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Amber Tamblyn is an actress, writer, filmmaker, and is a co-founder of the Time's Up movement; her latest book, ‘Era of Ignition,’ comes just a year after her debut novel 'Any Man.' In her career as an actress, she has been nominated for Emmy, Golden Globe, and Independent Spirit awards.

Ross Gay, a writer of three books of poetry and winner of both the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. The American Bookseller's Association listed Gay's newest work, 'The Book of Delights' on their annual Indie Next List.

Sassafras Lowrey's 2015 novel 'Lost Boi' is a queer punk reimagining of Peter Pan, resituating a classic children's fantasy tale within a subversive alternate reality. Lowrey has won the Lambda Literary Foundation Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award, and has been featured on the American Library Association Rainbow Book List. She recently relocated here to Portland.

In Portland at AWP 2019 with Keith S. Wilson, who is not only an acclaimed poet; he’s also a game designer with Resilient Game Studios. His debut collection of poems, ‘Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love’ (Copper Canyon Press), comes out this May. He also serves as Assistant Poetry Editor at Four Way Review and Digital Media Editor and Web Consultant at Obsidian Journal.

We spoke with author Aja Gabel; her debut novel, ‘The Ensemble,’ peeks into the competitive and precision-demanding world of professional orchestral musicians. Gabel is an award winning writer who holds a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston.

We spoke with Karen Russell here at AWP 2019; her debut novel (2011’s) ‘Swamplandia, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A native of Miami, but currently based in Portland, Russell’s fiction has made an impression with readers for her balance of the outlandish and the profound, with a mix of magical realism.

Best-selling author, humorist and monologue artist, Sarah Vowell will bring her wisdom and brilliant social observations to bear on the “Future of Libraries,” in a special presentation of the University of Michigan’s Penny Stamps Distinguished Speakers Series.

Guggenheim Fellow and National Book Award winner Jericho Brown. This Shreveport-raised poet and professor has been published in the New Yorker, The New Republic, and is the director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University. His latest, The Tradition, eloquently raises alarms to a society accustomed to terror.

Born in Sydney Australia, author Markus Zusak's 2005 young-adult World War II novel 'The Book Thief' won Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Book of the Year and was recently adapted into a film. Last autumn, he published 'Bridge of Clay,' the story of five brothers discovering the secret behind their father's disappearance. He has written six novels.

José Andrés, an award-winning chef and founder of the World Central Kitchen non-profit organization Chefs For Puerto Rico. Andrés has written three cookbooks, along with the New York Times best-seller about the aftermath of Hurricane Maria: "We Fed An Island."

R.J. Palacio is an author and graphic designer whose 2012 debut, 'Wonder' reached #1 on the NY Times Best-Seller list; it was recently adapted into a major motion picture. That book served as inspiration for the Choose Kind movement and has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. A first-generation American (of Colombian ancestry).

Richard Ford, author of The Sportswriter and its sequels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Independence Day. Remarked by literary reviewers as a modern-day Hemingway or Faulkner, Ford's works are distinguished by a focus on the perseverance of family and community through turbulent circumstances.

Krosoczka is the creator of the popular Lunch Lady graphic novel series for young readers, which has won the Children's Book Choice Award. Along with the popular Star Wars Jedi Academy Series (also for grade-school age readers), Krosoczka just released an illustrated memoir about his experiences as a young adult.

Author Laila Lalami's 'The Moor's Account’ won the American Book Award, the Arab American Book Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Lalami joins PBS Books in D.C. at the National Book Festival to talk about her writing, which includes the most recent 2019 novel 'The Other Americans,' a hybrid of family saga, murder mystery, and love story.

Peruvian-American author Marie Arana is not only senior advisor to the U.S. Librarian of Congress, but also the director of the National Book Festival. Her latest, Silver, Sword & Stone tells the stories of three contemporary Latin Americans embodying the forces of exploration, violence, and religion across thousands of years of vivid history.

David Rubenstein recently transferred his adept skill for assembling stories through interviews and conversations into a new book, "The American Story," where readers can find lively dialogues with esteemed authors and historians like David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Bob Woodward, and more.

Victoria Schwab is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels for readers of all ages, including City of Ghosts, the Shades of Magic series (which has been translated into over 15 languages), This Savage Song, and Our Dark Duet.

Born in Calcutta, and raised between India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Amitav Ghosh has published several works of fiction as well as non-fiction and was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Times of India festival in Mumba, in 2018. His newest, 'Gun Island,' comes out September 10, but he is also well-known for his 'Ibis Trilogy,' which began in 2008 with 'Sea of Poppies,'

Writer and illustrator Ngozi Ukazu, creator of the online graphic novel series, Check, Please! Ukazu became obsessed with hockey during her senior year at Yale, leading to the story of her protagonist, an ex-junior figure skating champion turned college hockey player adjusting to contact sports and grappling with developing feelings for the team's captain.

On August 1 of this year, Mary Anne Carter was confirmed as the 12th Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (but has served as acting chair since June 2018). She has overseen expansion of an arts therapy program for U.S. service members and veterans called Creative Forces.