“I talk all the time about how much I read growing up and how much I love Stephen King and how he impacted my work from a genre perspective, but Pat Conroy wrote some of the most magnificent stories about characters who had to deal with dysfunctional families and try to find a place of honor in their own world and the pain of loss.”

American television producer, writer and director

Julie Plec is an American television producer, writer, and director, best known for her work on The CW series The Vampire Diaries, which she co-created with Kevin Williamson. Her career is closely tied to television drama, especially the supernatural series that followed it. She also developed the limited series Containment and helped shape the franchise that grew out of The Vampire Diaries, including The Originals and Legacies. Her work is associated with serialized storytelling for young adult audiences, with a focus on supernatural fiction and the relationships at the center of those shows.