Between the Pages of WELL READ Magazine

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Parul Kapur.
Parul Kapur is a novelist, journalist, and literary critic. Her short fiction centers on the aftermath of colonialism in India and the lives of Indian immigrants. Her stories have appeared in Ploughshares, Pleiades, Wascana Review, Prime Number, Midway Journal, and the anthology {Ex}tinguished & {Ex}tinct. As a journalist and critic, she has written for The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, ARTnews, Art in America, Guernica, Slate, Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Paris Review.  Inside the Mirror, which is inspired by her encounters with art world figures in Bombay, won the AWP Prize for the Novel and was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Parul was recently named Georgia Author of the Year for First Novel by the Georgia Writers Association.
WELL READ MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2025 ISSUE NO. 38 www.wellreadmagazine.com

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Lo Patrick.
Lo Patrick is a former lawyer and current novelist living in the suburbs of Atlanta. Her debut, The Floating Girls, earned a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, was a finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction, and was a Reader’s Digest Editor’s Pick. It was named by the Georgia Center for the Book, a book all Georgians should read. She is also the author of The Night the River Wept. Her latest novel, Fast Boys and Pretty Girls was published July 8, 2025.
WELL READ MAGAZINE AUGUST 2025 ISSUE NO. 37 www.wellreadmagazine.com

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Andie Burke & Lindsay Hameroff.
Andie Burke writes romantic comedies in between her pediatric RN shifts. She lives in Maryland with an alarming number of books, ultra-fine point pens, dehydrated houseplants, and two small humans. Her debut Fly with Me was listed as one of POPSUGAR’s Best Romance Books of 2023 and AUTOSTRADDLE’s Best Queer Books of the Year. Her latest book is Fall for Him and came out in Fall of last year. Andie has another book coming out this fall With Stars in Her Eyes.
Lindsay Hameroff is the author of Till There Was You, Never Planned on You, and other love stories that make you laugh and swoon in equal measure. Her books have been listed as most anticipated by The Nerd Daily, Zibby Magazine, and other outlets, and her debut novel was selected as one of New York Public Library's "Best New Romance Books." A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she now lives in Harrisburg, PA with her husband and two kids. If she's not writing, reading, or cleaning up cat hair, she's probably at the grocery store.
WELL READ MAGAZINE JULY 2025 ISSUE NO. 36 www.wellreadmagazine.com

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Flannery Buchanan.
Flannery Buchanan moved to Crozet with her family in 2018 from the Chicago area. She was trained and worked briefly as a school librarian until she began having children and then she stayed home for 15 years raising her four kids. When Flannery was ready to go back to work, she opened Bluebird Bookstop out of a vintage trailer and took it around to vineyards, festivals, coffee shops, anywhere that had people gathering. It was a way for her to test the market without too much overhead. Eventually it became clear that Crozet would support a brick and mortar so Flannery partnered with her friend Chelsea, who had a background in apparel and they opened Bluebird & Company.
WELL READ MAGAZINE JUNE 2025 ISSUE NO. 35 www.wellreadmagazine.com

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Valerie Nieman  
Valerie Nieman is the author of novels and short story and poetry collections. Her novel In the Lonely Backwater won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award and was a Foreword Indies Book of the Year finalist. Her critically acclaimed work includes To the Bones and Blood Clay. She has held a National Endowment for the Arts creative writing fellowship. She is a professor emerita at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. She is also a former journalist.

Robert Gwaltney & Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Jeffrey Blount
Jeffrey Blount is the award-winning author of four novels. Almost Snow White, winner of the 2013 USA Best Book Awards, Hating Heidi Foster, winner of the 2013 Readers Favorite Book Award for young adult literature, The Emancipation of Evan Walls, winner of the 2020 National Indie Excellence Award for African American fiction and other awards, and Jeffrey's latest novel is Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way, winner of the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for African American Fiction.
He is also an Emmy award-winning television director and a 2016 inductee to the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. During a 34-year career at NBC News, Jeffrey directed a decade of Meet the Press, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and major special events.
He was also a contributor for HuffPost and has been published in The Washington Post and other publications, commenting on issues of race, social justice and writing.

Robert Gwaltney and Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Emily Carpenter
Emily Carpenter is the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of suspense novels, Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, The Weight of Lies, and Every Single Secret. After graduating from Auburn with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication, she moved to New York City. She’s worked as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for the CBS shows, As the World Turns and Guiding Light. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her family. 
 
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Robert Gwaltney and Jeffrey Dale Lofton introduce Shastri Akella
Shastri Akella’s debut novel, The Sea Elephants, was published by Flatiron Books in the USA and Canada and by Penguin in India. He was a writing resident at the Fine Arts Works Center and the Oak Springs Garden Foundation. He is the winner of the 2022 FracturedLit Flash Fiction Contest and the 2023 Best Microfiction Contest. His writing has appeared in Guernica, Fairy Tale Review, CRAFT, The Masters Review, Electric Literature, World Literature Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Most recently, his story The Magic Bangle was included in The Best American Short Stories 2024, which was edited by Lauren Groff. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing and PhD. in Comparative Literature at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He’s currently an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Michigan State University.
 
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Robert Gwaltney and Jeffrey Dale Lofton interview The Biscuit Queen!
Mary Martha Greene is a South Carolina native and government relations consultant who perfected her entertaining skills for making friends and engaging clients during her forty-year career. She divides her time between Beaufort and Columbia, SC. She is the author of the bestselling book, The Cheese Biscuit Queen Tells All and the sequel, The Cheese Biscuit Queen, Kiss My Aspic!: Southern Recipes, Saucy Stories, and More Rambunctious Behavior.
 
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Robert Gwaltney and Jeffrey Dale Lofton interview Kalela Williams Kalela Williams is an author, a proud auntie, a cat mama, and a "Black History Maven." She is the Director of the Virginia Center for the Book and directs the Virginia Festival of the Book and other events. She has created and produced literary events for the Philadelphia library system, a youth writing non-profit, a university poetry center, and other institutions. Kalela grew up in Atlanta, but now she calls the cute, artsy town of Staunton, Virginia home, where she and her partner run a community arts organization, The Off Center. Her debut novel Tangleroot is an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce and an Indie Next Pick, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and one of Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2024.
#betweenthepagespodcast #robertgwaltney #jeffreydalelofton #kalelawilliams #insidevoices #wellreadmagazine #books #reading #bookrecs #review #reader #writingcommunity #author #booklover www.wellreadmagazine.com