Jennifer Egan is an author of novels and short stories. As a journalist, she frequently writes for the New York Times Magazine . Her novel A Visit from the Goon Squad won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2011 and her most recent work Manhattan Beach won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction in 2018.

Richard Russo is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Empire Falls . His most recent novel is Chances Are .

Andri Snær Magnason is an Icelandic writer and environmental activist. His latest book is the young adult novel, The Casket of Time .

In Contrast will return with a new episode on September 11th with author Andri Snær Magnason.

Ken Rosenthal is one of the founders of Hampshire College in Amherst Massachusetts. Known for its innovative approach to education, Hampshire announced in 2018 that it was facing a financial crisis and that it was not going to admit a full-class in the fall of 2019. In April 2019, Rosenthal was appointed interim president. The future of Hampshire, like many small liberal arts colleges, is in question.

Aaron Becker is an author and illustrator of children’s books. In 2014, Becker was a Caldecott honoree for “Journey,” part 1 of a trilogy of books that includes “Quest” and “Return.”

Carolyn Beeler is an environmental reporter for the Public Radio International program The World . She recently returned from Antarctica where she was on a scientific expedition to the Thwaites Glacier which many scientists believe is melting because of global climate change.

A teacher at Amherst College, Jennifer Acker is the founder and editor of the literary magazine The Common . The Limits of the World is her debut novel.

Barry Lopez is the author of sixteen books of both fiction and nonfiction. Regarded as one of the nation’s premier nature writers, Lopez won a National Book Award in 1986 for Arctic Dreams and was a finalist for Of Wolves and Men . Lopez has travelled extensively to remote regions of the world, an experience that he chronicles in his most recent book Horizon .

Peter Cole is a MacArthur winning poet and translator. He is the author of several books of his poetry and translations of medieval and contemporary Hebrew and Arabic poetry.