Red Room Where the Writers Are

Red Room chooses a Rising Star each week to recognize authors who have published just one or two books, or who have taken their careers to a new level in some other significant way. Each author on this page has a fascinating story behind his or her story, and I recommend checking out each Author Page to learn more.

–Huntington W. Sharp, Editor, Red Room

Alan Black: Scottish expat, Tenderloin bartender, literary impresario, debut author. (January 1st.)

Firoozeh Dumas's debut is all about being funny in Farsi. (January 7th.)

Michelle Richmond's novel will be a movie. (January 14th.)

JT Ellison's trio of Jackson Taylor thrillers is critically acclaimed. (January 21st.)

It doesn't get any better for Eugene S. Robinson. (January 28th.)

Jessica Barksdale Inclán's new book was just released. (February 4th.)

Helen Oyeyemi: From Columbia MFA to France OUI! (February 11th.)

Sean Beaudoin's first young-adult novel was released last year. (February 18th.)

Rhoda Curtis's debut is a memoir of ninety years exuberantly lived. (February 25th.)

Jeff Chang's second book about the culture of hip-hop was released last year. (March 3rd.)

G. Willow Wilson: This graphic novelist's debut is set in modern-day Cairo. (March 10th.)

Xujun Eberlein's new collection centers around China's Cultural Revolution. (March 17th.)

Alice Wilson-Fried's range spans murder-mysteries and a midlife memoir. (March 24th.)

Carolyn McTighe's second book for kids comes out this summer. (March 31st.)

Meena Kandasamy: poetry arising out of a pressing responsibility to keep language free. (April 7th.)

Seth Harwood created the web's first podcast-only crime novel. (April 14th.)

Katie Burke's letter will be part of a new collection from HarperCollins. (April 21st.)

William Poy Lee has lived through many lives to arrive at "memoirist." (April 28th.)

Phyllis Zimbler Miller's debut novel's backdrop is the Vietnam War. (May 5th.)

Jason Bayani: This spoken-word artist performs all over the U. S. (May 12th.)

New novelist Michele P. Barker calls herself a "time traveler." (May 19th.)

Julie Buxbaum's debut novel is already getting attention and awards. (May 26th.)

Murder and espionage collide in Marta Stevens's thrillers. (June 2nd.)

Nona Caspers's debut story collection won an important prize and great reviews. (June 9th.)

A mother's grief is the departure point for Judith Merrill Larsen's first novel. (June 16th.)

A trip to New Orleans changed Blair Kilpatrick's life forever. (June 23rd.)

His own parents' divorce inspired Max Sindell's guide for kids. (June 30th.)

Only a few years publishing, yet JoSelle Vanderhooft has several collections already in print. (July 7th.)

Natasha Bauman: This writing professor's debut novel is set in 19th-century Boston. (July 14th.)

Kristina Riggle: This Michigan journalist's first novel is due in 2009.

Sandi Ault: This mystery novelist serves forth "Wild" fiction. (July 28th.)

Charles A. Ray's first book is about leadership and family. (August 4th.)

G. Carlos Smith: This lawyer/author took a bold step for his convictions. (August 11th.)

Laurie Viera Rigler's Jane Austen obsession inspired her first novel. (August 18th.)

Porochista Khakpour's debut novel portrays a young man caught between two worlds. (August 25th.)

A girl coming of age in the 1970s is the hero of Lee Doyle's debut. (September 1st.)

Frances Dinkelspiel's debut tells how a Jewish immigrant helped build California. (September 8th.)

Gregory A. Wilson: A professor shifts from academic writing to fantasy fiction. (September 15th.)

Jean M. Fogle's debut catches the cutest dogs frolicking on the beach. (September 22nd.)

Spirituality and song inform Marsha Hansen's search for meaning. (September 29th.)

Months spent in Antarctica spurred Leslie Carol Roberts's debut. (October 6th.)

Chris Rodell: This Pennsylvania-based satirist has published two books about golf. (Oct. 13th)

Hammoudi Abdelwahab: An Algerian screenwriter and essayist switches from French to English.

Gina Collia-Suzuki's debut is a biography of a revered Japanese woodcut artist. (October 27th, 2008.)

Fiona Sze-Lorrain's poetry supplements her translation of a Chinese filmmaker's work. (November 3rd.)

A mother overcomes hate and grief in Naseem Rakha's debut novel. (November 10th.)

"Something like 1984, but funny" is how Lee Konstantinou describes his debut novel. (November 17th.)

Robert Earle: How to reverse the negative effects of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. (December 1st.)

Geri Spieler's debut is about a would-be presidential assassin. (December 8th.)

Saul Rosenfeld's debut surveys two centuries of hypnotism. (December 15th.)

Mark F. DeWitt: An ethnomusicologist finds his first book's subject close to home. (December 22nd.)