Speakers

  • A woman with wavy dark hair and a sleeveless top looks at the camera against a bright pink background. The image is in black and white except for the background.

    Judith Thurman

    Judith Thurman is a writer, biographer, and critic. She has been contributing to The New Yorker since 1987, and, since 2000, as a staff writer specializing in…

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  • A woman with short brown hair, wearing a patterned top, smiles softly at the camera against a solid bright blue background.

    Julie Trébault

    Julie Trébault is the Executive Director of the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC). Prior to joining PEN America to create ARC, she served as director of public…

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  • A smiling man with curly hair wearing a denim shirt, standing in front of a solid bright blue background.

    Justin Haynes

    Justin Haynes is a writer born in Trinidad and Tobago who later moved to Brooklyn, New York, as a teenager. His writing has been supported by fellowships…

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  • A person with curly, light brown hair smiles at the camera. They are wearing a dark sweater over a light shirt. The background is a solid bright yellow.

    Kate Aronoff

    Kate Aronoff is a Brooklyn-based staff writer at The New Republic, where she covers climate and energy politics. She is the author of Overheated: How Capitalism Broke…

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  • Black-and-white portrait of a person with short dark hair and a serious expression, looking to the side, set against a solid purple background.

    Kate Zambreno

    Kate Zambreno is the author of many books, most recently Animal Stories; as well as The Light Room, To Write as if Already Dead, a study of…

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  • A woman with short brown hair, wearing a tan knit sweater, stands in front of a bright yellow-green background, smiling softly and looking confidently at the camera.

    Katharine Wilkinson

    Dr. Katharine K. Wilkinson is a bestselling climate author, teacher, and creator whom Time magazine named one of fifteen “Women Who Will Save the World.” She has…

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  • A person with long, straight black hair and a neutral expression rests their hand on their neck, posed against a bright pink background.

    Katie Kitamura

    Katie Kitamura is the author of five novels, most recently Audition and Intimacies, which was named one of The New York Times Ten Best Books of 2021,…

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  • A person with long dark hair and red lipstick wearing a white shirt, standing against a bright pink background, looking confidently at the camera.

    Katie Yee

    Katie Yee is a writer from Brooklyn. She has received fellowships from the Center for Fiction, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and Kundiman. Her work has appeared…

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  • A man with straight dark hair wearing a black collared shirt stands against a bright yellow-green background, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.

    Keiichirō Hirano

    Keiichiro Hirano is a Japanese author who has written more than 15 novels since his debut work Eclipse, for which he won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize at…

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  • A woman with dark hair and blue eyes, wearing a black jacket and layered gold necklaces, is smiling softly against a bright yellow-green background.

    Krisztina Tóth

    Krisztina Tóth is one of Hungary’s most accomplished and widely respected writers and an outspoken public intellectual engaged with the struggle for women’s rights and the increasing…

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  • Picture of NYC and LA

    Kyra Benjamin

    Kyra Benjamin is a translator from New York. She received a BA in Classical Studies from Hunter College with a minor in Japanese studies. As a Bluhm…

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  • A woman with long, curly dark hair and a serious expression poses against a bright yellow-green background, wearing a black top and silver jewelry.

    Laila Lalami

    Laila Lalami is the author of six books, including The Moor’s Account, which won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award.…

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  • A grayscale portrait of an older person with wavy hair, wearing glasses and a collared shirt, smiles softly against a solid orange background.

    Lauren Bon

    Lauren Bon, artist and director of Metabolic Studio, navigates critical social and environmental issues by identifying systemic loopholes and developing emergent strategies for transformation. In 2005, her…

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  • A woman wearing glasses, a light purple headscarf, and a black top smiles at the camera in front of a bright pink background.

    Leila Aboulela

    Leila Aboulela is the winner of the 2025 PEN Pinter Prize, the first-ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, and a three-time nominee for the…

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  • A woman with long brown hair and a neutral expression is shown against a bright yellow-green background. She is facing slightly to the side, wearing a dark top.

    Lidia Yuknavitch

    Lidia Yuknavitch is the nationally bestselling author of the novels Thrust, The Book of Joan, The Small Backs of Children, and Dora: A Headcase, and of the…

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  • A person with shoulder-length dark hair, glasses, and a black sleeveless top is smiling softly, resting their chin on their hand, sitting in front of a bright pink background.

    Lily Philpott

    Lily Philpott is an Indigenous transracial adoptee born in Santiago, Chile and raised in New England. She has worked for close to a decade in the arts…

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