Best-selling author Edan Lepucki returns to American River College for SummerWords 2017.

Lepucki was plucked from obscurity when Sherman Alexie promoted her debut novel “California” on an episode of the Colbert Report, and Stephen Colbert demanded his viewers buy her book to send a message to Amazon over the e-commerce giant’s refusal to pre-order titles from Hachette.

Edan Lepucki’s newest book “Woman No. 17” explores a web of complex relationships in a story about a Los Angeles family and their new nanny. Every character is keeping a secret and struggling to discover their true selves in contemporary Los Angeles.

Lepucki will be teaching two workshops for aspiring authors for SummerWords 2017 at American River College. She’ll be featured on a panel Friday afternoon along with Jodi Angel and Kirsten Chen in a discussion about creating compelling characters.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, SummerWords organizer Christian Kiefer will host a seminar with Lepucki on the Anatomy of a Scene.

The public is invited to attend a reading at the American River College main theatre on Saturday from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. where Lepucki will speak, along with poet Jericho Brown and author Angela Morales.