Xitlalic Guijosa (she/her) is a poet, writer, printmaker and community organizer from Southeast Los Angeles. For the past 10 years she’s been part of Alivio open mic and SELA Arts Festival. Her work has been published in different literary magazines, zines and anthologies. Currently she has been on the journey of teaching surrounding communities about…
Lara Aburamadan is a Palestinian visual artist, journalist and founder of Refugee Eye. Born and raised in Gaza City, now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she tends to embrace the human perspective through visual storytelling. Her photographs and writings have been published in Time Magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, VICE, San Francisco…
André Aciman was born in Alexandria, Egypt and is an American memoirist, essayist, novelist, and scholar. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Call Me by Your Name and Find Me as well as of Out of Egypt. His new memoir, My Roman Year, was released in October 2024, his three novellas titled…
Samina Ali is an award-winning author, curator, and popular speaker. Her debut novel, Madras on a Rainy Day won France’s prestigious Prix Premier Roman Etranger and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Samina’s viral TEDx talk “What Does the Qur’an Really Say About Muslim Women’s Hijab” and her global exhibition Muslima: Muslim Women’s Art…
Rana Ayyub is an Indian investigative journalist and a global opinions writer at the Washington Post. She has worked as a reporter, Editor and columnist with some of the leading publications in India and internationally. Her pieces appear in the Time, New York Times, Guardian, Atlantic and Foreign Policy and she has been profiled for…
Negina Azimi, is an Afghan visual artist whose journey began on the streets and walls of Kabul as a member of ArtLords, a grassroots collective that used art as a tool for social change and peaceful resistance. Her murals transformed the blast walls of the city into vibrant messages of hope, justice, and healing—challenging extremism…
Cece Bell is the author and illustrator of the autobiographical graphic novel, El Deafo, which chronicles her childhood experiences with hearing loss. It received a Newbery Medal, an Eisner Award, and a Cybils Award and was adapted as a three-episode series for Apple TV+. Other titles include Bee-Wigged and I Yam a Donkey!, along with…
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University. She writes about fascism, authoritarianism, and propaganda— and the threats these present to democracies around the world. She is the author or editor of seven books, including Fascist Modernities and Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema, which explore the appeal of strongmen to collaborators and followers, how…
Aaliyah Bilal was born and raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland. She has degrees from Oberlin College and the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies. She has published stories and essays with The Michigan Quarterly Review and The Rumpus. Temple Folk, her debut short story collection, was shortlisted for the 2023 National…
Kate Bornstein is an author, playwright, performance artist, and actress. Kate is a trans icon whose pioneering books on the subject of nonbinary gender, Gender Outlaw and My Gender Workbook are taught in six languages, at hundreds of colleges. Kate’s 2006 book, Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws…
Carmen Boullosa (Mexico City, 1954) is the author of nineteen novels (The Book of Eve, and Texas: The Great Theft translated by Samantha Schnee, Before, translated by Peter Bush), collections of poetry (Hatchet, translated by Lawrence Schimmel), plays and essays. She has collaborated with visual artists and has done herself artists books since the late…
Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of eighteen books, is the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard College of Columbia University. She serves on the Board of Trustees of PEN America, the nonprofit advocating for authors, readers, and freedom of expression. From 2011 to 2018 she served on the Board of Directors of GLAAD; she…
Carlyle Brown is a playwright/performer, curator and artistic director of Carlyle Brown & Company based in Minneapolis. His plays have been produced at theatres across the country and internationally. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists and a Lifetime Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center. He has received numerous commissions, fellowships and awards including 2006…
Ipek S. Burnett, PhD, is a Turkish-American author and scholar who offers a psychological lens on social, cultural, and political issues. She is the author of A Jungian Inquiry into the American Psyche: The Violence of Innocence (2020) and the editor of Re-Visioning the American Psyche: Jungian, Archetypal, and Mythological Reflections (2024). Her forthcoming book,…
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara (b. 1968) is an Argentine writer who has worked at varied jobs, from selling car insurance in the street to cultural journalism. She is the author of the novels Slum Virgin, Romance of the Blonde Brunette, and The Adventures of China Iron, which was shortlisted for the International Booker and Médicis prizes.…