Authors May 22 - Succeed2gether's Montclair Literary Festival

Megan Abbott is the Edgar award-winning author of 10 crime novels, including the bestselling You Will Know Me and Give Me Your Hand. Formerly a writer on HBO’s The Deuce, she served as co-showrunner and co-creator of Dare Me, now streaming on Netflix. Her latest novel, the New York Times bestseller The Turnout, is in bookstores now. Photo: © Drew Reilly

For the past 10 years, award-winning duo Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson have developed numerous animated campaigns, network TV and web series and critically acclaimed commercial work. Their extensive portfolio, including multiple comedic spots in both the U.S. and U.K., has garnered them industry-wide recognition, while their humorous sensibility and diverse skill set has landed them jobs for top global brands. Abdo and Patterson have set up properties at Twentieth Century Fox, Disney and Nickelodeon, as well as a feature animated film through Paramount Pictures. The well-versed storytellers have developed original content for a wide variety of platforms, including print, theater and digital.

Angela ‘Angy’ Abreu is a Dominican-American writer, founder, and creative director of Dominican Writers Association a 501 c3 non-profit organization dedicated to highlighting and promoting the works of Dominican- American authors. Under DWA, Angy’s mission includes coaching emerging writers who wish to become published authors (traditionally or non-traditionally) by providing them with the tools and resources they need to continue developing their craft with hopes that they too become a part of the Dominican literary canon.

Christine Adams is the author of two collections of poetry, Setting The Table in the Age of Reason and Quatrains, the first of which is currently making the “Submittable” rounds. She is currently working on Homespun, a piece of creative non-fiction about the history and renovation of a 225 year-old New England cottage, a former mill. Chris, who earned a BA in English and Creative Writing from Gettysburg College, also writes on a freelance basis, mostly for not-for-profits, and is a certified grant writer.

Laurie Lico Albanese, author of Stolen Beauty, has moderated many panels for Succeed2gether’s Montclair Literary Festival and elsewhere. Her newest novel, Hester, is coming from St. Martin’s Press October 2022. She raised her two grown children in Montclair, and lives there now with her husband and two rescue dogs.

Elizabeth Alexander is a prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author, renowned poet, educator, scholar, and cultural advocate. Her most recent book, The Trayvon Generation(2022), is a galvanizing meditation on the power of art and culture to illuminate America’s unresolved problem with race and the challenges facing young Black America. Among the fifteen books she has authored or co-authored, her memoir, The Light of the World, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2015 and her poetry collection American Sublime was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2006. Notably, Dr. Alexander composed and recited “Praise Song for the Day” for President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration. Over the course of an esteemed career in education, she has held distinguished professorships at Smith College, Columbia University, and Yale University, where she taught for fifteen years and chaired the African American Studies Department. Dr. Alexander is currently president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the nation’s largest funder in the arts, culture, and humanities. Photo: © Djeneba Aduayom

Daphne Palasi Andreades is the author of the debut novel, Brown Girls, which follows a group of young women of color who are first and second-generation immigrants, as they come-of-age in Queens, New York—the author’s hometown. Brown Girls is told through a choral voice and blurs poetry and prose to explore hybrid identities and solidarity across different diasporas. Published January 2022 by Random House, Brown Girls was selected as a New York Times Editor’s Choice, an Indies Next Pick, and featured on ‘Most Anticipated’ lists in major outlets such as The Guardian, Chicago Review of Books, Electric Lit, and more. Brown Girls is now available in the UK and Commonwealth and is forthcoming in France and Germany. A graduate of CUNY and Columbia University’s MFA Fiction program, Daphne is now at work on her second novel.

Joanne "N’Jie" Ashe is a mother, grandmother, ex-wife, spoken word artist, poet, stand-up comic, teacher and retiree, (not necessarily in that order) who has, seemingly, been performing FOREVER! She received a BS in Business Administration at 55, a MAT in Special Education at 66, and is currently pursuing a MAF in Creative Writing, at 67. Joanne has also written, produced, directed and performed as a member of the steering committee for “The Gathering,” a women’s writers collective founded by the late Oscar winning Actress, Olympia Dukakis. As a spoken word artist, she has performed from San Francisco to Senegal and as a Stand-Up Comic, you can catch her act at Gotham, Caroline’s, Greenwich...practically Any Comedy Club in the Tri-State Area!!! She was undoubtedly deployed on a comet…to entertain…to enthrall and to teach…This is her Life... HER CALLING.

