About Matthew Klam

Matthew Klam

MATTHEW KLAM is the author of the novel, Who Is Rich?, a New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book, nominated for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and Sam the Cat, winner of the PEN/Robert Bingham Prize for a Debut Short Story Collection, and a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book of the Year, First Fiction. He's a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and a National Endowment of the Arts. His writing has been featured in such places as The New Yorker, Harper's, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, The O' Henry Prize Stories, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction. He's currently a Visiting Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Stony Brook University. Do check out WWW.MatthewKlam.com and here's a link to his New Yorker Christmas Story from 2022... Ihttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/12/19/the-other-party. .

About Jacki Lyden

Jacki Lyden is an author, activist, and former NPR host who has founded numerous workshops in cross-genres. Her 1997 memoir, of "Daughter of the Queen of Sheba,” describes growing up with her mother’s mental illness and its effect on her career. (She still cares for her mother.) The New York Times called it an “instant classic that belongs on the shelf with Angela’s Ashes and “The Liars Club.” She is a member of the National Steering Committee for Writers for Democratic Action, and founder of Wisconsin Writers for Democratic Action, which put on 15 plays out of 100 based on Sinclair Lewis's "It Can't Happen Here." It did, but democracy still needs our help and she believes literature is a terrific answer.She's done workshops in the US and Ireland with Eric Weiner, Nick Flynn, and Alice McDermott, amongst others. She’s at work on a new memoir called “Tell Me Something Good" entwining radio, Marconi (who made Clifden a base) and storytelling. Her forebears emigrated from Clifden, Ireland, her ancestral "hometown." She lives in Wisconsin and Maryland outside DC, with her husband, photographer William O’Leary.

William O'Leary

Photographer William (Bill) O’Leary joined the Washington Post in 1984 and has won numerous awards for his photojournalism, most recently the from the White House News Photographers Assn (2021) and he received the Pulitzer Prize (2022) for his coverage of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. A native of Washington DC, his family emigrated from County Kerry, Ireland. He is the third generation of O’Leary’s in Washington newspapers. He was married to Jacki Lyden in Clifden Ireland in 2004. On Jan. 1, 2024, he stepped down after 40 years at the paper.

Testimonials

Maddie Glist, fiction, 2025

What a blast! Loved it all.. . hanging out, sharing and reading work from such a smart, funny and talented bunch, was special and inspiring. We LARPED, explored narcissism, snails, churches with history, spirit animals, infidelity -- we covered it all! Shout out to Matt and Jacki for keeping us on task and laughing!

Sandy Leong, fiction, 2025

Sharon Bandy, novelist, 2024

The workshop promised a magical brew, and whew! it delivered! Jacki's a woman who knows of what she speaks…in every way. This was “a life-changing experience” as Matt Klam said, I love soaking up the knowledge that comes from diverse experiences of the writing life, and I think Jacki and Matt are absolutely badass, and I’ve learned so much from them.

Sharon Bandy, novelist, 2024

Leeya Mehta, poet and novelist 2023

Sharon Bandy, novelist, 2024

I I made strides in my writing with the help of both Jacki and Alice. The many diverse and supportive voices in the workshop gave me pause to think about my own writing in a different way. Also, my many walks along the wild Atlantic coast gave me much-needed time to reflect.

Leeya Mehta, poet and novelist 2023

Love Comes in at the Eye is a generative space in a remarkable setting- where Yeats honeymooned.Here, Ireland sing. I have been anchored by this workshop professionally and creatively. Its community remains the center of my life. Jacki Lyden seizes life with both her hands and we too live as life is meant to be lived: awake, with creativity and love!