Authors

NATHAN HARRIS is the author of The New York Times bestseller The Sweetness of Water, which was an Oprah’s Book Club pick, the winner of the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and longlisted for the Booker Prize, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. He holds an MFA from the Michener Center at the University of Texas.

ADAM HASLETT is the author of the story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here and the novels Union Atlantic and Imagine Me Gone. He has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, as well as a finalist for the National Book Award and a National Book Critics Circle Award, and a winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, the PEN/Malamud Award, the Berlin Prize, and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He currently directs the MFA program at Hunter College in New York.

HELENA HAYWOODE HENRY is a mom of three and former attorney living in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, area. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and New York University School of Law. Last Chance Live! (Nancy Paulsen Books) is her first novel.

HABEY HECHAVARRÍA PRADO (La Habana, 1969) Teatrólogo e hispanista. Licenciado en Artes Escénicas por el Instituto Superior de Arte. Máster en Ciencias de la Educación por Nova Southeastern University. Doctor en Literatura Hispánica por Florida International University. Ha publicado crítica teatral y ensayos en Cuba y Estados Unidos. Es profesor adjunto en Florida International University.

MARÍA ELENA HERNÁNDEZ CABALLERO nació en La Habana, Cuba, en 1967. Poeta y narradora. Ha publicado entre otros los poemarios: Donde se dice que el mundo es una esfera que dios hace bailar sobre un pingüino ebrio (Premio David 1989), Elogio de la sal (Ed cuarto Propio, Chile, 1996), Electroshock-palabras (Ed La Bohemia, Argentina, 2001), La rama se parte (Ed Torremozas, Madrid, 2013), La noche del erizo (Editorial Casa Vacia, 2018) y La pared (Editorial Kýrne, 2024); además de la novela Libro de la derrota (Hypermedia 2015) y del libro de cuentos Tres metros cuadrados de Purgatorio (Hypermedia, 2019).

MICHAEL HETTICH’s A Sharper Silence, published by Terrapin Books in 2025, has been called a “heartfelt, heartbreaking collection” (Marie Harris). His previous book of poetry, The Halo of Bees: New and Selected Poems, 1990-2022, won the 2024 Brockman-Campbell Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. His poetry, essays, and reviews have appeared widely in many journals and anthologies, and he has published more than a dozen books of poetry across four decades. His other honors include several Individual artist fellowships from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, The Tampa Review Prize in Poetry, the David Martinson/Meadowhawk Prize, a Florida Book Award, the Lena M. Shull Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society, and the inaugural Hudson-Fowler Prize from Slant magazine at the University of Central Arkansas. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Miami and taught for many years at Miami Dade College. A book of interviews, And the Poet Said… was published in 2024, and a new book of poems, Waking Up Alone, is forthcoming in 2026.

CARL HIAASEN was born and raised in Florida. He is the author of 16 novels, including the bestsellers Squeeze Me, Razor Girl, Bad Monkey, Star Island, Nature Girl, Skinny Dip, Sick Puppy, and Lucky You. He has also written six bestselling children’s books: Hoot, Flush, Scat, Chomp, Skink, and Squirm. His most recent work of nonfiction is Assume the Worst: The Graduation Speech You'll Never Hear.

DAVID HILDENBRAND is an award-winning librarian with the Miami-Dade Public Library System and the 2025 Southeast Florida Library Information Network Librarian of the Year. He has developed several nationally recognized, award-winning programs and frequently presents at conferences on emerging technologies, prison outreach, and community engagement. He has chaired multiple library committees and currently serves on the community relations boards for both the Federal Correctional Institution Miami and the Federal Detention Center Miami, where he advocates for expanding library access and strengthening reentry support services.

