Laura Moriarty's most recent book, The Chaperone, is a captivating novel about the woman who chaperoned the irreverent silent film star Louise Brooks to New York City in 1922. She is also the author of three other novels: While I'm Falling, The Rest of Her Life and The Center of Everything. She teaches creative writing at the University of Kansas-Lawrence.

Ira Sukrungruang is a Chicago-born Thai-American writer. He is the coeditor of What Are You Looking At?: The First Fat Fiction Anthology and Scoot Over, Skinny: The Fat Nonfiction Anthology, both published by Harcourt Brace. Many of his essays have been Notables in Best American Essays. Sukrungruang is the author of the memoir Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddhist Boy and currently teaches in the MFA program at the University of South Florida.

Katha Pollitt has published two books of poetry, including The Mind-Body Problem, as well as several essay collections, her most recent being Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories. She is also well known for her award-winning column, "Subject to Debate," in The Nation magazine. Her visit is being promoted jointly with the Department of Women and Gender Studies.

Christopher Kennedy is the author of Ennui Prophet (BOA Editions, Ltd.), Encouragement for a Man Falling to His Death (BOA Editions, Ltd.), Trouble with the Machine (Low Fidelity Press), and Nietzsche's Horse (Mitki/Mitki Press). He is an associate professor of English at Syracuse University, where he directs the MFA program in creative writing.

Art of Fact Award

This reading will be held at 7:30 pm at Temple B'rith Kodesh, 2131 Elmwood Ave., Rochester. The Art of Fact is generously funded by M&T Bank.

Cheryl Strayed is the author of #1 New York Times bestseller Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, published in more than 40 countries. Wild was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as her first selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0 and has been optioned for film by Reese Witherspoon's production company. IndieBound selected Wild as their #1 Indie Next pick for April 2012, and Barnes & Noble named it a "Discover Great New Writers" pick on their summer 2012 list. It is ranked among the best books of 2012 by Goodreads and The Christian Science Monitor.

Strayed is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Tiny Beautiful Things and the novel Torch. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, Allure, Self, The Missouri Review, Brain, Child, Creative Nonfiction, The Sun and elsewhere. Strayed has earned a Pushcart Prize as well as fellowships to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and the Sewanee Writers' Conference. Her essays and stories have been published in The Best American Essays, The Best New American Voices and other anthologies.