Speakers

  • A man with short brown hair wearing a dark jacket looks at the camera against a bright lime green background.

    Daniel Kehlmann

    Daniel Kehlmann is a writer born in Munich in 1975. His novels and plays have won numerous prizes, including the Candide Prize, the Doderer Prize, the Kleist…

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  • A person with short blond hair, tortoiseshell glasses, and a black top with a layered pearl necklace smiles while resting their head on their hand. The background is bright pink.

    Denne Michele Norris

    Denne Michele Norris is the editor in chief of Electric Literature, winner of the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to…

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  • A man with a receding hairline and curly hair looks at the camera with a neutral expression. He is wearing a beige sweater with black stripes. The background is bright pink.

    Dinaw Mengestu

    Dinaw Mengestu is the President of the PEN America Board of Trustees and the author of four novels, Someone Like Us (Knopf, 2024), All Our Names (Knopf,…

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  • A man in a pinstripe suit, white shirt, and tie, wearing blue-rimmed glasses, poses against a solid blue background.

    Eddie Glaude

    Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. One of the nation’s most prominent scholars,…

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  • A young man with light hair wearing a dark coat and white shirt looks to his left. The image is in black and white except for a solid bright blue background.

    Édouard Louis

    Édouard Louis is the author of The End of Eddy, History of Violence, Who Killed My Father, A Woman’s Battles and Transformations, Change, Monique Escapes, and Collapse,…

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  • A woman with shoulder-length auburn hair wearing a black top and jacket, looking at the camera with a neutral expression, posed against a solid bright pink background.

    Eimear McBride

    Eimear McBride is the author of four novels: A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, The Lesser Bohemians, Strange Hotel, and The City Changes Its Face, as well…

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  • A young woman with curly dark hair and gold hoop earrings looks at the camera with a neutral expression, set against a solid pink background. She is wearing a sleeveless dark top.

    Elisabeth Thomas

    Elisabeth Thomas is the author of the award-nominated Catherine House. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where she still lives and writes. She graduated from Yale…

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  • A woman with dark hair styled back wears large green earrings, a colorful patterned jacket with blue and orange designs, and a black top, posing against a solid orange background.

    Emma Robbins

    Emma Robbins (she/her) is an artist, activist, and community organizer. She founded The Chapter House in 2020 while serving as the Executive Director of the Navajo Water…

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  • An older woman with short gray hair and a neutral expression, wearing a dark V-neck shirt, is shown against a solid blue background.

    Esmeralda Santiago

    Esmeralda Santiago is a Puerto Rican author who came to the United States from rural Puerto Rico at age thirteen and grew up in Brooklyn. Her experiences…

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  • A woman with long braided hair, wearing hoop earrings and a striped shirt, rests her chin on her hand and smiles gently against a bright pink background.

    Fanta Diallo

    Fanta Diallo is a Senior Publicist at W.W. Norton & Company, where she develops and leads national publicity campaigns for a wide range of fiction and nonfiction…

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  • A person with long, straight, light brown hair and a dark sweater is smiling slightly, sitting in front of a bright pink background.

    Francesca Wade

    Francesca Wade is the author of Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars (2020) and Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife (2025). She has held fellowships…

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  • A person wearing glasses and a blue plaid shirt looks directly at the camera, against a bright yellow-green background.

    Gabino Iglesias

    Gabino Iglesias is a writer, journalist, professor, and literary critic. He is the author of House of Bone and Rain and the Shirley Jackson and Bram Stoker…

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  • A person with long dark hair and a black top is looking at the camera against a solid bright blue background.

    Gabriela Wiener

    Gabriela Wiener es una de las voces imprescindibles de la literatura latinoamericana contemporánea en la diáspora. Escritora, poeta y cronista peruana radicada en España, ha convertido el…

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  • A man with short, curly dark hair and a beard wearing a textured, olive-green sweater, set against a bright yellow-green background.

    Gal Beckerman

    Gal Beckerman is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the forthcoming book How to Be a Dissident. He was formerly the magazine’s books…

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  • A man with short, light hair and glasses wearing a suit and tie looks slightly upward. The photo is black and white, and the background is bright pink.

    Gary Shteyngart

    Gary Shteyngart is the author of the novels The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, Absurdistan, Super Sad True Love Story, and Our Country Friends, and the memoir Little Failure.…

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  • A middle-aged man with short, graying hair and a beard smiles softly. He is wearing an olive green jacket, and the background is a solid bright yellow-green.

    George Packer

    George Packer is a U.S. journalist, award-winning author, playwright, and a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of ten books, including The Unwinding: An…

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