Essie Chambers

Essie Chambers is an author and award-winning independent producer. Her bestselling debut novel, Swift River—a Today Show “Read with Jenna” Book Club pick—won the 2024 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize and was named a best book of the year by The Washington Post, NPR, The Boston Globe, Elle, and more. It was also longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award, among others. A former TV executive turned filmmaker, Essie produced the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Descendant, released by the Obamas’ Higher Ground and Netflix. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and has received fellowships from MacDowell, the Vermont Studio Center, and Baldwin for the Arts. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.