ROMANCE RETELLINGS

12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
| Location of Session: Festival Room
Adult Sessions

Start of Signing: 1:45 pm
| Signing Location: Festival Marketplace

My Schedule

About the Event

Ah, love… has anyone ever captured it like Shakespeare? His classic tales of romance have seen retellings over the years. Two recent romance novelists, Chloe Liese (Two Wrongs Make a Right) and Priscilla Oliveras (Kiss Me, Catalina) put their own twists on the Bard’s canon. Get ready to swoon!

About the Authors

Chloe Liese

Chloe Liese writes romances reflecting her belief that everyone deserves a love story. Her stories pack a punch of heat, heart, and humor, and often feature characters who are neurodivergent like herself. When not dreaming up her next book, Chloe spends her time wandering in nature, playing soccer, and most happily at home with her family and mischievous cats. She is the author of the bestselling Bergman Brothers series. Her latest novel, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, is called Two Wrongs Make a Right.

Photo Credit: Michael A. Eaddy

Priscilla Oliveras

Priscilla Oliveras is a USA Today bestselling author and 2018 Romance Writers of America RITA double finalist who writes contemporary romance with a Latinx flavor. Proud of her Puerto Rican-Mexican heritage, she strives to bring authenticity to her novels by sharing her Latinx culture with readers. Her books have earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Booklist along with praise from O, The Oprah Magazine, Washington Post, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Frolic, and more. She earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University where she currently serves as adjunct faculty while also teaching the online class “Romance Writing” for ed2go. A long-time romance enthusiast, Priscilla’s also a sports fan, beach lover, and Zumba aficionado, who often practices the art of napping in her backyard hammock.

Moderator

Cynthia Freeman Gibbs

Cynthia Freeman Gibbs is a native of Lansing, Michigan and completed her undergraduate degree and MBA at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, FL. Her writing career began in 2016 after spending twenty-two years in corporate America working in various roles for a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company. Cynthia has written three books which include two in her Dr. Olivia C. Maxwell Novel series: Reasonable Insanity and Insatiable Revenge, and under the pen name C. F. Gibbs, she has written a Twisted Fairy Tale Fantasy: Jack Dante LaBanks and The Beanstalk. She co-authored Writing Is Essential which was published by United Black Writers Association in 2019. Cynthia was commissioned by Musical Bridges Around the World to write and act in a documentary educational film, The Quilt: A Living History of African American Music, set to debut in 2023. Cynthia is married to J Maurice and they reside in San Antonio where she volunteers her time in her church and the community.