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