Author Ken Liu was born in China in 1976, and his family emigrated to the U.S. when he was 11. 

He has published multiple collections of short stories and an epic series of novels. Several of his works have been made into films , including “Good Hunting,” which was part of the Netflix animated anthology series Love, Death and Robots. He's also known for translating the Chinese sci-fi series known as The Three Body Problem.

Based in the Boston suburbs, Liu visited Central Illinois back in 2024 for a talk at the Champaign Public Library on art and artificial intelligence. That's when we first aired this conversation, in which he talks about trading a traditional job for writing full time, what's unique about Chinese science fiction, and why he's excited for the possibilities of artificial intelligence.

Chibundu Onuzo is a Nigerian author from one of the world’s largest and most vibrant cities. It’s the subject of her first novel, Welcome to Lagos. Plus, Chicago writer Abby Geni has always been in love with the outdoors. But her second novel, The Wildlands, is about nature’s darker side and one Oklahoma family’s struggle to survive.

On the 21st: We talked with the author of a novel about food in the Midwest. Plus, we talked about McDonald's second earnings report that was released yesterday. And, we followed up with the organizer of a community cookout with police in Wichita, Kansas.

Michael Perry is a New York Times Bestselling author, known for his memoirs of growing up in and returning to rural Wisconsin. He is also a humorist, singer/songwriter, radio host, and intermittent pig farmer. Even with all of that he is visiting Champaign-Urbana Saturday as the keynote speaker for the Champaign Library’s Local Author Festival.