Brooke Hauser is the newly appointed editor of the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Matthew Zapruder is a poet, editor and translator. Why Poetry is an impassioned call to return to reading poetry and an argument for poetry’s accessibility.

Arshia Sattar, author of Ramayana: An Illustrated Retelling , explores the Ramayana, the ancient Indian epic poem and its importance to today and cultures around-the-world.

Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest. Her 2013 novel, A Tale for Time-Being won the L.A. Times Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critic’s Circle Award. The Face: A Time Code , a 2016 work of non-fiction, is a meditation on family, aging, race and the body.

Forrest Gander’s book Core Samples of the World was a both Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle finalist. His new work of poems, Be With, written following the death of his wife, the noted poet C.D. Wright, explores the nature of loss and grief.

Forrest Gander’s book Core Samples of the World was a both Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle finalist. His new work of poems, Be With, written following the death of his wife, the noted poet C.D. Wright, explores the nature of loss and grief.

In Contrast is taking a summer break this July. Look forward to the next episode released on August 8 with poet Forrest Gander. While you're waiting for the next release, explore some of our past episodes at nepr.net/incontrast .

Carmen Maria Machado is a writer of fiction, essays and criticism. Her debut collection of short stories, Her Body and Other Parties , was a National Book Award finalist.

Dr. Rafael Campo is a poet, essayist and physician. Campo practices internal medicine at Harvard Medical School and at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. As a poet, Campo is the recipient of numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Poetry award.

Junot Diaz was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey. His novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. Diaz is also the author of Drown and This is How You Lose Her . His most recent book is Islandborn , a children’s book about immigration. This interview was recorded on March 2, 2018 when Diaz was at Amherst College for the annual Lit-Fest, a gathering of noted authors. On April 16, The New Yorker published Diaz’s The Silence , The Legacy of