Keynotes – DFWCon 2026

Katherine Center

Keynote Speaker - Saturday, October 3

BookPage calls Katherine Center “the reigning queen of comfort reads.” She’s The New York Times bestselling author of over half a dozen books, including How to Walk Away, Things You Save in a Fire, and What You Wish For. Her latest, The Shippers, was released on May 19, 2026.

She’s been compared to Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and The Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Her books have made countless Best-Of lists, including Real Simple Best Books of 2020, Amazon’s Top 100 Books of 2019, Goodreads Best Books of the Year, and many more.

Bestselling author, Emily Henry, calls her 2022 book (and upcoming movie), The Bodyguard, “a shot of pure joy.” The movie adaptation of Katherine’s novel The Lost Husband hit #1 on Netflix, and her novel Happiness for Beginners is now a Netflix original movie starring Ellie Kemper.

Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband, two kids, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.

Natalie Sue

Keynote Speaker - Sunday, October 4

Natalie Sue is the Canadian internationally bestselling and award-winning author of her debut novel, I Hope This Finds You Well. She is of Iranian and British descent.

Her latest book, You’ll Love It Here, was released August 11, 2026.

I Hope This Finds You Well was the winner of the 2025 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour and the Alberta Literary Award for Fiction, and was a finalist for the Amazon Canada First Novel Award.

When she’s not writing, she enjoys bingeing great and terrible TV, attempting pottery, and procuring houseplants. She lives in Calgary with her husband, daughter, and dog.

About The Moderator

Natalie Sue’s featured session will be a Q&A conversation with Rebecca Seifert, an author living in Dallas, Texas, and the 2026 DFW Writers’ Conference Director.