Zain Ejiofor Asher was born to first-generation Nigerian parents in South London. A graduate of Oxford University and Columbia University, she is currently an anchor for CNN International. She anchors One World with Zain Asher, her own global news program on the network. Ejiofor Asher’s brothers are Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave), successful entrepreneur Obinze, and medical doctor Kandibe. She lives in the New York area with her husband and two sons. Photo © Beowulf Sheehan

Jim Axelrod is the chief investigative and senior national correspondent for CBS News, reporting for "CBS Mornings," the "CBS Evening News," "CBS Sunday Morning," and other CBS News broadcasts. Axelrod has covered a broad range of domestic and international stories, notably the war in Iraq and the American invasion of Afghanistan. Axelrod's investigative journalism has been honored with a Peabody Award for his series on West Virginia's opioid addiction crisis, a George Polk Award for his work , and an Edward R. Murrow award for his reporting on the genetic testing industry. He was also part of the CBS News team honored with a 2010 duPont-Columbia Silver Baton for "CBS Reports: Children of the Recession." Axelrod also won Emmy awards in 2002, 2014 and 2016.

Peter Balakian is the author of eight books of poems including Ozone Journal, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, and Ziggurat,both published by the University of Chicago Press. His memoir Black Dog of Fate won the PEN/Albrand Award and was a New York Times notable book, and The Burning Tigris won the Raphael Lemkin Prize and was a New York Times bestseller and New York Times notable book. He is Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of the Humanities in the Department of English at Colgate University.

Gal Beckerman is the senior books editor at The Atlantic and former editor at The New York Times Book Review and the author of When They Come for Us, We'll Be Gone, which won the National Jewish Book Award and Sami Rohr Prize and was named a best book of the year by The New Yorker and The Washington Post. He has a PhD in media studies from Columbia University and writes for many publications, including The New Republic and The Wall Street Journal.

Robin Black's story collection, If I loved you, I would tell you this was a finalist for the Frank O'Connor International Story Prize, and a Best Book of the Year in multiple publications, including the Irish Times and San Francisco Chronicle. Her novel, Life Drawing was longlisted for multiple awards, and named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, among others. Both books are also published in multiple languages. An essay collection, Crash Course: Essays From Where Writing and Life Collide came out in 2016, followed now by the harder to categorize, memoirish conversation with a book, Mrs. Dalloway, Bookmarked (Ig Publishing, 2022). Robin, who also writes often about her experiences as a writer with AD(H)D, lives in NYC with her husband and daughter. www.robinblack.net

Ben Cohen is a sports reporter for the Wall Street Journal and the author of The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks. He lives in New York with his wife and their daughter.

Rio Cortez is the New York Times bestselling author of picture books The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020) and The River Is My Sea (S&S, 2024). Her debut poetry collection, Golden Ax, is forthcoming from Penguin Poets this August. By day, Rio works in sales & marketing at HarperCollins, where she endeavors to amplify the voices and opportunities for BIPOC writers. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, she now lives, writes, and works in Harlem.

Alice Elliott Dark is the author of four works of fiction, including Fellowship Point, forthcoming in July from Scribner/Marysue Rucci Books. She is an Associate Professor at Rutgers-Newark in English and the MFA Program. One of her stories, "In the Gloaming," was made into two films and was chosen by John Updike for inclusion in Best American Short Stories of the Century. Photo: © Beowulf Sheehan

Fiona Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of six historical fiction novels set in iconic New York City buildings, including The Magnolia Palace, The Address, and The Lions of Fifth Avenue, which was a Good Morning America book club pick. Her novels have been chosen as “One Book, One Community” reads and her articles have appeared in publications like The Wall Street Journal and O the Oprah magazine. She first came to New York as an actress, but fell in love with writing after getting a master's degree at Columbia Journalism School. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and she's based in New York City. Photo: © Deborah Feingold

Representative Madeleine Dean is the congresswoman for the Fourth District of Pennsylvania, suburban Philadelphia, a member of the House Judiciary and House Financial Services committees, and vice chair of the bipartisan Women’s Caucus. From 2012 to 2018 she served in the Pennsylvania House. From 2001 to 2011 she taught writing at La Salle University, and she has contributed to Newsweek, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and other regional publications. She and her husband, PJ Cunnane, live in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and have three sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren. Madeline collaborated with one of her sons, Henry, on this book: Under Our Roof: A Son's Battle for Recovery, a Mother's Battle for Her Son.

