>> More 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...

>> More 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.

>> More Michael Chabon

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist & Essayist

Michael Chabon transfixed readers across the world with the imaginative acrobatics of his bestseller The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay . . .

>> More Billy Collins

United States Poet Laureate (2001-2003)

Billy Collins is an American phenomenon. No poet since Robert Frost has managed to combine high critical acclaim with such broad popular appeal.

>> More 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...

>> More Michael Cunningham

Pulitzer Prize-winning Author

Michael Cunningham is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of The Hours & Home at the End of the World both of which have been made into feature films.

>> More Firoozeh Dumas

Bestselling Iranian-American Author

Readers of all ages have loved her stories. Jimmy Carter called Funny in Farsi “A humorous and introspective chronicle of a life filled with love of family . . ."

>> More 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.

>> More Jonathan Franzen

Award-winning Novelist The Corrections

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

>> More 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 & Scribbling the Cat . . .

>> More 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...

>> More Louise Gluck

United States Poet Laureate (2003–2004)

Winner of the Pulizer Prize, poet Louise Glück was United States Poet Laureate (2003-2004)

>> More Terry Gross

Award-winning NPR Host, Fresh Air

As the host of Fresh Air, NPR’s weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues, Terry Gross is heard by 4.5 millions listeners each week

>> More Daniel Handler

Bestselling Author, (A.K.A Lemony Snicket)

Writers of the phenomenally popular Lemony Snicket books for children with over 53 million copies in print, Daniel Handler is also the bestselling novelist . . .

>> More Robert Hass

United States Poet Laureate (1995-1997)

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

>> More 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.

>> More 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...

>> More David Henry Hwang

Playwright (M. Butterfly) & Screenwriter

Throughout his career, playwright David Henry Hwang has explored the complexities of forging Eastern and Western cultures in a contemporary America

>> More 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.

>> More 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.

>> More 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 and identity among immigrants

>> More Anne Lamott

Best-selling Author of Traveling Mercies

Anne Lamott writes & speaks about subjects that begin with capital letters: Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus -- with self-effacing humor & ruthless honesty . . .

>> More 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...

>> More 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...

>> More Frances Mayes

Bestselling Author Under the Tuscan Sun

Frances Mayes is the author of the now-classic Under the Tuscan Sun – a New York Times bestseller for more than 2 years and also a beloved film . . .

>> More Alexander McCall Smith

Beloved & Acclaimed Scottish Novelist

Alexander McCall Smith's international bestselling series, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency have won both critical and popular acclaim for their humor & . . .

>> More W.S. Merwin

Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet and Essayist

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

>> More Anchee Min

Chinese/American Bestselling Author

Author of the memoir Red Azalea Anchee Min recounts her childhood in comunist China -- a story that has been compared to The Diary of Anne Frank

>> More 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...

>> More Kathleen Norris

Bestselling Writer on Faith & Spirituality

Exploring the spiritual life, her work is intimate & historical, rich in poetry & meditations, brimming with exasperation & reverence, deeply grounded in . . .

>> More Naomi Shihab Nye

Award-winning Poet, Writer, & Educator

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

>> More Sharon Olds

Award-winning Poet and Educator

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

>> More Mary Oliver

Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet & Essayist

Mary Oliver’s poetry, with her lyrical connection to the natural world, has firmly established her in the highest realm of writers working today

>> More Michael Ondaatje

Booker Prize-winning Novelist

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

>> More Suzan-Lori Parks

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Playwright

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

>> More 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...

>> More Michael Pollan

Bestselling Author In Defense of Food

With his two bestsellers, Omnivore's Dilemma & In Defense of Food Michael Pollan has captured the attention of those interested in healthier . . .

>> More David Rakoff

Public Radio Humorist & Commentator

The wry and the heartfelt join in David Rakoff's prose to resurrect that most-neglected of literary virtues: wit.