Exclusively representing some of our culture's most important and thought-provoking voices for lectures, readings, workshops, and conferences.
  • Russell Banks
    >> More Russell Banks Russell Banks Acclaimed Author of The Sweet Hereafter

    Russell Banks grew up in a working-class world that has played a major role in shaping his writing. Through a dozen novels...

  • Jeffrey Brown
    >> More Jeffrey Brown Jeffrey Brown PBS NewsHour Senior Correspondent

    Jeffrey Brown is co-anchor and senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, the prestigious nightly news program...

  • A.S. Byatt
    >> More A.S. Byatt A.S. Byatt Award-winning Novelist and Short Story Writer

    British writer A.S. Byatt is the author of the international bestseller Possession and winner of the prestigious Booker Prize.

  • Michael Chabon
    >> More Michael Chabon Michael Chabon Michael Chabon Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist & Essayist

    Michael Chabon transfixed readers across the world with his imaginative writings . . .

  • Roz Chast
    >> More Roz Chast Roz Chast New Yorker Cartoonist

    Roz Chast is a brilliant interpreter of the everyday.  Her cartoons depict neuroses, hilarity, angst and domesticity...

  • Billy Collins
    >> More Billy Collins Billy Collins United States Poet Laureate (2001-2003)

    Billy Collins is an American phenomenon. He combines high critical acclaim with a broad popular appeal...

  • Bernard Cooper
    >> More Bernard Cooper Bernard Cooper Award-winning Memoirist & Fiction Writer

    With his razor-sharp wit and unsparing honesty, Bernard Cooper peels back layers of the familiar, exposing the surprising truths...

  • Michael Cunningham
    >> More Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham Pulitzer Prize-winning Author

    Michael Cunningham is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of The Hours & Home at the End of the World ...

  • Firoozeh Dumas
    >> More Firoozeh Dumas Firoozeh Dumas Bestselling Iranian-American Author

    Firoozeh Dumas is a naturally gifted storyteller whose warm, humorous tales of family and life resonate in all of us...

  • Timothy Egan
    >> More Timothy Egan Timothy Egan National Book Award-winning Author

    Timothy Egan is an award-winning author and online, op-ed columnist for the New York Times.

  • Eve Ensler
    >> More Eve Ensler Eve Ensler Writer, Playwright, Activist

    Eve Ensler, Tony Award winning playwright, performer, and activist, is the author of The Vagina Monologues,

  • Anne Fadiman
    >> More Anne Fadiman Anne Fadiman Award-winning Author, Essayist, and Editor

    Fadiman's sensitive, incisive writing of the unbreachable gulf between the Hmong and American medical systems won her praise & awards.

  • Jonathan Franzen
    >> More Jonathan Franzen Jonathan Franzen Award-winning Novelist The Corrections & Freedom

    Franzen's The Corrections was an enormous international bestseller, nominated for nearly every major book prize in the country.

  • Alexandra Fuller
    >> More Alexandra Fuller Alexandra Fuller Journalist & Award-winning Author

    Alexandra Fuller is the author of the memoir Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood  . . .

  • Ina Garten
    >> More Ina Garten Ina Garten Author of the Barefoot Contessa Books & Television Host

    In 1978, Ina Garten left her job as a nuclear budget analyst at the White House to pursue her dream of working in the food business

  • Ira Glass
    >> More Ira Glass Ira Glass Radio Producer and Host, This American Life

    Ira Glass is the host and producer of the public radio program This American Life. The show had its premiere on Chicago's public...

  • Louise Glück
    >> More Louise Glück Louise Glück United States Poet Laureate (2003–2004)

    Louise Glück is a Pulitzer Prize-winning, former Poet Laureate of the United States. Her books include A Village Life and The Wild Iris.

  • Terry Gross
    >> More Terry Gross Terry Gross Award-winning NPR Host, Fresh Air

    As the host of Fresh Air, Terry Gross is heard by 4.5 millions listeners each week...

  • Sara Gruen
    >> More Sara Gruen Sara Gruen Bestselling Author of Water for Elephants

    Sara Gruen's novels, explore the intimate, and often healing, space between human and non-human

  • Daniel Handler
    >> More Daniel Handler Daniel Handler Bestselling Author, (A.K.A Lemony Snicket)

    Writer of the popular Lemony Snicket books Daniel Handler is also a bestselling novelist . . .

