Authors

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.

TOM HUDSON is WLRN South Florida's senior economics editor and special correspondent. His extensive reporting on South Florida's economy has taken him from the waters of Florida Bay to the depths of the PortMiami tunnel (and countless offices and conference rooms). He has interviewed everyone from bartenders to CEOs to report on the people behind economic statistics. He began his business reporting career in 2000, just weeks after the dot-com bubble burst. He has reported from the trading floors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, NASDAQ, and the New York Stock Exchange. He previously served as vice president of news at WLRN and created and hosted The Sunshine Economy for 10 years. He was also managing editor and co-anchor of Nightly Business Report on PBS. He is married with two sons, and personal experience and the X-rays to prove it compel him to advise every bicycle rider to always wear their helmet.

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.

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).

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.

SOUDI JIMÉNEZ (Ahuachapán, El Salvador, 1976) es periodista y escritor. Se radicó en Los Ángeles, California, en 2005 cuando llegó como funcionario diplomático para el Consulado General de El Salvador. Obtuvo su licenciatura en Periodismo en la Universidad de El Salvador (UES). Inició su carrera periodística como corresponsal de Radio World International (1997), más tarde laboró como reportero en el noticiario televisivo del Canal 21 (1999), en San Salvador. Actualmente es reportero de la publicación en español de Los Angeles Times, en donde cubre temas de la comunidad latina desde el 2012. En su trayectoria profesional ha realizado coberturas internacionales sobre temas de migración en Guatemala y El Salvador. En 2023 abordó las condiciones de los migrantes venezolanos en Bogotá, Colombia, enviado como becario del programa de intercambio «Líderes emergentes de los medios de comunicación», iniciativa impulsada por el Centro Internacional para Periodistas (ICFJ). Su trabajo ha recibido premios y reconocimientos. En 2017, la National Association of Hispanic Publications le dio el primer lugar en la categoría artículo político nacional por el reportaje «Buscan igualdad». De igual modo, en 2014 Los Angeles Press Club le otorg ó el primer lugar en la categoría mejor reportaje por «La raíz olvidada» y el primer lugar en la categoría nota dura por «Familia mexicana inicia camino de esperanza».

CHANTEL JIROCH is a photographer, creative director, and entrepreneur whose work captures authentic narratives and human connection. With a passion for storytelling and visual artistry, she uses her lens to amplify voices, highlight beauty in everyday people, and create imagery that tells a story.

STEPHEN GRAHAM JONES is The New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, and I Was a Teenage Slasher: A Novel. He has been a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship recipient and is a recipient of several awards, including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times; the Bram Stoker Award; the Shirley Jackson Award; the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters; the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction; and the Alex Award from American Library Association. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

MOLLY JONG-FAST is a contributing writer at Vanity Fair, a political analyst at MSNBC News, and host of the podcast Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast. She is the author of four books, including her latest, How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir (Viking).

FABIENNE JOSAPHAT is a Haitian‑born novelist and screenwriter whose debut, Dancing in the Baron’s Shadow: A Novel, unfolds under François “Papa Doc” Duvalier’s dictatorship as two brothers risk everything under state terror. A graduate of Florida International University’s MFA program, she writes across genres, with work in The Washington Post, African American Review, Teen Vogue, and journals. She also leads Miami Book Fair workshops and mentors emerging writers. In fiction and nonfiction, she brings lyrical precision to histories of resistance, exile, and intimacy, centering Haitian voices and women’s experiences. She is at work on new projects across page and screen, extending her exploration of memory and justice from Port‑au‑Prince, Haiti, to the diaspora, and fostering conversations that connect readers to Haiti’s past and present. In 2023 she won the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction for Kingdom of No Tomorrow: A Novel (Algonquin Books).

RODGER KAMENETZ wrote The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet's Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India, an international bestseller that prompted a reevaluation of Judaism in the light of Buddhist thought. His book Stalking Elijah: Adventures with Today's Jewish Mystical Masters won the National Jewish Book Award and he was interviewed on Oprah’s Soul Series for The History of Last Night's Dream: Discovering the Hidden Path to the Soul. His eight books of poetry include The Missing Jew: Poems 1976-2022. He is professor emeritus at Louisiana State University, where he directed the MFA program in creative writing and the Jewish studies minor. He leads an international group of Natural Dreamwork practitioners and lives in New Orleans. His website is www.kamenetz.com.

