Jelani Alladin is a fast-emerging star who is establishing himself across television, film, and theater. Alladin recently starred in Showtime’s Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominated limited series Fellow Travelers, alongside Matt Bomer, Jonathan Bailey, Noah J. Ricketts, and Allison Williams. The series is based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon. Alladin plays ambitious Black reporter, “Marcus,” contending with D.C. racism and some of his own femme-phobia as he falls for a drag performer, Frankie (Ricketts). The A.V. Club called Alladin’s performance “a revelation.” Upcoming, Alladin will star in the independent feature Beneath the Fold, a gritty story about the dying days of print media. Set at the tail end of the 2007–2009 financial crisis, a team of local news people cope with the realities of a changing world, waning resources, and a clash of personalities. Previously, Alladin has appeared in The Walking Dead: World Beyond for AMC, Law & Order: SVU, and FBI. In film, Alladin starred in Netflix’s Tick, Tick… Boom! and MGM’s Respect in 2021. On stage, he was last seen as Hercules in Public Works’ musical adaptation of Disney’s Hercules. Alladin made his Broadway debut starring as Kristoff in Disney’s Frozen, earning a Drama Desk nomination for Best Leading Actor and a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Performance. Additional credits include audiobooks for the New York Times notable My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson and Boys Come First by Aaron Foley. Alladin is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of The Arts and currently resides in New York City.

Judy Blume’s twenty-five books for young readers and her four bestselling novels for adults have been published in forty languages. Among her many honors, she has been named a Literary Legend by the Library of Congress, received the National Book Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, and was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People of the Year in 2023. For more than forty years she has been a champion of intellectual freedom working to support teachers and librarians in their fight to keep challenged books on their shelves. An Emmy-nominated documentary Judy Blume Forever and a major motion picture based on her iconic novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, are now streaming. In 2016 Blume and her husband, George Cooper, founded an independent, non-profit bookstore (Books & Books KW) in their hometown of Key West. Blume can be found working there several days a week, shelving books and chatting with customers.

Jessica Hecht received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in the Netflix series Special. She has been seen on television in the limited series Super Pumped and The Loudest Voice and in recurring roles on Tokyo Vice, The Sinner, Dickinson, The Boys, and Succession. She is also recognizable to television audiences from Friends and Breaking Bad. She has played memorable roles on Bored to Death, High Maintenance, Falling Water, The Single Guy, and Red Oaks. Her film performances include A+, Anesthesia, J. Edgar, The Grey Zone, The Sitter, My Soul to Take, Dan in Real Life, Sideways, The Atlantic City Story, and The Sunlit Night. An acclaimed stage actress, Hecht has appeared on Broadway in productions of The Price opposite Mark Ruffalo; Fiddler on the Roof opposite Danny Burstein; The Assembled Parties opposite Judith Light; Harvey opposite Jim Parsons; After the Fall opposite Carla Gugino; The Last Night of Ballyhoo opposite Paul Rudd; Brighton Beach Memoirs opposite Laurie Metcalf; Julius Caesar opposite Denzel Washington; A View From the Bridge opposite Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson (Tony nomination); and Summer, 1976 opposite Laura Linney (Tony nomination). Off-Broadway, she has appeared in King Lear opposite John Lithgow and Annette Bening, Stage Kiss opposite Sandra Oh, Three Sisters opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, and at Lincoln Center Theater in Admissions, for which she received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination and an Obie Award. Upcoming projects include Floating Carousel and Eleanor the Great.

Troy Iwata joined Comedy Central's The Daily Show as a new correspondent, and in the same year was named to Variety's Top 10 Comics to Watch of 2024. He recently starred in the hit independent film Summoning Sylvia, a queer-horror-comedy in which he stars alongside Michael Urie and Frankie Grande. Troy will next recur on Netflix's The Perfect Couple opposite Nicole Kidman. He recurred on Apple TV+’s limited series WeCrashed as Damian Saito alongside Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway, and also starred in the Netflix series Dash & Lily, which garnered 12 Emmy nominations. He made his Broadway debut in the viral sensation Be More Chill in 2019.