  • Robert Hass
    >> More Robert Hass Robert Hass United States Poet Laureate (1995-1997)

    Robert Hass is a poet of great eloquence, clarity, and force, whose work is rooted in the landscapes of Northern California.

  • Seamus Heaney
    >> More Seamus Heaney Seamus Heaney Nobel Laureate in Literature

    Acclaimed Irish writer, Seamus Heaney's body of work is vast and includes a mix of poetry, prose, criticism, theatre and translation.

  • Jane Hirshfield
    >> More Jane Hirshfield Jane Hirshfield Prize-winning Poet, Translator, and Essayist

    Jane Hirshfield’s poetry speaks to the central issues of human existence—desire and loss, impermanence and beauty...

  • David Henry Hwang
    >> More David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang Playwright (M. Butterfly) & Screenwriter

    David Henry Hwang's acclaimed and award-winning plays focus on identity...

  • Miranda July
    >> More Miranda July Miranda July Filmmaker, Artist & Writer

    Miranda July's  videos, performances, books, and web-based projects question self-assumptions with thoughtful humour...

  • Elizabeth Kolbert
    >> More Elizabeth Kolbert Elizabeth Kolbert Journalist and Author

    Elizabeth Kolbert traveled from Alaska to Greenland, and visited top scientists, to get to the heart of the debate over global warming.

  • Tony Kushner
    >> More Tony Kushner Tony Kushner Pulitzer Prize-winning Playwright

    Tony Kushner forever changed the face of modern drama with his two-part prize-winning opus, Angels in America.

  • Jhumpa Lahiri
    >> More Jhumpa Lahiri Jhumpa Lahiri Pulitzer Prize-winning Author

    Jhumpa Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize for Interpreter of Maladies her debut story collection that explores issues of love...

  • Anne Lamott
    >> More Anne Lamott Anne Lamott Best-selling Author of Traveling Mercies

    Anne Lamott writes about big subjects: Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus -- with self-effacing humor & ruthless honesty . . .

  • Jaron Lanier
    >> More Jaron Lanier Jaron Lanier Scientist, author, musician and artist

    Jaron Lanier is a 21st century Renaissance Man whose unique blend of science and the arts allows him a unique perspective.

  • Erik Larson
    >> More Erik Larson Erik Larson Award-winning Author of In The Garden of the Beasts

    Erik Larson is the author of three New York Times bestsellers, including The Devil in the White City...

  • Fran Lebowitz
    >> More Fran Lebowitz Fran Lebowitz Author, Journalist & Social Observer

    Purveyor of a knowing, urban cool, the witty chronicler of the ”me decade” and the cultural satirist whom many call the heir to Dorothy Parker

  • Barry Lopez
    >> More Barry Lopez Barry Lopez National Book Award Winner & Nature Writer

    To read Barry Lopez is to commune with a deep thinker. His writings have frequently been compared to those of Henry David Thoreau...

  • Armistead Maupin
    >> More Armistead Maupin Armistead Maupin Acclaimed Novelist: Tales of the City Series

    Though Armistead Maupin was one of the first of a new breed of openly gay authors, his appeal has always resided in his inclusiveness...

  • Frances Mayes
    >> More Frances Mayes Frances Mayes Bestselling Author Under the Tuscan Sun

    Frances Mayes is the author of the classic & bestselling Under the Tuscan Sun  and other highly personal books..

  • Alexander McCall Smith
    >> More Alexander McCall Smith Alexander McCall Smith Beloved & Acclaimed Scottish Novelist

    Alexander McCall Smith's bestselling series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency have won acclaim for their humor & charm

  • W.S. Merwin
    >> More W.S. Merwin W.S. Merwin United States Poet Laureate (2010-2011)

    In a career spanning five decades, W.S. Merwin, poet, translator, and environmental activist, has become one of the most respected voices . . .

  • Anchee Min
    >> More Anchee Min Anchee Min Chinese/American Bestselling Author

    Anchee Min has been called “a wild, passionate and fearless American writer.”

  • Azar Nafisi
    >> More Azar Nafisi Azar Nafisi Iranian/American Bestselling Author

    Azar Nafisi is best-known as the author of the international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books which...

