Alice Hoffman is an acclaimed American novelist born in New York City and raised on Long Island. A graduate of Adelphi University and Stanford University’s Creative Writing Center, she has published more than thirty novels, three short-story collections, and eight books for children and young adults. She also holds a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School and is a fellow there. Hoffman lives outside Boston.

Known for blending literary fiction with themes of magic, history, family, and resilience, Hoffman is the author of bestselling novels including Practical Magic, The Dovekeepers, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, The Marriage of Opposites, The Rules of Magic, The Invisible Hour, and When We Flew Away. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages, adapted for film and television, and recognized by major publications and literary figures, including Toni Morrison, who called The Dovekeepers “a major contribution to twenty-first century literature.”

Barbara Hoffert was the literary fiction, poetry, and Prepub Alert editor at Library Journal for 37 years and after retirement is continuing to work as a poetry reviewer and annual previews contributor for the magazine. She served as the president, awards chair, and treasurer of the National Book Critics Circle, which awarded her its inaugural service award. She has been interviewing authors at Greenwich Library for the past six years and thoroughly enjoys it.