Sharon Dennis-Wyeth is an award winning children’s book author and poet. She is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Hollins University. She has visited numerous schools throughout the country, sharing her writing process and conducting workshops. She is a graduate of Harvard University and has an MFA in Memoir from Hunter College. www.sharondenniswyeth.com

Marcy Dermansky is the acclaimed author of Very Nice, The Red Car, Bad Marie, and Twins. Her new novel Hurricane Girl will be released on June 14, 2022 and is available for preorder. She lives in Montclair with her daughter. Learn more about Marcy at http://www.marcydermansky.com/

Arielle Eckstut is co-founder of The Book Doctors and co-author of the definitive Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published. She's an Agent-at-Large at the Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency and has helped hundreds of talented amateurs become professionally published authors. She is the author of 10 books. In addition, she is an Executive Producer on two television shows currently in development with Silvergate/Sony and The Jim Henson Company. She's been featured in, among others, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio.

Jennifer Egan is the author of six previous books of fiction: Manhattan Beach, winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction; A Visit from the Goon Squad, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; The Keep; the story collection Emerald City; Look at Me, a National Book Award Finalist; and The Invisible Circus. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Granta, McSweeney's, and The New York Times Magazine. Her website is JenniferEgan.com. Photo: © Pieter M. Van Hattem

Elisabeth Egan is an editor at the New York Times Book Review , where she writes the Inside the List column (about new best sellers) and Group Text (for book clubs). She us the author of A Window Opens. She lives in Montclair with her family. Photo: © Beowulf Sheehan

Pamela Erens is the author of the novels The Virgins, Eleven Hours, and The Understory, as well as the middle grade novel Matasha and the hybrid memoir/book-length essay Middlemarch and the Imperfect life. Erens’s books have been named finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for First Fiction, the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and the John Gardner Fiction Book Award, and have appeared on many Best of the Year lists, including at the New Yorker, NPR, The New Republic, and Kirkus. Her essays and criticism have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, Elle, Slate, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Los Angeles Review of Books. Photo: © Kathryn Huang

M. Chris Fabricant is the Innocence Project’s Director of Strategic Litigation and one of the nation’s leading experts on forensic sciences and the criminal justice system. Fabricant is featured in the Netflix documentary ‘The Innocence Files’ and his public commentary has been published in virtually every major media outlet. A former public defender and clinical law professor, Fabricant brings to his writing over two decades of experience ranging from litigating death penalty cases in the Deep South to misdemeanors in the South Bronx. Born in New York City and raised in Sedona, Arizona, Fabricant has lived in Brooklyn since graduating from George Washington University Law School in 1997.

Saraceia J. Fennell is a Black Honduran American writer and the founder of The Bronx is Reading. She is also an award-winning book publicist and literacy activist who has worked with many award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors. Fennell is board chair of Latinx in Publishing – a nonprofit focused on uplifting Latin American and Caribbean writers and professions in the publishing industry – and on the Advisory Board of People of Color in Publishing. She lives in the Bronx with her family and poodle, Oreo. Her anthology Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, published by Flatiron Books, is available now. Visit saracieafennell.com for more information and follow her social @sj_fennell. Photo: © Viscose Illusion

Gretchen Gomez is a Puerto Rican poet from The Bronx. When home you will find her watching crime shows, cuddling with her dog, or writing--trying to make sense of things. Gretchen is a full-time lover of words. She is also the author of love, and you and welcome to ghost town.

Rigoberto González is the author of 18 books of poetry and prose. His awards include Lannan, Guggenheim, NEA, NYFA, and USA Rolón fellowships, the PEN/Voelcker Award, the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and the Shelley Memorial Prize from the Poetry Society of America. Currently, he’s Distinguished Professor of English and the director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Rutgers-Newark.

Chris Grabenstein is the New York Times bestselling author of the Mr. Lemoncello, Smartest Kid in the Universe, Dog Squad, and Welcome to Wonderland series, and many other books, as well as the coauthor of numerous page-turners with James Patterson and of Shine!, cowritten with Chris's wife, J.J. Grabenstein. Chris lives in New York City. Visit him at ChrisGrabenstein.com and on Twitter at @CGrabenstein. Photo: © Elena Seibert

Garth Risk Hallberg’s first novel, City on Fire, was an international bestseller and was named one of the best books of 2015 by the Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Vogue, among others. He has also published a novella, A Field Guide to the North American Family. His essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times, Prairie Schooner, and Granta, which in 2017 named him one of the "Best of Young American Novelists." Season 1 of City on Fire will air on Apple+ this fall. Photo: © Mark Vessey

Katherine Heiny is the author of Standard Deviation and Single, Carefree, Mellow, and her short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and many other magazines. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband and children, and is a former resident of London, The Hague, and Boyne City, Michigan. Katherine is part of a presentation with Montclair Public Library’s Open Book, Open Mind program. Photo: © Lexey Swall