  • Marion Nestle
    >> More Marion Nestle Marion Nestle Author and Nutrition expert

    Marion Nestle writes about the politics of food and dietary choice.

  • Kathleen Norris
    >> More Kathleen Norris Kathleen Norris Bestselling Writer on Faith & Spirituality

    Exploring the spiritual life, Kathleen Norris' work is intimate & historical, rich in poetry & meditations...

  • Naomi Shihab Nye
    >> More Naomi Shihab Nye Naomi Shihab Nye Award-winning Poet, Writer, & Educator

    Palestinian/American writer, Naomi Shihab Nye is a “wandering poet" whose writing reaffirms our shared humanity . . .

  • Joyce Carol Oates
    >> More Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates National Book Award Winner and Best-selling Author

    There is no more versatile and accomplished American writer than Joyce Carol Oates.

  • Sharon Olds
    >> More Sharon Olds Sharon Olds

    Sharon Olds is the author of eight volumes of poetry. Her poetry, says Michael Ondaatje, is “pure fire in the hands,” and...

  • Mary Oliver
    >> More Mary Oliver Mary Oliver Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet & Essayist

    Mary Oliver’s poetry has firmly established her in the highest realm of writers working today...

  • Michael Ondaatje
    >> More Michael Ondaatje Michael Ondaatje Booker Prize-winning Novelist

    Michael Ondaatje is one of the world’s foremost writers – author of the international bestseller, The English Patient . . .

  • Suzan-Lori Parks
    >> More Suzan-Lori Parks Suzan-Lori Parks Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright

    Named one of TIME’s “100 Innovators for the Next New Wave,” Suzan-Lori Parks is an exciting voice in the American Theatre . . .

  • Robert Pinsky
    >> More Robert Pinsky Robert Pinsky United States Poet Laureate (1997–2000)

    Robert Pinsky’s first two terms as United States Poet Laureate were marked by such visible dynamism, and such national...

  • Michael Pollan
    >> More Michael Pollan Michael Pollan Bestselling Author In Defense of Food

    Michael Pollan's writings about food, health, and the business of eating have changed the way America eats.: . . .

  • Frank Rich
    >> More Frank Rich Frank Rich Author & Journalist

    Frank Rich is an intrepid observer of American Life.  As Writer-at-Large at New York magazine, he fearlessly tackles . . .

  • Luis J. Rodriguez
    >> More Luis J. Rodriguez Luis J. Rodriguez Award-winning Poet, Activist, and Author

    Luis J. Rodriguez is convinced that a writer can change the world. Indeed it is through education and the power of words...

  • Kay Ryan
    >> More Kay Ryan Kay Ryan United States Poet Laureate (2008-2010)

    Kay Ryan’s intensely strange, yet humorous and musical poems have been compared to those of Emily Dickinson.

  • Mark Salzman
    >> More Mark Salzman Mark Salzman Acclaimed Novelist & Memoirist

    Mark Salzman is an award-winning author who has written on a variety of subjects, from a graceful novel...

  • Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky
    >> More Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky Dr. Robert M. Sapolsky Science & Nature Writer & Stress Expert

    His perspective on the human condition comes from his insights from the field with his findings as a neuroscientist.

  • Marjane Satrapi
    >> More Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi Bestselling Artist & Author of Persepolis

    Iranian artist and filmmaker, Marjane Satrapi is the creator of "Persepolis" -- both a bestselling comix memoir & also an award winning film.

  • Orville Schell
    >> More Orville Schell Orville Schell Author and Journalist

    While best known as one of the country's most well informed and thoughtful observers on China, Orville Schell has also been...

  • Eric Schlosser
    >> More Eric Schlosser Eric Schlosser Bestselling Author and Journalist
    Fast Food Nation, Reefer Madness, and Food, Inc.  

    Eric Schlosser is a bestselling author and journalist who explores subjects ignored by the mainstream media...

  • Alice Sebold
    >> More Alice Sebold Alice Sebold Bestselling Author of The Lovely Bones

    Rarely has an author had such an impact on international literature with her first novel, especially when it focuses on the dark subjects...

  • David Sedaris
    >> More David Sedaris David Sedaris Bestselling Author & New Yorker Contributor

    David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent & bestselling humor writers. His NPR audio essays are considered classics.