NÉLSON HINCAPIÉ es actualmente el Director Ejecutivo de la Fundación del Miami Dade College. Antes de trabajar en MDC, fue Presidente y CEO de la Fundación Voices For Children durante más de 12 años. Ha sido fundamental en la creación de políticas y programas de apoyo a jóvenes que salen del sistema de acogida y ha trabajado directamente con cientos de jóvenes como mentor, tutor y guía. Además de dar una de las charlas Tedx más auténticas y poderosas on line, Nélson ha sido conferencista invitado en MAS Talks de Miami Arts Studio, clases de Justicia Criminal en MDC, la Conferencia Nacional del Instituto Daniel Memorial, el Centro de Recursos Familiares y Conferencias Regionales del DCF. Comenzó su carrera en el gobierno como parte del equipo que lideró la exitosa campaña estatal para el Universal  Pre-K. Más tarde, como coordinador en Florida Central para la campaña al Senado de EE. UU. de Alex Penelas, tuvo la oportunidad de visitar muchos condados de Florida, actuando como orador sustituto para el alcalde Penelas. En 2005 se unió al Comisionado del Condado de Miami-Dade Carlos A. Giménez como Asistente, donde se encargó de políticas, legislación, uso de tierras, relaciones con los medios y asuntos de los constituyentes. Nélson también fue enlace del Comisionado Giménez con organizaciones comunitarias. Fue nombrado en The Children's Trust por el alcalde Carlos A. Giménez, donde forma parte del comité ejecutivo y preside el comité ad-hoc de Estatutos. Ha sido presidente del Comité Asesor de Organizaciones Basadas en la Comunidad, creado por los Comisionados del Condado de Miami-Dade, y ha formado parte de la Comisión del Bicentenario de Abraham Lincoln para Miami. También ha sido miembro de la Junta Directiva de la Coalición Colombo Americana. Hincapié tiene una licenciatura en Administración Pública de la Universidad Internacional de Florida y un título en Artes Culinarias de la Universidad Johnson & Wales, y es un Académico Ejecutivo Kellogg de la Escuela de Administración. Nativo de Bogotá, Colombia, está casado con Carolina; la pareja tiene cuatro hijos: Sarah Luna, Simón Lorenzo, Samuel Luciano y Salomé Lucía.

DR. TAMEKA BRADLEY HOBBS, PH.D., is an author and public historian who serves as library regional manager of the Broward Public Library African American Research Library and Cultural Center (AARLCC) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

BRANDON HOBSON is the author of The Removed: A Novel; Where the Dead Sit Talking: A Novel, a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction; as well as other books. He is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation tribe of Oklahoma.

CARLIE HOFFMAN is the author of three poetry collections, including One More World Like This World: Poems, a Library Journal “Title to Watch;” and When There Was Light: Poems, winner of the National Jewish Book Award. She is also the translator of Song of the Yellow Asters by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger and the forthcoming essential poems of Rose Ausländer. Her work has appeared in Poetry, the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day program, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Slowdown, among others. She is the founding editor of Orange Editions/Small Orange Journal and has taught at Columbia University, New York University, and the State University of New York at Purchase. Her honors include a “Discovery”/Boston Review prize, a Poets & Writers Amy Award, and fellowships and grants from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, Convent Arts, and the Goethe-Institut.

BRUCE HOLSINGER is the author of the bestselling Oprah Book Club pick Culpability: A Novel (Spiegel & Grau), and four previous books of fiction, including The Displacements: A Novel and The Gifted School: A Novel, as well as many works of nonfiction, most recently On Parchment: Animals, Archives, and the Making of Culture from Herodotus to the Digital Age. His books have been recognized with the Colorado Book Award, the John Hurt Fisher Prize, the Philip Brett Award, the John Nicholas Brown Prize, the Modern Language Association’s Prize for a First Book, and others. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and many other publications. He teaches at the University of Virginia and is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship.

JAMIE HOOD is the author of How to Be a Good Girl: A Miscellany, one of Vogue’s Best Books of 2020, and regards, marcel, a monthly newsletter on Proust and other miscellany. Her essays and criticism have appeared in The Baffler, Bookforum, The Nation, Los Angeles Review of Books, The New Inquiry, The Drift, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

LISA HOSTEIN is the executive editor of Hadassah Magazine, which is one of the largest-circulation Jewish publications in the United States. Her previous experience includes serving as editor-in-chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the global Jewish news agency. She has won numerous journalism awards throughout her career, including from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and the American Jewish Press Association, which has also honored her with its Simon Rockower Award.

