Speakers

  • A woman with short, dark hair wearing a dark gray sweater stands against a bright yellow-green background, looking confidently at the camera.

    Atossa Araxia Abrahamian

    Atossa Araxia Abrahamian is an independent journalist who writes about the cracks in the nation-state system. An editor for Now, Voyager magazine, she has worked as an…

    More

  • A person with long dark hair and bold pink makeup wears a pale yellow lace-trimmed top, posing against a bright pink background.

    Benedict Nguyễn

    Benedict Nguyễn is a dancer, writer, and creative producer. She appeared in the short film “Don’t F*ck with Bà” (2024, dir. Sally Tran) and has collaborated on…

    More

  • A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a maroon collared jacket, smiles at the camera against a solid blue background.

    Bénédicte Savoy

    Bénédicte Savoy is professor of modern art history at Technische Universität Berlin. From 2016 to 2021, she also held a chair at the Collège de France, focusing…

    More

  • A woman with wavy blonde hair and large glasses is wearing a red patterned top and layered necklaces, standing in front of a solid purple background.

    Bess Wohl

    Bess Wohl is a playwright whose latest play, Liberation, recently completed a critically acclaimed run on Broadway. Her other plays include Barcelona (West End), Grand Horizons (Broadway,…

    More

  • A woman with long black hair, wearing a white top with black trim and gold tassel earrings, smiles at the camera against a bright yellow-green background.

    Betty Shamieh

    Betty Shamieh is a Palestinian American novelist and playwright. Her debut novel, Too Soon, was selected as a PEOPLE Magazine Book of the Week and an NPR…

    More

  • A smiling man wearing glasses, a green baseball cap that reads Third Act, and a light blue T-shirt, standing against a bright lime green background.

    Bill McKibben

    Bill McKibben is an author, educator, and environmentalist. He is a contributing writer to The New Yorker and a founder of Third Act, which organizes people over…

    More

  • A middle-aged man with a shaved head, short gray beard, and mustache, wearing a dark V-neck shirt, smiling slightly in front of a solid purple background.

    Boni B. Alvarez

    Boni B. Alvarez is a playwright who has written more than twenty plays, including Bloodletting (Playwrights’ Arena; CTG/Kirk Douglas Theatre; Pork Filled Productions), America Adjacent (Skylight Theatre),…

    More

  • A woman with curly black hair, wearing a black top and a gold necklace, stands in front of a bright pink background, looking confidently at the camera.

    Bsrat Mezghebe

    Bsrat Mezghebe is a writer from Washington, D.C. Her debut novel, I Hope You Find What You’re Looking For, released by Liveright in February 2026, delves into…

    More

  • A woman with long dark hair speaks into a microphone, gesturing with her hand. She stands against a bright pink background and wears a black top.

    Carmen Boullosa

    Carmen Boullosa is the author of nineteen novels including The Book of Eve, Texas: The Great Theft, and Before, as well as collections of poetry, plays, and…

    More

  • A smiling woman with long wavy hair and glasses, wearing a dark shirt and beaded bracelets, stands against a bright pink background, touching her hair with one hand.

    Carol Bensimon

    Carol Bensimon is a writer born in Porto Alegre, Brazil. She is the author of the highly acclaimed novel O Clube dos Jardineiros de Fumaça, which won…

    More

  • A person with short dark hair, glasses, and a trimmed beard rests their head on their hand, wearing a black suit jacket and white shirt, against a bright pink background.

    Charif Shanahan

    Charif Shanahan is the author of Trace Evidence: Poems (Tin House, 2023), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry and longlisted…

    More

  • A person with short, wavy dark hair with blonde highlights and a side fringe, wearing a sleeveless black top and a chunky silver chain necklace, poses against a bright pink background.

    Christina Orlando

    Christina Orlando (they/them) is the Senior Books Editor for Reactor, where they get to be a book nerd all day. As a freelance writer, their work has…

    More

  • A woman with long, curly black hair smiles at the camera. She is wearing a dark, striped blazer over a black top, with a bright yellow-green background behind her.

    Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf

    Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf is Co–Chief Executive Officer of PEN America, which she joined in 2015. She previously served as Chief Program Officer for Literary Programming, overseeing the…

    More

  • A person wearing orange glasses and a black-and-white striped jacket over a striped shirt smiles slightly in front of a solid purple background.

    Cory Doctorow

    Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, and journalist. He is the author of dozens of books, most recently Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and…

    More

  • A man with a beard wearing a dark flat cap and dark jacket poses against a bright pink background, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.

    D.M. Aderibigbe

    D.M. Aderibigbe is a poet from Lagos, Nigeria. He is the author of 82nd Division (Akashic Books, 2025), winner of the National Poetry Series, and How the…

    More

  • A person with curly brown hair wearing a sleeveless yellow top looks confidently at the camera against a solid purple background.

    Dalia Azim

    Dalia Azim is a writer born in Canada and raised in the United States. Her writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, American…

    More