The word SPEAKERS in bold yellow text is displayed against a black background with abstract book-like shapes.
  • A bearded man with wavy, dark hair is smiling gently at the camera. He is wearing a white shirt and a black cardigan. The background is a plain, beige color.

    Ilia Venyavkin

    Ilia Veniavkin is a historian, civic engineer, and a journalist. For 15 years he has been studying Stalinist culture and subjectivity. He wrote an ebook, Master’s Inkwell.…

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  • A woman with curly brown hair, wearing a navy blue sweater with yellow stars and gold earrings, sits against a light background, looking at the camera with a soft smile.

    Viktorya Vilk

    Viktorya Vilk (she/her/hers) is the director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America. She created and runs the organization’s digital safety program, which equips writers…

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  • An older man with a gray beard and glasses wears a maroon blazer and white shirt. He looks directly at the camera against a neutral background.

    D.J. Waldie

    D. J. Waldie is a historian of Los Angeles, a memoirist, and a translator. He has published six non-fiction books. Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir (Norton, 1996…

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  • A smiling person with long dark hair and glasses is wearing a black top. They are sitting in a room with framed pictures on a light-colored wall in the background.

    Weike Wang

    Weike Wang is the author of Chemistry (Knopf 2017), Joan is Okay (Random House 2022) and Rental House (Riverhead 2024). She is the recipient of a Pen…

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  • A person with long dark hair and a neutral expression is wearing a black top. The background is a plain gray color.

    Yaqiu (Rachel) Wang

    Yaqiu (Rachel) Wang is a human rights and democracy researcher and advocate. Most recently, she was the Director for China Research at Freedom House. Before that, she…

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  • A woman with a warm smile, wearing a patterned top and dangling earrings. Her hair is styled back, and she poses against a plain light background.

    Rita Williams-Garcia

    Rita Williams-Garcia, a Queens, New York native, is the celebrated author of novels for young adults and middle grade readers. Williams-Garcia is most known for her Coretta…

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  • A person with gray hair and a mustache is wearing oversized glasses and a checkered shirt. They are looking directly at the camera. The background is softly blurred with warm lighting.

    Eugene Yelchin

    Eugene Yelchin is a writer and illustrator of books for children and young adults. Yelchin is a National Book Award finalist for The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge…

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  • A man with a shaved head wearing a dark shirt stands outside with blurred city buildings in the background. The image is in black and white.

    Paul David Young

    Paul David Young is a playwright, translator, and critic. His translations, with Carl Weber, of Heiner Müller’s Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome and Macbeth were published by…

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