October 14 – 20: “Everything in the world is moving at a faster pace – communications, travel, all forms of globalization. Is writing moving faster too?”

It seems everything on this planet is moving at a faster pace: communication, travel, all forms of globalization. Join ITW Members Nina Croft, J. H. Bográn, Laurence O’Bryan and James Ziskin as they discuss the question on everyone’s mind: “Is writing moving faster too?”

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Laurence O’Bryan is the thriller writer you’ve probably never heard of, yet his novels have been translated into ten languages and he’s been short listed for Irish crime writer of the year, as well as winning a writing award in California. Laurence lives in Dublin, travels when needed to get away from the rain and to research the feel and the smell of the cities he writes about. They can’t give you that on Google Street view yet, nor do they cover some of the strange locations he’s written about. Such as deep under Manhattan for his latest novel, The Manhattan Puzzle.

A linguist by training, James Ziskin studied Romance Languages and Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. He worked in New York as a photo-news producer, then as Director of NYU’s Casa Italiana. He spent fifteen years in the Hollywood post production industry, running large international operations in the subtitling/localization and visual effects fields. His international experience includes two years working and studying in France, extensive time in Italy, and more than three years in India. He speaks Italian and French fluently. Habla español. Aur wo thoda Hindi bhi bolta hai.

Nina Croft grew up in the north of England. After training as an accountant, she spent four years working as a volunteer in Zambia which left her with a love of the sun and a dislike of 9-5 work. She then spent a number of years mixing travel (whenever possible) with work (whenever necessary) but has now settled down to a life of writing and picking almonds on a remote farm in the mountains of southern Spain.

J. H. Bográn, born and raised in Honduras, is the son of a journalist. He ironically prefers to write fiction rather than fact. José’s genre of choice is thrillers, but he likes to throw in a twist of romance into the mix. His works include novels and short stories in both English and Spanish. He’s a member of the Short Fiction Writers Guild and the International Thriller Writers where he also serves as the Thriller Roundtable Coordinator and contributor editor their official e-zine THE BIG THRILL.