A National Poetry Series finalist, JEN KARETNICK is the author of 13 collections of poetry, including Inheritance with a High Error Rate (Cider Press Review), winner of the 2022 Cider Press Review Book Award and semifinalist for the Poetry Society of Virginia 2025 North American Book Awards. Forthcoming books include What Forges Us Steel: The Judge Judy Poems (Alternating Current Press, 2025), Domiciliary (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2026), and Organ Language (Lit Fox Books, 2026). The co-founder and managing editor of SWWIM Every Day, she has recent or forthcoming work in Pleiades, Plume, Seneca Review, Shenandoah, Sixth Finch, swamp pink, Verse Daily, and elsewhere.

LANEY KATZ BECKER is an award-winning author and a writer and former literary agent. Her latest fiction work, In the Family Way: A Novel (Harper), was published in June 2025. Her other books include her debut novel, Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend and the nonfiction anthology Three Times Chai: 54 Rabbis Tell Their Favorite Stories. Born and raised in Ohio, Becker is a graduate of Northwestern University, a former resident of Chappaqua, New York. She lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, with her husband and their Havanese.

JONAS HASSEN KHEMIRI is the author of six novels, seven plays, and a collection of plays, essays, and short stories. His first novel, One Eye Red (Ett öga rött), received the Borås Tidning Award for best literary debut novel and became the bestselling paperback in Sweden of any category in 2004. His second novel, Montecore: The Silence of the Tiger, received the prestigious P.O. Enquist Literary Prize, won Swedish Radio’s Award for best novel, and was nominated for the August Award. Upon its U.S. publication by Knopf, The New York Times Book Review dubbed the novel “wondrous.” In 2012, following a terrorist bombing in central Stockholm, he published the powerful short novel I Call My Brothers (Jag ringer mina bröder) to critical acclaim. Everything I Don’t Remember: A Novel (Allt jag inte minns), his greatly anticipated fourth novel, was published in 2015 and received the August Prize, Sweden’s highest literary honor. The Family Clause (Pappaklausulen) was published in the U.S. in 2020, longlisted for the Pen America Literary Awards, and chosen as a finalist for the National Book Award. His seventh book, The Sisters: A Novel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) became one of the bestselling novels of 2023 and was a finalist for the August Prize. His novels have been translated into more than 35 languages and he is the first Swedish writer to have a short story published in The New Yorker. He is also a celebrated playwright whose six plays have been performed by more than 100 international companies on stages from Stockholm and Berlin to New York and London. He was awarded a Village Voice Obie Award for his first play, Invasion!, which premiered in New York in 2011. In 2013, his open letter to the Swedish minister of justice in response to the controversial police project REVA, which was first published in Dagens Nyheter, rapidly became one of the most shared articles on social media in Swedish history. The article was later translated into more than a dozen languages and published in newspapers around the world, including The New York Times. In 2021, he moved to New York with his family to write a new novel as a Cullman fellow. He teaches in the creative writing program at New York University.

LILY KING is the award-winning author of five novels, including Heart the Lover: A Novel (Grove Press) and Writers & Lovers: A Novel, and her first collection of short stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter: Stories. Her 2014 novel Euphoria won a Kirkus Prize and a New England Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Award. Euphoria was also named one of the "10 Best Books of 2014" by The New York Times Book Review. It was included in Time's "Top 10 Fiction Books of 2014" as well as on Amazon, NPR, Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, and Salon best books of 2014 lists.

ALLISON KING is an Asian American writer and software engineer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In technology, her work has ranged from semiconductors and platforms for community conversations to data privacy. A 2023 Reese’s Book Club LitUp fellow, her short stories have appeared in Fantasy Magazine, Diabolical Plots, and LeVar Burton Reads, among other publications. The Phoenix Pencil Company: A Novel (William Morrow) is her debut book of fiction.