Kristin Henning is a nationally recognized advocate, author, trainer, and consultant on the intersection of race, adolescence, and policing. She is the Blume Professor of Law and Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic and Initiative at Georgetown Law and was previously the Lead Attorney of the Juvenile Unit at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where she has been representing children accused of crime for more than twenty-five years. Henning is the co-founder of a number of initiatives to combat racial injustice in the juvenile legal system, including the Ambassadors for Racial Justice program and a Racial Justice Toolkit for youth defenders. She is also the recipient of many awards, including the 2021 Leadership Prize from the Juvenile Law Center. Henning has written numerous articles and other publications advocating for reform in the juvenile legal system. Her book, The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth, was released in September 2021 and received rave reviews in the New York Times Book Review and the Washington Post.

Jan Hoffman is a prize-winning reporter at The New York Times who currently covers behavioral health and health law. Her wide-ranging subjects include opioid litigation, addiction, vaccine attitudes,tribal health, abortion and adolescent mental health. She was a chief contributor to the Portraits of Grief section, The Times's Pulitzer Prize-winning tributes to the 9/11 victims and a recipient of a journalism fellowship at Yale Law School.

Evan Hughes was a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Reporting in 2015. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, GQ, New York, Wired, and The New York Review of Books. He is the author of Literary Brooklyn. Photo: © Mike Lawrie

Victoria Kann is the author-artist of the New York Times bestseller Peterrific, and four #1 New York Times bestselling books Aqualicious, Emeraldalicious, Silverlicious, and Goldilicous. She is the artist and coauthor of the New York Times bestsellers Pinkalicious and Purplicious. In addition, Victoria cowrote ‘Pinkalicious: The Musical ‘which premiered in New York City to sold-out audiences and continues to be performed across the country. Victoria is the co-executive producer of ‘Pinkalicious & Peterrific’ on PBS Kids. Her award-winning artwork has graced the covers and pages of many magazines, newspapers, and books. She lives with her husband and two daughters. Readers can follow Pinkalicious on Facebook and Twitter. For more Pinkalicious and Peterrific fun, visit www.thinkpinkalicious.com. Photo: © Cynthia McIntyre Photography

Kostya Kennedy is an editorial director at Dotdash Meredith and a former Senior Writer at Sports Illustrated. He is the New York Times bestselling author of several books including 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports (runner-up for the 2012 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing) and Pete Rose: An American Dilemma.Both won the CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year. He has taught at Columbia and NYU, and lives with his wife and daughters in Westchester County, NY. https://www.kostyakennedy.com

Judith Lindbergh’s debut novel, The Thrall’s Tale, about three women in the first Viking Age settlement in Greenland, was a Booksense (IndieBound) Pick, a Borders Original Voices Selection and praised by Pulitzer Prize winners Geraldine Brooks and Robert Olen Butler. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including Archaeology Magazine, Edible Jersey, Scandinavian Review, The World & I, Other Voices, and UP HERE: The North at the Center of the World published by University of Washington Press. She also contributed to the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibition Vikings: The Norse Atlantic Saga and was an expert commentator on the History Channel’s documentary series MANKIND: The Story of All of Us. Judith is the Founder/Director of The Writers Circle, a NJ-based writing center where she regularly teaches creative writing to students from ages 8-80. https://writerscircleworkshops.com/ and https://judithlindbergh.com/

Halimah Marcus is the Executive Director of Electric Literature, an innovative digital publisher based in Brooklyn, and the editor of its weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading. She is also the editor of Horse Girls (Harper Perennial, 2021), an anthology that reclaims and recasts the horse girl stereotype, which was a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” pick. Her short stories have appeared in Indiana Review, Gulf Coast, One Story, BOMB, The Literary Review, and The Southampton Review. Halimah has an MFA from Brooklyn College, and lives in the Catskill region of New York.

Marjorie Margolies’ life story has never been more relevant. As an Emmy-award winning journalist, former congresswoman, and the first single American to adopt internationally, she has been a fierce champion for refugees worldwide. Margolies’ multi-cultural, multi-hued family of 11 children blended five refugees from Korea and Vietnam, four stepdaughters, two biological sons and now 21 grandchildren. She currently teaches at the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and is the President of Women's Campaign International, which trains women leaders all over the world. Recently, Women's Campaign International has been heavily engaged in aiding refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan.

D.T. Max is a staff writer at The New Yorker. His book, Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace was a New York Times bestseller. He is also the author of The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery. He lives in New Jersey.

