Chris Abani
NYT Bestselling Novelist
Nigerian-born Poet
Elizabeth Acevedo
Performance Poet & Novelist
National Book Award
Diane Ackerman
NYT Bestselling Author
Naturalist, Essayist, Poet
Eula Biss
NYT Bestselling Author
National Book Critics Circle Award
Richard Blanco
Obama's Inaugural Poet
Poetry Education Ambassador
Jericho Brown
Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet MacArthur Genius Award
The Tradition
Kwame Dawes
Ghana-born Jamaican Poet
Novelist and Essayist
Windham Campbell Prize Winner
Bryan Doerries
Author & Translator
Artistic Director: Theater of War Productions
Camille Dungy
Award-winning Poet
Acclaimed Essayist & Critic
Bernardine Evaristo
Award-winning Novelist
Booker Prize Winner
Carolyn Forché
National Book Award Finalist
Memoir: What You Have Heard Is True
Adam Gopnik
Int'l Bestselling Author
New Yorker Staff Writer
Kimiko Hahn
Acclaimed Poet & Teacher
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
New York State Poet 2025-2027
Joy Harjo
US Poet Laureate (2019-22)
NBCC Lifetime Achievement Award
Memoirs: Crazy Brave, Poet Warrior
Terrance Hayes
MacArthur "Genius" Award
National Book Award
Juan Felipe Herrera
US Poet Laureate (2015-17)
Performer & Activist
Major Jackson
Acclaimed Author
Former Host of The Slowdown
Roll Deep
Taylor Mali
Performance Poet
What Teachers Make
Hisham Matar
Pulitzer Prize-winning Nonfiction Author
PEN America Jean Stein Book Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
Eileen Myles
Acclaimed Poet and Critic
Lambda Pioneer Award
Aimee Nezhukumatathil
NYT Bestselling Nature Writer
Acclaimed Poet
Sought-after School Speaker
Pádraig Ó Tuama
Acclaimed Irish Poet
Podcast Host: Poetry Unbound
Claudia Rankine
NYT Bestselling Author
NBCCA & Forward Prize
MacArthur Genius Award
George Saunders
NYT Bestselling Writer
Booker Prize Winner
Danté Stewart
Acclaimed Memoirist
Belonging & Religion
Nafissa Thompson-Spires
Award-winning Fiction Author
PEN Open Book Award
National Book Award Longlist
Whiting Award Winner
Natasha Trethewey
US Poet Laureate (2012-2014)
Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet
Frank B. Wilderson III
Award-winning Author
Poet, Scholar, Activist
Karen Tei Yamashita
Award-winning Author
Lifetime Achievement Award
Inheritance: Familial, Cultural, Artistic