  • Scott Simon
    >> More Scott Simon Scott Simon NPR Host, Weekend Edition & Author

    Scott Simon brings perspective to his role as host of Weekend Edition Saturday from Ground Zero in NYC to ground zero in Kabul . . .

  • Zadie Smith
    >> More Zadie Smith Zadie Smith Prize-winning Author of White Teeth and On Beauty

    Novelist Zadie Smith was born in North London in 1975. Her acclaimed first novel, White Teeth (2000), is a vibrant portrait ...

  • Stephen Sondheim
    >> More Stephen Sondheim Stephen Sondheim Playwright, Composer, & Lyricist

    The composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is the most important artist to work in the American musical theater over the past half-century.

  • Art Spiegelman
    >> More Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman Pulitzer Prize-winning Artist/Illustrator: MAUS

    With his memoir MAUS, Art Spiegelman has almost single-handedly brought comic books out of the toy closet and onto the literature shelves.

  • Amy Tan
    >> More Amy Tan Amy Tan Acclaimed International Bestselling Author

    Amy Tan is the author of many acclaimed & beloved novels, including The Joy Luck Club which is also a feature film . . .

  • Sarah Vowell
    >> More Sarah Vowell Sarah Vowell Bestselling Author: The Wordy Shipmates

    She has written about everything from the Trail of Tears, presidential libraries, Frank Sinatra to more personal . . .

  • Chris Ware
    >> More Chris Ware Chris Ware Award-winning Cartoonist and Author

    Ware's art is eclectic and reflects his love of early 20th century American aesthetics in both cartooning & graphic design...

  • Terry Tempest Williams
    >> More Terry Tempest Williams Terry Tempest Williams Conservationist, Writer & Activist  

    Terry Tempest Williams has been called "a citizen writer," a writer who speaks out eloquently on behalf of an ethical stance toward life

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Ira Glass

NOTEWORTHY:

Ira Glass receives Medal from the American Academy of Arts & Letters.

Ira Glass is the host and creator of the public radio program This American Life. The show premiered on Chicago's public radio station WBEZ in 1995 and is now heard on more than 500 public radio stations each week by over 1.7 million listeners. The American Journalism Review declared that the show is "at the vanguard of a journalistic revolution." In 2013 Ira Glass received the Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts & Letters.

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W.S. Merwin

NOTEWORTHY:

W. S. Merwin's The Collected Poems of W.S. Merwin published

In a career spanning five decades, W.S. Merwin, poet, translator, and environmental activist, has become one of the most widely read — and imitated — poets in America. In March 2013 he was awarded the first Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award. A two-volume set of his work, The Collected Poems of W.S. Merwin, will be published in May 2013.

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Jaron Lanier

NOTEWORTHY:

Jaron Lanier's new book is Who Owns the Future?

A Renaissance Man for the 21st century, Jaron Lanier is a computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author. His new book, Who Owns the Future? has just been released.

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Eve Ensler

NOTEWORTHY:

Eve Ensler's new book is In the Body of the World

Eve Ensler is a Tony Award winning playwright, performer, activist, and cancer survivor. Her new book, In the Body of the World  is a brave and beautiful examination of an illness, unlike anything ever written about cancer.

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Anchee Min

NOTEWORTHY:

Anchee Min's next book is The Cooked Seed: A Memoir

Anchee Min’s writing has been praised for its raw, sharp language and historical accuracy. Her next book, due in May 2013, will be a memoir that continues where Red Azalea left off. The Cooked Seed: A Memoir will tell the story of Min’s struggles to find herself in a new land.

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Billy Collins

NOTEWORTHY:

Billy Collins selected for Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize

Billy Collins is an American phenomenon. No poet since Robert Frost has managed to combine high critical acclaim with such broad popular appeal. In April 2013 he was selected as the fourth winner of the Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry.. His next book,  Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems 2003 – 2013, will be released in October 2013.

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Chris Ware

NOTEWORTHY:

Chris Ware awarded Lynd Ward Award for Building Stories

Chris Ware's work has appeared in many national and international art exhibits to increasing international fame. His newest book, Building Stories, was has been awarded the Lynd Ward Prize for Graphic Novel of the Year...