Cat Min is an illustrator, animator, and writer. Cat grew up as a shy kid in Hong Kong, where she spent most of her childhood drawing and making comic books out of printer paper and staples with her best friend. She studied animation and film at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and completed the Illustration & Visual Storytelling Summer Residency Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is also a member of SCBWI. Her (not so) guilty pleasures are: McDonald's french fries, sappy romance comics, mobile escape game apps, visual novels, and all things cheese. Her next book, The Little Toymaker, releases from Levine Querido in Fall 2022.

Elizabeth Minchilli has written about food, travel and culture from her home in Italy for the past 30 years. She is the author of nine books, including her most recent The Italian Table. She is the owner, with her daughter Sophie Minchilli, of a tour company that leads culinary adventures in Italy. Her books, blogs, apps, and food tours have been praised by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Travel & Leisure, NPR, The Huffington Post, Condé Nast Traveler, and more.

Sophie Minchilli is a half American and half Italian living in Rome. Her passion is anything to do with Italy, especially food and good company. She started working alongside her mother on the blog, Elizabeth Minchilli in Rome, as well as a food tour business, giving people a chance to explore the city through the eyes of a local. Sophie has always loved people and their stories. She has dedicated her Instagram page to showcasing the portraits and stories of local people and the way they live their lives. The Sweetness of Doing Nothing is her first book.

Ugandan-born and raised Samite Mulondo is a world-renowned musician, humanitarian and photographer. After being forced to leave Uganda because of oppressive rule, Samite founded the non-profit organization, 'Musicians for World Harmony', informed by his defining life experiences including his time as a refugee in Kenya. Samite has composed the soundtrack for a number of films including Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai; Addiction Incorporated; and Oli Oyta?. His work has won three Impact Docs Awards of Excellence, including one for Original Score. Samite is also the subject of the documentary, Song of the Refugee, shown on PBS and filmed in East and West Africa chronicling Samite's return to Africa and the beginning of his humanitarian work. He has released 11 CDs internationally and his most recent work, Resilience, features "On the Same Journey" which was nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award in the fall of 2019. Samite's latest CD We can care again was nominated for a Hollywood Music in the Media Award.

Leslie-Ann Murray is a fiction writer from Trinidad & Tobago. She created Brown Girl Book Lover, a social media platform where she interviews diverse writers and reviews books that should be at the forefront of our imagination. She also produces a monthly newsletter, Come Get Your Diversity. Leslie-Ann is currently working on her first novel, This Has Made Us Beautiful. Leslie-Ann has been published in Poets & Writers, Zone 3, Ploughshares, Brittle Paper, Obsidian Literary Magazine, and Salamander Literary Magazine. Leslie-Ann has taught creative writing in France, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, China, and New York City.

Cleyvis Natera is the author of the debut novel Neruda on the Park. She was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New York City. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Skidmore College and a Master of Fine Arts from New York University. Her fiction, essays and criticism have appeared in Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration, TIME, Gagosian Quarterly, The Washington Post, The Kenyon Review, Aster(ix) and Kweli Journal, among other publications. She teaches creative writing at the graduate and undergraduate level in NYC. She lives with her husband and young children in Montclair, New Jersey. Photo: © Beowulf Sheehan

Henry H. Neff is the author and illustrator of seven fantasy novels, including the five-book "Tapestry" series (Random House) and Impyrium (HarperCollins). The Tapestry was named to the Texas Bluebonnet List, the Missouri Truman Award, and Northern California Book of the Year while Impyrium was declared the "Top Middle Grade Book" of 2016 by Entertainment Weekly. His adult debut, The Witchstone, will arrive in Spring 2024 with Blackstone Publishing. A former history teacher, Henry lives in Montclair, NJ with his wife and two sons.

Leigh Newman is the author of Still Points North, a memoir about growing up in Alaska which was a finalist for the National Book Critic Circle’s John Leonard Prize. Her stories have appeared in Harper’s, The Paris Review, Tin House, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, One Story, and Electric Literature. In 2020, she was awarded The Paris Review’s Terry Southern Prize, a Best American Short Story, a Pushcart Prize, and an American Society of Magazine Editors’ Fiction Prize for her work in The Paris Review. Photo: © Nina Subin

Joyce Carol Oates is a recipient of the National Medal of Humanities, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Book Award, and the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in Short Fiction and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has written some of the most enduring fiction of our time, including the national bestsellers We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde, which was nominated for the National Book Award, and the New York Times bestseller The Falls, which won the 2005 Prix Femina. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University and has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters since 1978.

