Award-Winning Author Speakers

Boasting Pulitzers, National Book Awards, and reams of critical acclaim, these award-winning author speakers are true literary masters.

Ron Chernow

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Washington: A Life and Alexander Hamilton

Ta-Nehisi Coates

#1 New York Times-bestselling author of Between the World and Me and We Were Eight Years in Power

Jennifer Egan

Author of Manhattan Beach and the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit from the Goon Squad

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

National Book Award-winning historian and author of How to Be an Antiracist

Colson Whitehead

Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys

More Award-Winning Author Speakers

Ken Armstrong

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and co-author of Unbelievable

Shane Bauer

Investigative reporter and author of American Prison

Katherine Boo

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and National Book Award-winning author of Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Rick Bragg

Pulitzer Prize-winning memoirist and author of All Over But the Shoutin', Ava's Man, and The Prince of Frogtown

Geraldine Brooks

Author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning March and the international bestselling People of the Book

Marc Brown

Award-winning and bestselling author of the popular Arthur series

Ken Burns

Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker

Alisyn Camerota

Author, journalist, and anchor of the CNN morning news program New Day.

Peter Carey

Two-time Booker Prize winner, National Book Award finalist, and celebrated author of Amnesia

Steve Coll

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, New Yorker staff writer, and author of Ghost Wars and Directorate S

David Ewing Duncan

Award-winning science and technology journalist and bestselling author of Talking to Robots

Junot Díaz

Author of New York Times bestsellers The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and This is How You Lose Her; winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Joseph J. Ellis

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, presidential historian, and author of Founding Brothers and American Dialogue

Nathan Englander

Finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in fiction and author of Dinner at the Center of the Earth and kaddish.com

Danielle Evans

Recipient of the National Book Foundation's 'Under 35' award and author of Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self and The Office of Historical Corrections

Dexter Filkins

Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent and author of The Forever War

Dr. Sheri Fink

Pulitzer Prize-winning medical journalist and author of Five Days at Memorial, M.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford

Karen Joy Fowler

Award-winning and bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

Patricia Reilly Giff

Two-time Newbery Honor-winning author of such beloved novels as Lily's Crossing and Pictures of Hollis Woods

Paul Greenberg

James Beard Award-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food and American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood

Yaa Gyasi

Author of Homegoing and Transcendent Kingdom, and recipient of the National Book Foundation's 'Under 35' award

Carl Hiaasen

Bestselling novelist, Newbery Honor winner, and Miami Herald columnist

Jennifer L. Holm

Three-time Newbery Honor-winning and New York Times-bestselling author of Babymouse

Matthew Holm

Co-creator of two award-winning graphic novel series for children, Babymouse and Squish

Norton Juster

Author of the beloved children's classic The Phantom Tollbooth

Phil Klay

U.S. Marine Corps veteran and author of Redeployment, winner of 2014 National Book Award for Fiction

Robert Kolker

Award-winning journalist and instant #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Hidden Valley Road

Fredrik Logevall

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Embers of War and Vietnam War historian

Mike Lupica

Prominent sportswriter and New York Times bestselling novelist of Travel Team and Heat

Dinaw Mengestu

Named one of The New Yorker '20 Under 40' writers to watch and author of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears and How to Read the Air

Sigrid Nunez

Author of the 2018 National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller, The Friend

Kwame Onwuachi

James Beard Award-winning Chef and author of Notes from a Young Black Chef

Suze Orman

America’s most recognized expert on personal finance

Ruth Ozeki

Filmmaker, novelist, and Zen Buddhist priest

Gary Paulsen

Prolific three-time Newbery Honor winner, hailed as "One of the Best Loved Writers Alive" by The New York Times

Matt de la Peña

New York Times bestselling author of books for children and young adults

Chris Raschka

Beloved two-time Caldecott Award and Honor Award winner

Kiley Reid

Debut novelist of instant New York Times-bestselling Such a Fun Age

Karen Russell

Author of the acclaimed bestseller Swamplandia! and Orange World

Richard Russo

Author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Empire Falls and Everybody's Fool

Jerry Saltz

Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic for New York magazine

T.J. Stiles

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, American historian and author of Custer's Trials

David Treuer

Author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee and Rez Life

Ocean Vuong

Poet and author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Isabel Wilkerson

Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the critically acclaimed bestsellers The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste

Jacqueline Woodson

National Book Award and four-time Newbery Honor Winner, MacArthur Fellow, and bestselling author of Red at the Bone

Lawrence Wright

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower and staff writer for The New Yorker

Hanya Yanagihara

National Book Award finalist, Man Booker Prize finalist, and author of A Little Life

Charles Yu

National Book Award-winning author of Interior Chinatown

Markus Zusak

#1 New York Times- bestselling author of The Book Thief