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Michael Pollan

NOTEWORTHY:

Michael Pollan's new book is Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

For the past twenty years, Michael Pollan has been writing books and articles about the places where the human and natural worlds intersect: food, agriculture, gardens, drugs, and architecture. His new book is  Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.

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Erik Larson

NOTEWORTHY:

Erik Larson has joined the Steven Barclay Agency

Erik Larson is the author of three New York Times bestsellers, including The Devil in the White City, which remained on the Times‘ hardcover and paperback lists for a combined total of over three years. His most recent book is In The Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin.

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Jonathan Franzen

NOTEWORTHY:

Jonathan Franzen's book will Farther Away to be released as a paperback

Jonathan Franzen has been voted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an “honor society” whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. His most recent book, Farther Away, a collection of essays, is being released in paperback on April 23rd.

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Zadie Smith

NOTEWORTHY:

Zadie Smith a finalist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction

Novelist Zadie Smith was born in North London in 1975 to an English father and a Jamaican mother. In 2003 and again in 2013 she was nominated by Granta magazine as one of 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'. Her latest novel, NW, was named as one of The New York Times '10 Best Books of 2012.' Smith is a finalist for the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction.

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Sharon Olds

NOTEWORTHY:

Sharon Olds wins 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her book Stag's Leap

Sharon Olds is the author of eight volumes of poetry. Her poetry, says Michael Ondaatje, is “pure fire in the hands.”  Her most recent collection, Stag's Leap (2012) was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize.

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Alexander McCall Smith

NOTEWORTHY:

Alexander McCall Smith's A Conspiracy of Friends is being released in paperback

Alexander McCall Smith, referred to as our new P.G. Wodehouse, is a modern serial novelist. A Conspiracy of Friends the third in the Corduroy Mansions series is being released in paperback.

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David Sedaris

NOTEWORTHY:

David Sedaris' new book is Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls

With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. His new book is Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls.

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Daniel Handler

NOTEWORTHY:

Daniel Handler releases new book as Lemony Snicket; The Dark

As Lemony Snicket Daniel Handler has collaborated with Jon Klassen on a new picture book,  The Dark. Handler is the author of the literary novels The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and, most recently, Adverbs. Under the name Lemony Snicket he has also written a sequence of books for children, known collectively as A Series of Unfortunate Events, which have sold more than 60 million copies and were the basis of a feature film.

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Robert Pinsky

NOTEWORTHY:

Robert Pinsky's next book is Singing School: Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters.

Robert Pinsky’s first two terms as United States Poet Laureate were marked by such visible dynamism, and such national enthusiasm in response, that the Library of Congress appointed him to an unprecedented third term. Throughout his career, Pinsky has been dedicated to identifying and invigorating poetry’s place in the world. Pinsky's next book, due in August 2013, will be Singing School: Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters.

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Kay Ryan

NOTEWORTHY:

Kay Ryan is the recipient of the 2013 Fred Cody Award

Kay Ryan, United States Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, was born in California in 1945 and grew up in the small towns of the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert. Her most recent collection, The Best of It: New and Selected Poems, was nominated for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award and was just awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in April, 2011. In 2013 she was the recipient of the Fred Cody Award for Lifetime Achievement in Community and Literature.

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  • Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
    Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
  • In the Body of the World by Eve Ensler
    In the Body of the World by Eve Ensler
  • Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan
    Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan
  • CO-MIX: A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics, and Scraps by Art Spiegelman
    CO-MIX: A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics, and Scraps by Art Spiegelman
  • Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier
    Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier
  • The Cooked Seed by Anchee Min
    The Cooked Seed by Anchee Min
  • When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams
    When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams
  • The Dark by Daniel Handler
    The Dark by Daniel Handler
  • Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen
    Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen
  • A Permanent Member of the Family by Russell Banks
    A Permanent Member of the Family by Russell Banks
  • The Collected Poems of W.S. Merwin by W.S. Merwin
    The Collected Poems of W.S. Merwin by W.S. Merwin
  • When Did You See Her Last by Daniel Handler
    When Did You See Her Last by Daniel Handler
  • Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems 2003 – 2013 by Billy Collins
    Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems 2003 – 2013 by Billy Collins
  • The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
    The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
  • Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
    Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
  • Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-first Century, by Orville Schell
    Wealth and Power: China’s Long March to the Twenty-first Century, by Orville Schell