Timothy L. O’Brien is a senior columnist with Bloomberg Opinion and also a political analyst with MSNBC. Tim writes extensively about a wide range of topics, including business, technology, media, national politics, white-collar crime, the U.S. presidency, Russia, gambling, and Hollywood. He is the author of three books, including a biography of Donald Trump – TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald. Trump sued O'Brien for libel and lost the case in 2011. Previously Tim was the executive editor of The HuffPost where he received a Pulitzer Prize for a series about wounded war veterans. Tim is the recipient of several other awards including a Loeb and recognition from SABEW, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Deadline Club. Tim has also been a reporter and writer for the Wall Street Journal, Talk Magazine, the Village Voice, and National Geographic.

Zibby Owens is an author, podcaster, publisher, CEO, and mother of four. Zibby founded Zibby Owens Media, a privately-held media company designed to help busy people live their best lives by connecting to books and each other. One division is Moms Don’t Have Time To, the home for Zibby’s podcasts, publications (including two anthologies), and communities. The other is Zibby Books, a publishing home for fiction and memoir which she co-founded with Leigh Newman. Her award-winning podcast, Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books, has been downloaded millions of times. She is a regular columnist for Good Morning America, Katie Couric Media, and Moms Don’t Have Time to Write on Medium. Her upcoming memoir, Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature, comes out July 1, 2022 (Little A). Her first children’s book Princess Charming (Flamingo/Penguin Random House) debuts April 19, 2022, and will be followed by a second. She lives in New York with her husband and four children. For more information, visit zibbyowens.com and follow her on Instagram @zibbyowens. Photo: © Zibby Owens

Vu Pham is an anesthesiologist who resides in Manasquan, NJ with his wife Amy, 3 children, Sebastian, Dexter, Isla, energetic goldendoodle, Snoop and crested gecko, Toot. He enjoys tennis and is passionate about anything related to cinema.

Rich Podolsky has been an established writer and reporter since the 1970s, covering the Miami Dolphins and writing for The NFL Today. He has been a staff writer for CBS Sports, and has written for The Philadelphia Daily News, The Palm Beach Post, The Wilmington News-Journal, TV Guide and ESPN. His passion for music from the 60s and 70s led to his first two books. In Don Kirshner: The Man With the Golden Ear (foreword by Tony Orlando), and Neil Sedaka, Rock ‘n’ Roll Survivor (foreword by Elton John), he tells the inside story of their success.

The Honorable Victoria Pratt served as the chief judge of the Newark Municipal Court, is a professor at the Rutgers-Newark School of Criminal Justice and has taught at the Rutgers School of Law-Newark. Her TED talk, “How Judges Can Show Respect,” has been viewed over thirty million times on Facebook. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey. Photo: © Tinnetta Bell

Anna Quindlen is a novelist and journalist whose work has appeared on fiction, nonfiction, and self-help bestseller lists. She is the author of nine novels: Object Lessons, One True Thing, Black and Blue, Blessings, Rise and Shine, Every Last One, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, Miller’s Valley, and Alternate Side. Her memoir Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, published in 2012, was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her book A Short Guide to a Happy Life has sold more than a million copies. Her most recent book is Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting. While a columnist at The New York Times she won the Pulitzer Prize and published two collections, Living Out Loud and Thinking Out Loud. Her Newsweek columns were collected in Loud and Clear. Photo: © Maria Krovatin

Gideon Rachman is chief foreign affairs commentator for the Financial Times. He joined the FT in 2006, after fifteen years at The Economist, where he served as a correspondent in Washington DC, Brussels, and Bangkok. In 2010 Rachman published his first book, Zero-Sum World, which predicted the rise in international political tensions and turmoil that followed the global financial crisis. In 2016 Rachman won the Orwell Prize, Britain’s leading award for political writing. He was also named Commentator of the Year at the European Press Prize, known as the “European Pulitzers.” Rachman’s previous book, Easternization: Asia’s Rise and America’s Decline from Obama to Trump and Beyond, was published by Other Press in 2018.

Kavitha Rajagopalan is incoming director of the Asian Media Initiative at the Center for Community Media at CUNY's Newmark J-School, and a writer specializing in global migration and cities. She is the author of Muslims of Metropolis: The Stories of Three Immigrant Families in the West, and a contributing author to several edited volumes on migration. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, The Atlantic's Citylab. She was an oped columnist for The Observer, Newsday, and PBS, and has given expert commentary on MSNBC. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two children.

Andrew Rice is a contributing editor at New York magazine and the author of The Teeth May Smile But the Heart Does Not Forget and The Year That Broke America. He is a former staff writer at The Hill and The Observer and was a cub political reporter in the year 2000.

