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A moving exploration of American stories earned Susan Orlean a reputation as one of our most distinctive journalistic voices. A staff writer for The New Yorker for over twenty years, Orlean is “fascinated by tales of every stripe,” from Rin Tin Tin, to The Orchid Thief, to her latest award-winning, bestseller The Library Book, an exploration of the history, power and future of these endangered institutions.

A New York Times bestseller of novels and poetry for young adult and middle grade audiences, Jason Reynolds’s most recent book, Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks, was a National Book Award finalist, and named one of the best books of 2019 by NPR and The New York Times. His collaboration with author and historian Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, on the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You helps young readers understand race and society.

Born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, Yaa Gyasi is the author of the highly acclaimed novel Homegoing and a recipient of the PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Novel. Gyasi’s stunning follow-up novel, Transcendent Kingdom, is a powerful, raw, intimate, deeply layered novel about salvation, family progress and the immigrant experience. Transcendent Kingdom was an instant New York Times bestseller.

Dr. Glaude is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton. His works examine the difficulties of race in America, combining history, philosophy, religion, and a passion for social justice. His most recent book, Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, acknowledges Baldwin’s inspiration, instruction, and guidance on matters of race.

Beginning with her first book, Metropolitan Life in 1978, Fran Lebowitz has emerged as one of our more acerbic social critics. Her witty and pointed observations about such diverse topics as New York City tourists, art, and politics led The New York Times Book Review to call her an “important humorist in the classic tradition.” Most recently she appears in the documentary “Pretend It’s a City,” with Martin Scorsese, exploring her stories, interviews, and love of New York.

Ocean Vuong is a Vietnamese-American poet, essayist, and novelist. His first collection of poetry, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, won the T.S. Eliot Prize, the first of many awards his poetry has received. He was also awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2019. Vuong’s most recent work, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to his mother which deals with the immigrant experience, the aftermath of war, and the importance of language.