Storytellers Author in Residence

Kelsey Norris is a writer and editor from Alabama. She earned an MFA from Vanderbilt University and has worked as a teacher in Namibia, a school librarian, and a bookseller. Her work has been published in The Kenyon Review, Black Warrior Review, and The Rumpus, among others. She is currently based in Washington, DC.

In her debut story collection, "House Gone Quiet," A group of women contemplate violence after they’re sent into foreign territory to make husbands of the enemy. A support network of traumatized joggers meets to discuss the bodies they’ve found on their runs. And a town replaces its Confederate monument with a rotating cast of local residents. Slippery but muscular, sly but electric, this stunning debut collection moves from horror to magical realism to satire with total authority. In these stories, characters build and remake their sense of home, whether with one another or within themselves. 

"House Gone Quiet" was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and her debut novel is under contract with Scribner. We proudly host her as our Spring 2025 Storyteller - Author in Residence at Flagler College.

Ananda Lima is a poet, fiction writer, and translator. 

She is the author of Craft: "Stories I Wrote for the Devil" (Tor Books) and "Mother/land" (Black Lawrence Press), and the winner of the Hudson Prize from Black Lawrence Press.

She is also the author of four chapbooks, including "Amblyopia" (Bull City Press) and "Tropicália" (Newfound), and the winner of the Newfound Prose Prize. 

Her work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Kenyon Review Online, Gulf Coast, Witness, and elsewhere. She was awarded the inaugural WIP Fellowship by Latinx-in-Publishing, sponsored by Macmillan Publishers, and was a finalist for the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing and the Chicago Review of Books Chirby Awards. 

Lima has a Master of Arts in Linguistics from UCLA and an MFA from Rutgers University, Newark. Her voice was praised as “singular and wise” (Cathy Park Hong), and Craft was described as “an absolutely thrilling reminder that short stories can be the best kind of magic” (Kelly Link). 

Originally from Brasilia, Brazil, she lives in Chicago. 

Taylor Brown is a three-time finalist for the Southern Book Prize and has been honored with the prestigious Montana Prize

 in Fiction. He was also the 2021 Georgia Author of the Year.  His books include "Wingwalkers," "Pride of Eden," "Gods of Howl Mountain," "The River Kings," "Fallen Land," and "In the Season of Blood and Gold."

Throughout the semester, Brown hosted readings, participated in discussions with faculty and students, and taught a specialized course centered on Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." 

The intimate classroom setting enabled students to delve into the author's creative process, gain insights into their craft, and witness firsthand the journey from academia to professional creative writing.