Category: Podcasting Guest

Mur Lafferty

April 4, 2026 / ravenchair

Mur Lafferty is an author.
Mur Lafferty is an editor.
Mur Lafferty is a podcaster.

Mur Lafferty podcasts about writing and writes about podcasting. She co-edits Escape Pod, a podcast with fiction. By writers.

She also writes about murders in space, zombies, Minecraft, and Han Solo. Her writing and podcasting have resulted in numerous award nominations and wins, such as the Best Semiprozine Hugo for Escape Pod, Best Novel Hugo and Nebula, Best Fancast Hugo, the Astounding Award for Best New Writer and was an inaugural inductee into the Podcast Academy Hall of Fame. Her books have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal, and have been praised by Buzzfeed, CNET, NPR, among many others.

She lives in Durham with her family.

Day Al-Mohamed

April 3, 2026 / ravenchair

Day Al-Mohamed is a multi-sectoral policy executive, award-winning filmmaker, and fantasy author. She has a decades-long policy career with a focus on marginalized and underrepresented populations. A former White House Director of Disability Policy, Day also designed and led the Department of Labor’s “Add Us In” initiative to increase hiring in minority communities by partnering with local chambers of commerce. She had an active role in passage of the Affordable Care Act and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act; and before her time in Washington DC, worked at the United Nations. Currently a Senior Policy Advisor with the Federal government, Day has a proven ability to translate policy into public trust; aligning vision, systems, and culture to influence both political will and cultural narratives for positive impact.

As a creative, Day is a regular host on Idobi Radio’s pop-culture show Geek Girl Riot with an audience of 100,000 listeners, and creator of the American Masters/PBS series Renegades. The Invalid Corps, her PBS film about disabled Civil War veterans, was her first documentary as a blind filmmaker. She was a producer on 2024 Independent Spirit Award-winner unseen and is co-founder of FWD-Doc (Documentary Filmmakers with Disabilities). Day has written two novels, Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, and The Labyrinth’s Archivist as well as multiple short stories and essays. Most recently, her short story, “The Devil in the Belfry-Redux,” featured in the Nevermore anthology, was recognized on Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of 2024 Recommended Reading list. She lives in Washington DC with her wife, NR Brown, daughter “Baby Dragon”, and guide dog.

Visit her online at DayAlMohamed.com.

John Dondero

March 30, 2026 / ravenchair

John Dondero is a certified Jack of all trades. He started out as a filmmaker and special effects editor building both digital and practical effects. He has won many awards for both filmmaking and editing. When COVID hit he switched gears and became an affiliated Twitch streamer and podcaster. He did several podcasts, including the podcast Dinks Wit Kinks, that discuss the psychology of kink. Being ever the neurodivergent he switched gears once again to become a makerspace librarian, teaching kids and adults how to code, 3d print and just, well, be a geek by building movie props and cosplays.

J.S. Furlong

March 29, 2026 / ravenchair

J.S. (Jen Selby) Furlong is a frequent writer’s conference/book festival guest and speaker as well as a professional actor. She’s the founder of both the growing, girl-powered indie house Masterful Person Company Publishing (Abante Press, Sprouts Books, Long River Press, WiseLife Books, Spyglass Press) and The Wandering Wordsmith Book Shop. She’s a graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, RADA at Oxford University, and The University of Mary Washington (BLS). She’s a member of SCBWI, Authors Against Book Bans, Actor’s Equity Association, and SAG-AFTRA and the host of the Author-to Author podcast.

Current titles include the YA suspense series The Unimaginables (Hidden City (BookFest Gold Medal, Indie Excellence Award Nominee), Tattooed Angel (Young Adult Virginia Award librarian nominee 2025) and Magick Squared); the middle-grade series Meredith’s World (Meredith at the Met and Meredith for Congress); the picture book Mrs. Cheesely Loves Cheese; the LARP guide Antagonists (Mind’s Eye Theatre/Vampire: The Masquerade); and live circus-theater writing (Hats, The Mysterious Staircase, and Circus of Night—co-authored with Neil Gaiman).

Jen lives in Virginia with six goats, five chickens, four teenagers, three cats, two dogs, and her husband. Fun fact: Jen once played a small, but pivotal role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Morgan Hazelwood

March 29, 2026 / ravenchair

Morgan Hazelwood writes from her lair in Northern Virginia. She’s been sharing Writing Tips & Writerly Musings since 2015, first as a blogger, then as a streamer and podcaster as well. With nine fully drafted manuscripts and a stack of rejection letters, she does have one published short story, “Just a Hike In The Woods” by the Dark Recesses Webzine in January of 2022. When not writing, you can find her devouring book series on her kindle, learning to scroll saw, or feeding her webcomic addiction. She is also a volunteer for local writing conventions and was a voice actor for Anansi Storytelling—a fairytale audio drama podcast.

Cass Morris

March 22, 2026 / ravenchair

Cass Morris lives her life at the intersection of storytelling, performance, and education as a writer and editor of novels, short fiction, and immersive experiences. Her novels, The Aven Cycle, are Roman-flavored historical fantasy. She is also one-third of the team behind the five-time Hugo Award Finalist podcast Worldbuilding for Masochists. Cass works as Story Editor at Mythik Camps, providing writing and developmental editing for the mythology-themed summer camps’ interactive theatrical experiences, as well as other programming and media projects, including writing and performing the family-friendly Myths and Muses podcast. Previously, she worked in the education department at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA and has taught English at Reynolds Community College. She holds a Master of Letters in Shakespeare studies from Mary Baldwin University and a BA in English and History from the College of William and Mary. Find her online at linktr.ee/cassrmorris.

Meg Nicholas

March 22, 2026 / ravenchair

Meg Nicholas is a folklorist and storyteller of mixed Munsee-Delaware and Welsh heritage. She holds an MA in Public Sector Folklore and a BA in history from George Mason University. She currently serves as a Folklife Specialist at the American Folklife Center, in the Library of Congress, where she contributes wisdom on the stewardship and presentation of Indigenous culture within the Center’s archival collections and public programs. She is the producer of the Center’s Community Collections subseries of the Folklife Today podcast. She is also a regular writer on the Folklife Today blog, covering topics as varied as cryptids, foodways, puppetry, and the intersection of science, history and folklife.

Chad Ownby

March 22, 2026 / ravenchair

Chad Ownby is a theater teacher, podcaster, and film scholar from Richmond, VA. He finds love in analyzing and discussing films, TV, acting performances, and many various fandoms. Last year at RavenCon, he gave a presentation on his master’s thesis, “Anyone Can Be Batman: A Case Study on the Evolution of Batman in Film.”