QUIARA ALEGRÍA HUDES is the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Water by the Spoonful and the musical In the Heights, which won the Tony Award for best musical, and which she adapted for the screen. My Broken Language: A Memoir, was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal. Hudes' essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Cut, The Nation, and American Theater Magazine. She is co-founder with her cousin Sean Ortiz of the prison writing program Emancipated Stories.

CYNTHIA HUDSON es una reconocida ejecutiva de medios, galardonada con múltiples premios, y propietaria de Hudson International Media. Ha sido pionera tanto en medios en inglés como en español, gracias a su innovación en la creación de contenidos y a su liderazgo estratégico. Durante 15 años, Hudson se desempeñó como Vicepresidenta Sénior y Directora General de CNN en Español y de la Estrategia Hispana de CNN/U.S., supervisando todos los negocios en español de CNN, incluidos CNNEspanol.com, Radio y CNNXpress Streaming. Antes de eso, fue Directora Creativa y Vicepresidenta Ejecutiva de SBS y Directora General de Mega TV, logrando convertirla en una marca mediática querida por el público. De 1997 a 2005, Hudson ocupó el cargo de Vicepresidenta Sénior y Directora Editorial de Cosmopolitan Television, donde creó Cosmo TV para España, Latinoamérica y Canadá. De 1994 a 1997 fue Vicepresidenta Sénior en United International, donde fundó Casa Club TV para América Latina y el mercado hispano de Estados Unidos. Además, creó y escribió la primera telenovela en inglés, Miami Sands, junto a Promark Entertainment en Hollywood. En los inicios de su carrera fue Vicepresidenta de Programación y Producción de Telemundo Network, donde rediseñó la programación, y de 1984 a 1992 ocupó diversos cargos en noticias, producción y dirección en Univisión, destacándose como Productora Ejecutiva de “TV Mujer”. Nacida en Los Ángeles, ella tiene títulos de Licenciatura y Maestría en Comunicación por la Universidad de Miami y es la orgullosa madre de tres hijas.

ELLEN HUET covers technology and Silicon Valley for Bloomberg News. She was the host of the first season of the Bloomberg Technology podcast Foundering, which covered the fall of WeWork, and previously worked as a crime and breaking-news reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. She lives in San Francisco.

CHRIS HUGHES, a co-founder of Facebook, is an economist and writer who serves as chair of the Economic Security Project, a leading nonprofit advocating for economic power for all Americans. He is the author of Marketcrafters: The 100-Year Struggle to Shape the American Economy (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster). He holds degrees in history and economics from Harvard University and The New School for Social Research, and is completing his doctoral degree at The Wharton School. His writing and essays have been published by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times. His first book, Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn, was published in 2018. He lives in New York City with his husband and two children.

ELIZABETH R. HYMAN is the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Polish Jews who fled their homeland in 1939 and ultimately made their way, as refugees, to the United States. She earned dual master’s degrees in history and library and information science from the University of Maryland-College Park, and, since 2011, has written the history blog “HISTORICITY (was already taken).”

Nacida en Ciudad de México, ISABEL IBÁÑEZ DE LA CALLE es autora de Los ojos de mi padre (Suburbano Ediciones, 2023), una novela que entrelaza memoria, secretos familiares y silencios heredados. Divide su tiempo entre la investigación académica y la creación literaria, mientras cursa el doctorado en el Departamento de Español y Portugués de la Universidad de Texas en Austin. Egresada del MFA en Escritura Creativa en Español de la Universidad de Nueva York (NYU), ha escrito sobre literatura de viajes, arte contemporáneo, arquitectura y teatro en medios como Esquire Magazine, Gatopardo y El Universal. Su obra transita con naturalidad entre la ficción, la no ficción y el teatro, y ha enseñado literatura y escritura en México.

AUDREY INGRAM is the USA Today bestselling author of The River Runs South: A Novel, The Group Trip: A Novel, and most recently, The Summer We Ran (Zibby Publishing), which was selected as an Indie Next, LibraryReads, and Book of the Month pick for June 2025. She is a graduate of Middlebury College and Georgetown University Law Center, and practiced law in Washington, D.C., for 15 years before transitioning to writing. Her work has been featured in Southern Living, Town & Country, and People. An Alabama native, she now lives in Virginia with her husband and three children.

