United for Libraries to livestream free Gala Author Tea, sponsored by ReferenceUSA, during Virtual Event

EXTON, Pennsylvania —  Dantiel Moniz, Sarah Penner, M.O. Walsh, Syed M. Masood, and Rumaan Alam will be featured authors at the United for Libraries Virtual Gala Author Tea, sponsored by ReferenceUSA, from 6-7 p.m. ET on Thurs., August. 6th during the first-ever United for Libraries Virtual Event.

This event is a free program that will be livestreamed on the United for Libraries Facebook page. Barbara Hoffert, editor of Library Journal’s Prepub Alert, will moderate. Attendees are invited to enjoy their beverage of choice while hearing authors discuss their writing lives and forthcoming books. In lieu of a fee to view this event, United is encouraging attendees to donate to their local Friends group or library Foundation.

Dantiel Moniz (“Milk Blood Heat,” Ingram) is the recipient of the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction, the Cecelia Joyce Johnson Emerging Writer Award by the Key West Literary Seminars, and a Tin House Scholarship. Her fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in The Paris Review, Tin House, Ploughshares, The Yale Review, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and elsewhere. “Milk Blood Heat” is her first book. She lives in Northeast Florida.

Sarah Penner (“The Lost Apothecary,” Park Row Books/Harlequin) is the debut author of “The Lost Apothecary,” forthcoming in March 2021. This title will be available in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., and it will be translated in eleven territories worldwide including Czech Republic, Holland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Mexico, Slovakia, and Sweden. Sarah works full-time in finance with a Big Four accounting firm, and resides with her husband in St. Petersburg, Florida.

M.O. Walsh’s (“The Big Door Prize,” G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Random House) writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Oxford American, The Southern Review, and Best New American Voices, among others. His novel “My Sunshine Away” was a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize. He is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Mississippi and currently directs the Creative Writing Workshop at the University of New Orleans.

Syed M. Masood (“The Bad Muslim Discount,” Doubleday/Penguin Random House) is the author of the Young Adult novel “More than Just a Pretty Face.” He attended the William and Mary School of Law and, before that, studied English Literature at the University of Toronto. He is currently practicing as an attorney. He was born in Pakistan and currently lives in Sacramento, California.

Rumaan Alam (“Leave the World Behind,” Ecco/HarperCollins) is the author of “Rich and Pretty,” “That Kind of Mother,” and “Leave the World Behind.” Other writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, and The New Republic, where he is a contributing editor. He is the co-host of two podcasts for Slate. He studied writing at Oberlin College and resides in New York with his husband and two kids.

The Gala Author Tea, sponsored by ReferenceUSA, has been held at ALA Midwinter Meetings and Annual Conferences for more than a decade. United for Libraries is pleased to present this virtual event thanks to ReferenceUSA sponsorship and the support of Harlequin, HarperCollins, Ingram, and Penguin Random House.

For more information on other events and meetings at the United for Libraries Virtual Event, visit To view the schedule, visit

United for Libraries: The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, is a division of the American Library Association with approximately 4,000 personal and group members representing hundreds of thousands of library supporters. United for Libraries supports those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries, and brings together library trustees, advocates, friends, and foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. To join, please visit www.ala.org/united or call (800) 545-2433, ext. 2161.