Sonora Jha is the author of three books, most recently the novel The Laughter (2023), which was named a Best Book of 2023 by the New Yorker and NPR, amongst others. It was longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize and won the AutHer Award for Best Fiction. Her...
Literary Conversation Guest
Jonathan Escoffery
Jonathan Escoffery is the recipient of the 2020 Plimpton Prize for Fiction, a 2020 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and the 2020 ASME Award for Fiction. His fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, American Short Fiction, Prairie Schooner, AGNI,...
Sarah Thankam Mathews
Sarah Thankam Mathews grew up between Oman and India, immigrating to the United States at seventeen. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Asian American Writers Workshop and the Iowa Writers Workshop. All This Could Be Different is her first novel.
Angie Cruz
Angie Cruz is the author of the novels How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water, Soledad, Let It Rain Coffee, and Dominicana, which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize and a Good Morning America Book Club pick. She is founder and editor in chief of Aster(ix), a literary...
Glory Edim
Glory Edim is the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a podcast and digital platform that celebrates the uniqueness of Black literature and sisterhood. She edited the Well-Read Black Girl anthology in 2018, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award and named a best...
Nic Stone
Nic Stone is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin, the novel that launched her career in 2017 and encourages readers of all ages to examine the biases in their own lives and to have honest discussions about race in today’s world. Nic’s mission is...
Toni Jensen
Toni Jensen is the author of Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize and a New York Times Editors’ Choice book (Ballantine 2020). An NEA Creative Writing Fellowship recipient in 2020, Jensen's essays have appeared in Orion,...
Jennifer Clement
Jennifer Clement is President Emerita of PEN International and the only woman to hold the office of President (2015-2021) since the organization was founded in 1921. Under her leadership the groundbreaking PEN International Women’s Manifesto and The Democracy of the...
Leni Zumas
Leni Zumas was a finalist for the 2021 John Dos Passos Prize for Literature. Her bestselling novel Red Clocks won the Oregon Book Award and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Neukom Award for Speculative Fiction. She lives in Oregon and...
Joanne Ramos
Joanne Ramos was born in the Philippines and moved to Wisconsin when she was six. She graduated with a B.A. from Princeton University. After working in investment banking and private-equity investing, she became a staff writer at The Economist. She currently serves on...
R.O. Kwon
R.O. Kwon’s nationally bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries, is being translated into seven languages and was named a best book of the year by over forty publications. The Incendiaries was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Award and the...
Danez Smith
Danez Smith is a Black, Queer, Poz writer & performer from St. Paul, MN. Danez is the author of "Don’t Call Us Dead" (Graywolf Press, 2017), winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Midwest Booksellers Choice Award, and a finalist for the National Book...
Nate Marshall
Nate Marshall is the author and editor of numerous works including Finna, Wild Hundreds, The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, and the audio drama Bruh Rabbit & The Fantastic Telling of Remington Ellis Esq. He teaches creative writing and...
Olivia Gatwood
Olivia Gatwood has received international recognition for her poetry, writing workshops, and work as a Title IX Compliant educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she now lives in Los Angeles. Olivia is the author of...
Fatimah Asghar
Fatimah Asghar is a writer and filmmaker. In 2011 she created a spoken word poetry group in Bosnia and Herzegovina while on a Fulbright studying theater in post-genocidal countries. She is the writer and co-creator of Brown Girls, an Emmy-Nominated web series. A Ruth...
Torrey Peters
Torrey Peters is the author of the bestselling novel Detransition, Baby (Random House, 2021), which was a finalist for the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for the John Leonard Prize, longlisted for the Women’s Prize, and was a Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club...
Neon Yang
Neon Yang is the author of the Tensorate series of novellas from Tor.Com Publishing (The Red Threads of Fortune, The Black Tides of Heaven, The Descent of Monsters and The Ascent to Godhood). Their work has been shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula, Lambda Literary and...
Zeyn Joukhadar
Zeyn Joukhadar is the author of The Thirty Names of Night, which won the Lambda Literary Award and the Stonewall Book Award, and The Map of Salt and Stars, which won the Middle East Book Award and was a Goodreads Choice Awards and Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize...
Louise Erdrich
Louise Erdrich
Cherie Jones
Cherie Jones
Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Kali Fajardo-Anstine
Tommy Orange
Tommy Orange
Mateo Askaripour
Mateo Askaripour
Kevin Kwan
Kevin Kwan
Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo
Rebecca Makkai
Rebecca Makkai
Nnedi Okorafor
Nnedi Okorafor
Jenny Offill
Jenny Offill
T.C. Boyle
T.C. Boyle
Souvankham Thammavongsa
Souvankham Thammavongsa
Abdi Nor Iftin
Abdi Nor Iftin
Aleksandar Hemon
Aleksandar Hemon
Airea D. Matthews
Airea D. Matthews
N.K. Jemisin
N.K. Jemisin
Tananarive Due
Tananarive Due
Jennifer Clement
Jennifer Clement
Luis Alberto Urrea
Luis Alberto Urrea
Susan Muaddi Darraj
Susan Muaddi Darraj
Osama Alomar
Osama Alomar
Laila Halaby
Laila Halaby
Mark Z. Danielewski
Mark Z. Danielewski
Brian Evenson
Brian Evenson
Dan Chaon
Dan Chaon
Ebony Flowers
Ebony Flowers
Gene Luen Yang
Gene Luen Yang
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez
Douglas Stuart
Douglas Stuart
Min Jin Lee
Min Jin Lee
Russell Hornsby
Russell Hornsby
Angie Thomas
Angie Thomas
Reginald Dwayne Betts
Reginald Dwayne Betts
DaMaris B. Hill, PhD
DaMaris B. Hill, PhD
Luis J. Rodriguez
Luis J. Rodriguez
Carmen Maria Machado
Carmen Maria Machado
Kelly Link
Kelly Link
Lesley Nneka Arimah
Lesley Nneka Arimah
Esmé Weijun Wang
Esmé Weijun Wang
Zack McDermott
Zack McDermott
Morgan Jerkins
Morgan Jenkins, Author
Nisi Shawl
Nisi Shawl, Author
Rion Amilcar Scott
Rion Amilcar Scott, Author
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood, Author
Stephen King
Stephen King, Author
Emma Donoghue
Emma Donoghue, Author
Lauren Beukes
Lauren Beukes, Author
Caroline Kepnes
Caroline Kepnes, Author
Penn Badgley
Penn Badgley stars as Joe Goldberg in Netflix’s thriller series, "YOU," based on Caroline Kepnes’ best-selling novel of the same name. Badgley was last seen on the big screen in "Greetings" from Tim Buckley, for which he won the highly sought-after role to star as...
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