minded and subscribe to his newsletter Intimations: A Writer’s Discourse.
Matt K. Miller will read two pieces by Grant Faulkner. Over forty productions at Sacramento Theatre Company including The Tempest, Othello, Julius Caesar, The Grapes of Wrath, Amadeus, Tartuffe, Of Mice and Men, two sold-out runs of Fully Committed and several years as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. He was appointed Artistic Director in 2010. Other Northern California credits: numerous roles at Capital Stage Company, B Street Theatre, Sierra Repertory Theatre, Lucky Penny Productions, Davis Shakespeare Festival, and the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. Elsewhere, credits extend nationally and internationally, including the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain’s An Enemy of the People with Sir Ian McKellen. TV: General Hospital, Courthouse, Off Centre, 13 Reasons Why and star of the Cartoon Network’s anime series Tenchi-Muyo!; Film: Gods and Generals, Stolen Moments, Women is Losers; Voice Over: dozens of titles—including taking over for Robin Williams as Batty in FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue. More can be found at imdb.com/name/nm0588929/
Hema Padhu is a writer, storyteller, and marketer. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The Michigan Quarterly Review, The Common, New Letters, The Pinch, Fourteen Hills, Litro Magazine, and more. She is working on a linked stories collection. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Max, and their sweet terrier, Neo.
Katherine (Kat) Miller will read the two pieces by Hema Padhu. A proud member of Actor’s Equity Association, Katherine’s professional theatre career began in the US performing in regional theatres of Northern California. A former company member of the Sacramento Theatre Company, her credits there include Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest, Vicky/Brooke in Noises Off, The Goddess Parvati in Arranged Marriage, Ifigenia in Electricidad, and Padma in Queen of the Remote Control. As a member of the Canadian Actor’s Equity Association, credits abroad include the role of Tecmessa in Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Ajax in Afganistan and Artemis in The Intuition of Iphigeniaby Valina Hasu Houston – Both productions were world premieres performed in Greece in 2012. Other favorite shows include Fat Pig, Much Ado About Nothing (Capital Stage), A Midsummer Night’s Dream,Taming of the Shrew, and Othello (Sacramento Shakespeare Festival). Katherine also has local and national commercial credits.