ROSIE INGUANZO (Cuba, 1966) es escritora, actriz y performer. Caracteriza a su alter ego Eslinda Cifuentes en performances junto al violinista y compositor Alfredo Triff. Doctora en literatura iberoamericana y profesora universitaria, ha publicado la novela La Habana sentimental (Bokeh, 2018) y los poemarios Deseo de donde se era (Nos y Otros Editores, 2001), La vida de la vida (Hypermedia, 2018) y Baladas crueles (Ediciones Furtivas, 2023).

JULIA IOFFE is a Russian-born American journalist. Her articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Foreign Policy, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, The New Republic, Politico, and The Atlantic. She has appeared on television programs on MSNBC, CBS, PBS, and other news channels as a Russia expert. She is a founding partner and Washington correspondent at Puck.

AYMANN ISMAIL is an award-winning Slate magazine staff writer whose journalism focuses on identity and religion. He is the creator of the Slate video series "Who's Afraid of Aymann Ismail?" in which he offers an intimate portrayal of American Muslims. Ismail also hosts Man Up – a podcast exploring men, relationships, family, race, and sex – which seeks to provide a blueprint for navigating discussions of masculinity. In addition to Slate, Ismail’s work has been featured on CNN and NPR, and in The New York Times, GQ, The Atlantic, Columbia Journalism Review, and the Huffington Post. His writing has been nominated for the National Magazine Award in reporting and he has won a Writers Guild Award. He lives in Newark, New Jersey, with his family.

HAMID ISMAILOV, born in Kyrgyzstan and raised in Uzbekistan, is considered Central Asia’s foremost living author. His novels include The Railway, The Dead Lake, and The Underground. He lives in Herts, in the United Kingdom.

SUSIE JARAMILLO is an Emmy-nominated director, artist, storyteller, and entrepreneur. The Venezuelan American mother of two is also the creative heart of Encantos, creating the vision and setting the bar for brilliant stories with captivating, diverse characters that will endure the test of time. Jaramillo is the creator of Canticos, the No. 1 bilingual preschool brand that helps little ones learn Spanish through music, joy, and laughter. Canticos features sing-along videos, books, puzzles, games, and a learning app, all inspired by Latino nursery rhymes. It has received widespread industry accolades and awards, including from Common Sense Media, Kidscreen, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal. Canticos was featured in YouTube’s 2023 Impact Report for its positive cultural influence. Jaramillo is also the author and illustrator of more than 35 children’s books and is a sought-after speaker at conferences and festivals nationwide for her leadership and expertise around entrepreneurship, leveraging tech in entertainment, and developing story-based brand franchises in the children's space. She has been featured in Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, Popsugar, SheKnows, AdWeek, and People en Español; and on NPR, NBC, CBS, and Univision. She is listed on NBCU + Telemundo's Inspiring America list and was recently named one of the Advertising Club of New York's People of the Year.

HONORÉE FANONNE JEFFERS is a fiction writer, poet, and essayist. She is the author of the acclaimed New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club pick The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Novel, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and was nominated for the National Book Award. Fanonne Jeffers is also the author of five poetry collections, including The Age of Phillis, which won the NAACP Image Award and was longlisted for the National Book Award.

GISH JEN is the author of six novels, two books of stories, and two works of nonfiction. Her honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, and the Fulbright Foundation, as well as the Lannan Literary Award for Fiction and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her stories have been chosen for The Best American Short Stories five times, including The Best American Short Stories of the Century; she has also delivered the William E. Massey, Sr., Lectures in American Studies at Harvard University. She and her husband split their time between Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Her most recent novel is Bad Bad Girl: A Novel (Knopf).

Miami native DR. DOROTHY JENKINS FIELDS, PH.D., started the movement to preserve Miami Dade’s Black history as a volunteer in 1974, when no one was keeping Black memorabilia. She was assigned by Miami-Dade Public Schools to HistoryMiami Museum for the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial and incorporated The Black Archives in 1977. She was also a 2024-2025 creative futures fellow at the University of Miami’s Center for Black Global Studies. Fields’ proudest accomplishments are her grandchildren Akhu Black, Mary Black, and Phineas Marsh; and her daughters Katherine Marsh, an attorney, and Edda Black, a history professor and 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner in history.