Andrew Rosenthal spent 40 years in journalism, 28 of them at The New York Times where he retired as Editorial Page Editor in 2016. He is teaching a class at Sarah Lawrence College about racism and the American media. He is the editor of The New York Times Book of Politics: 167 Years of Covering the State of the Union Sterling 2018.

Mark Rotella is the director of the Coccia Institute for the Italian Experience at Montclair State University, where he is also a professor of creative writing. He is a former senior editor at Publishers Weekly, where he covered cookbooks and books on food and drink. He has written two books, both published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux: Stolen Figs: And Other Adventures in Calabria, and Amore: The Story of Italian American Song.

Frank Rubino is the featured poet in Red Wheelbarrow 14. He’s published work in Thimble Literary Magazine, Vending Machine, DMQ Review, The Cape Rock, Caliban Online, Caveat Lector, Inscape, and others. He co-hosts the Red Wheelbarrow Poets weekly Tuesday workshop, and is a frequent Brooklyn Poets yawper. He Instagrams as @xmlnovelist and lives in New Jersey.

Albert Samaha is an investigative journalist and inequality editor at BuzzFeed News whose work has appeared in The New York Times, the Village Voice, San Francisco Weekly, and the Riverfront Times, among other outlets. A Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grant recipient, he is also the author of Never Ran, Never Will: Boyhood and Football in a Changing American Inner City, which was a finalist for the 2019 PEN/ESPN Literary Sports Writing Award and winner of the New York Society Library’s 2019 Hornblower Award. He lives in Brooklyn. Photo: © Brian De Los Santos

Jonathan Santlofer is a writer and artist. His debut novel, The Death Artist, was an international bestseller, a PeopleMagazine “Page-Turner of the Week” and is currently in development at Fox, along with his second and third novels. His fourth novel, Anatomy of Fear, won the Nero Award for best crime novel of 2009. Jonathan created the Crime Fiction Academy at The Center for Fiction. As an artist, Jonathan has been making replications of famous paintings for clients for more than 20 years.

David Henry Sterry is the bestselling author of 16 books that have been translated into a dozen languages. His last book graced the cover of The New York Times Book Review. His memoir, Master of Ceremonies, is currently being made into a television series for which David serves as an Executive Producer. David was a professional actor for 20 years, appearing in dozens of movies and TV shows and in over 2,500 commercials. He's also the creator of Pitchapalooza, which has been presented hundreds of times all over the nation, helping countless amateur writers become professional authors. He's spent the last 15 years teaching workshops everywhere from San Quentin Prison to Stanford University on how to get successfully published. He's been featured in, among others, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and on National Public Radio.

Salamishah Tillet is the Henry Rutgers Professor of African American and African Studies and Creative Writing at Rutgers University - Newark. She is the Director of Express Newark, a center for socially engaged art and design as well as a contributing critic-at-large for The New York Times. She is the author of In Search of the Color Purple: The Story of an American Masterpiece, and Sites of Slavery: Citizenship and Racial Democracy in the Post-Civil Rights Imagination. In 2020, she was awarded the Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grant for her forthcoming book, All the Rage: Nina Simone and The World She Made.

John J. Trause, the Director of Oradell Public Library, is the author of six books of poetry, Why Sing?; Picture This: For Your Eyes and Ears; Exercises in High Treason; Eye Candy for Andy; Inside Out, Upside Down, and Round and Round; Seriously Serial; and Latter-Day Litany, the latter staged Off Broadway. His translations, poetry, and visual work appear internationally in many journals and anthologies, including Rabbit Ears: TV Poems. Marymark Press has published his visual poetry and art as broadsides and sheets. He is a founder of the William Carlos Williams Poetry Cooperative in Rutherford, NJ, and the former host and curator of its monthly reading series.

A contributing editor at the Boston Globe, Kate Tuttle is a former president of the National Book Critics Circle and has also acted as a judge for the National Book Awards. Her book reviews and articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. Kate is part of a presentation with Montclair Public Library’s Open Book, Open Mind program.

Elisabet Velasquez is a Boricua writer born in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Her work has been featured in Muzzle Magazine, Winter Tangerine, Latina Magazine, We Are Mitú, Tidal and more. She is a 2017 Poets House fellow and the 2017 winner of the Button Poetry Video Contest. Her work is featured in Martín Espada's anthology What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump. Elisabet lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, and When We Make It is her debut novel. Photo: © Jonathan Rojas

Helen Wan, author of The Partner Track, was born in California and raised in Virginia. She's a graduate of Amherst College and University of Virginia School of Law. She practiced law in NYC for many years before becoming a writer. The Partner Track is currently filming in NYC for a 10-part Netflix series starring actress Arden Cho as Ingrid Yun (Cho), an idealistic young lawyer who struggles with her moral compass and her passions as she fights to climb the partner track at an elite New York City law firm. Wan lives in Maplewood, NJ.