Maulik Pancholy is an award-winning actor, author, and activist. He is best known for his comedic turns on television playing Jonathan on the Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG award–winning NBC comedy 30 Rock. He played Sanjay on Showtime’s hit series Weeds, and starred as Neal on the NBC comedy Whitney. He is the voice of Baljeet on Disney’s Emmy Award–winning Phineas and Ferb and the title voice of Sanjay on Nickelodeon’s Sanjay and Craig. For his work on television, he has been nominated for and won the Screen Actors Guild award on multiple occasions. On Broadway, Pancholy has starred in Grand Horizons and It’s Only A Play. Pancholy’s debut novel, The Best at It, was named a 2020 Stonewall Honor Book, a 2019 Junior Library Guild Selection, and a Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Books. His second novel, Nikhil Out Loud, was named a 2023 Lambda Literary Award Winner and a Kirkus Best Book of 2022. Pancholy is currently creating, executive producing, and writing a fiction, scripted podcast for Broadway Video, and his third novel, Will They, Won't They, is slated for a Summer 2026 release. A longtime advocate for the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and LGBTQIA+ communities, Pancholy was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Advisory Commission on AAPIs. He is also a co-founder of the AAPI anti-bullying nonprofit ActToChange.org, which envisions a world where all young people can celebrate their identities.

Academy Award–nominated actress Amy Ryan is known for her work on the big and small screen alike, as well as her Tony-nominated work on stage. She can be seen in the Apple TV+ series Sugar, opposite Colin Farrell; Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building; and the Apple film Wolfs, opposite George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Some notable film credits include Beau Is Afraid, Worth, Birdman, Clear History, Lost Girls, Late Night, Strange but True, Gone Baby Gone, Bridge of Spies, Win Win, Jack Goes Boating, Capote, Green Zone, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Central Intelligence, and Keane. Her television credits include The Wire, The Office, In Treatment, Broad City, and High Maintenance. Amy has worked in the theater for more than 25 years on and off Broadway and in London. Her work onstage earned her an OBIE award for her performance in LOVE LOVE LOVE, and three Tony nominations for A Streetcar Named Desire, Uncle Vanya, and Doubt.

Roxane Gay is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women, and the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is at work on television and film projects. Gay also has a newsletter, The Audacity, and her most recent work, Opinions, was published in October 2023. Her latest book, How to Be Heard, will be published in December.

Shirley Jackson (1916 – 1965) was an American author whose works include the novels The Road Through the Wall, The Haunting of Hill House, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and the short story collections The Lottery and Other Stories and Dark Tales. Her stories have been widely anthologized and featured in The Best American Short Stories and the O. Henry Prize Stories, and she was twice awarded the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story. The Haunting of Hill House was a finalist for The National Book Award and has been made into two feature films, a play, and most recently, a television series on Netflix. The Shirley Jackson Award was established in 2007 to honor outstanding achievement in the genres of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.

Xu Mason is a bilingual first-generation Asian American actress/writer/comedian. She came up through the Chicago improv scene, where she studied at The Annoyance, iO, and The Second City. Her writing has been featured in Reductress, McSweeney’s, and more. She currently resides in LA.

Walter Dean Myers (1937 – 2014) was an award-winning writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for young people from Harlem. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for his contribution to young adult literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, two Newbery Honors, and was a three-time National Book Award Finalist and five-time recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award. His many titles include Monster, 145th Street: Short Stories, Hoops, Slam, Bad Boy: A Memoir, Malcolm X: A Fire Burning Brightly, Now Is Your Time!, and Fallen Angels. In 2012, Myers was named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s preeminent 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. David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, Calypso, The Best of Me, and Happy-Go-Lucky. His diaries were published in two volumes Theft By Finding: Diaries 1977-2002 and A Carnival of Snackery: Diaries 2003-2020. His latest book is the children's book Pretty Ugly, which is illustrated by Ian Falconer. He lives in England, and is a contributor to the New Yorker, the BBC, and CBS Sunday Morning.