A Philosophy of Thieves Author Event

Join us September 30, 2025 at 7pm for a conversation about A Philosophy of Thieves with author Fran Wilde, in conversation with Venessa Vida Kelley, author of When the Tides Held the Moon. 

About the Book 

The Canarviers are the premier performance thieves in New Washington, blending astonishing acrobatics, clever misdirection, and daring escapes to entertain their rich patrons. As King Canarvier has always told his children, their work is art. Who else could titillate audiences with illicit history lessons and tease them through the gaps in their much-prized security?

Now that they’re adults, King’s children feel their divisions more than their bonds. Roosa attends an exclusive finishing university, blending in so well she’s unsure where she belongs. Her brother Dax craves a chance to prove himself, stifling under his father’s caution.

Then King disappears.

With only days to buy mercy before their father is lost forever, Roo and Dax must compete in a high-stakes Grand Heist, pushing down their resentments to work together. Against a technocrat wagering more than he can lose, a security chief with a taste for pain, and a society beauty with secrets of her own, any misstep promises catastrophic ruin.

But Canarviers are artists. And they perform best when the pressure is on . . .

About the Author

Fran Wilde is a Compton Crook Award and two-time Nebula Award-winning author whose novels and short stories have been finalists for six Nebula Awards, a World Fantasy Award, four Hugo Awards, three Locus Awards, and a Lodestar. She teaches for the Genre Fiction MFA concentration at Western Colorado University and the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She also writes nonfiction for publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Tor.com. She lives outside Washington DC and can be found online at franwilde.net.

About the Conversation Partner 

Venessa Vida Kelley is a Nuyorican writer, illustrator and sequential artist. Their work focuses on magical realism, fantasy, and romance in a culturally diverse world, and has been featured in Discovery Girls Magazine, Buzzfeed, and in board games and activism campaigns for Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, creator of the La Borinqueña comic series. They hold a BA and MA in English Literature with concentrations in film from the University of Delaware and George Washington University. They live in Washington, DC with their spouse and two sons, and can be found online at VenessaKelley.com.