Storyteller Sabina Wasonga-Gitau, born and raised in East Africa, and now a resident of Montclair, New Jersey, will be sharing stories inspired from her childhood years growing up both in Kenya and Uganda. Sabina, is a recipient of the New Jersey State council on the Arts (folk arts apprenticeship grant). She has spent the past year working under the mentorship of Samite Mulondo. Samite, a musician and storyteller, has been nominated twice for the Hollywood Music in the Media Awards. He will be accompanying her on traditional East African Instruments, like the Litungu, Kalimba, and Adungu.

Heather Webb, author of The Next Ship Home, is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of seven historical novels. In 2015, Rodin’s Lover was a Goodread’s Top Pick, and in 2018, Last Christmas in Paris won the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. Meet Me in Monaco, was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Goldsboro RNA award in the UK, as well as the 2019 Digital Book World’s Fiction prize. To date, Heather’s books have been translated into 16 languages. Heather’s new solo novel, The Next Ship Home, is inspired by true events and reveals the dark secrets of Ellis Island as two unlikely friends challenge a corrupt system, altering their fate and the lives of the immigrants that come after them. She lives in New England with her family, a mischievous kitten, and one feisty rabbit.

Mia Charlene White is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies in the Environmental Studies Program at The New School for Public Engagement, with a co-teaching appointment at the Milano School for International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy. She is a faculty affiliate of the Tishman Environment and Design Center (TedC), as well as with the Heilbroner Center for Capitalism Studies. She has a bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Political Science from the State University of NY at Stonybrook, a Master of International Affairs (Environmental Policy) from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies and Planning (Housing and Environment) from MIT. Given the diversity of her training, Mia's work is interdisciplinary and she situates herself among radical geographers (race geography) and applied anthropologists, planning/urban theorists (fugitive planning), radical sociologists/historians and those others seeking to link social science concepts of space and race, to the humanities via art and protest.

Dr. Jason Williams is an Associate Professor of Justice Studies at Montclair State University. He’s a passionate activist criminologist deeply concerned about racial and gender disparity and mistreatment within the criminal legal system. He’s published various articles on returning citizens and incarceration, policing and race, gender, and social control, and the broader implications around racialized social control. He is a qualitative criminologist who engages in community-grounded approaches to research. His perspectives and research has been quoted by media outlets around the nation.

Don Winslow is the author of 22 acclaimed, award-winning international bestsellers, including the New York Times bestsellers The Force and The Border, the #1 international bestseller The Cartel, The Power of the Dog, Savages, and The Winter of Frankie Machine. Savages was made into a feature film by three-time Oscar-winning writer-director Oliver Stone. The Cartel trilogy (The Power of the Dog, The Cartel, and The Border) sold to FX to air as a major television series, and The Force is soon to be a major motion picture from 20th Century Studios starring Matt Damon and directed by James Mangold (Ford. vs. Ferrari, Copland, Walk The Line). Winslow is the author of three New York Times Critics Choice Best books of the year. A former investigator, antiterrorist trainer, and trial consultant, Winslow lives in California and Rhode Island. Photo: © Robert Gallagher

Jenny Xie is the author of Eye Level (Graywolf Press, 2018), a finalist for the National Book Award and the PEN Open Book Award, and the recipient of the Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets and the Holmes National Poetry Prize from Princeton University. Her chapbook, Nowhere To Arrive (Northwestern University Press, 2017), received the Drinking Gourd Prize. She has been supported by fellowships and grants from Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Kundiman, and New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2020, she was awarded the Vilcek Prize in Creative Promise. She has taught at Princeton and NYU, and is currently on faculty at Bard College. Her second collection, The Rupture Tense, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in September 2022.

Steve Yarbrough is the author of 12 books, including the novels Stay Gone Days, The Realm of Last Chances, The Unmade World, and The Oxygen Man, and three short story collections. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Fiction, the California Book Award, the Richard Wright Award and the Robert Penn Warren Award and has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. The Unmade World won the 2019 Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. The son of Mississippi Delta cotton farmers, Steve is currently a professor in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College.

Kate Zernike has been a reporter for the New York Times since 2000, and was a member of the team that shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. Her new book The Exceptions: Sixteen Women, MIT, and the Fight for Equality in Science will be published by Scribner in February.