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Anthony Swofford served in a U.S. Marine Corps Surveillance and Target Acquisition/Scout-Sniper platoon during the Gulf War. After the war, he was educated at American River College; the University of California, Davis; and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. He has taught at the University of Iowa and Lewis and Clark College. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New York Times, Harper's, Men's Journal, The Iowa Review, and other publications. A Michener-Copernicus Fellowship recipient, he lives in New York.
Lisa Brackmann is a writer, Chinese student and beach bum. Her first published novel was ROCK PAPER TIGER (Soho Press, 2010), which made a number of year’s end “best” lists, including Amazon’s Top 100 Books of 2010 and Top 10 Mystery/Thrillers. Her second, GETAWAY (Soho Press, 2012), is about a Mexican vacation gone very wrong. She blames the margaritas…Here, she talks about her father's approval of her writing career.
David Maraniss, an associate editor at The Washington Post and fellow of the Society of American Historians,is the author of critically acclaimed bestselling bookson Bill Clinton, Vince Lombardi, Vietnam and the sixties,Roberto Clemente, and the 1960 Rome Olympics. He wonthe 1993 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Clinton, waspart of the Post team that won the 2007 Pulitzer for coverageof the Virginia Tech tragedy, and has been a Pulitzer finalistthree other times. He lives in Washington, D.C., and Madison, Wisconsin, with his wife, Linda.
Jim Bouton was a pitcher for the New York Yankees from 1962 to 1968. In 1969 he played for the Seattle Pilots. In 1970 his book BALL FOUR detailed the inside story of the sometimes unruly life of professional baseball players. The book caused a sensation, and Bouton was severely criticized by baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn. In 1978 Bouton made a brief comeback with the Atlanta Braves. He has written books and screenplays and appeared in movies and on television, and is credited with developing Big League Chew, bubble gum that resembles chewing tobacco. Here, he talks about bringing the book to life by reading it aloud.
Francis Slakey is the Upjohn Lecturer on Physics and Public Policy at Georgetown University and the Associate Director of Public Affairs at the American Physical Society. He is the founder and co-director of the Program on Science in the Public Interest, a Lemelson Associate of the Smithsonian Institution, and a MacArthur Scholar. In recognition of his adventures, he carried the Olympic Torch from the steps of the U.S. Capitol as part of the 2002 Olympic Games. In July of 2009, he became the first person to summit the highest mountain on every continent and surf every ocean. Here, he talks about sharing stories with his father.
Known for her sardonic wit and her hysterically skewed outlook on life, Jenny Lawson has made millions of people question their own sanity, as they found themselves admitting that they, too, often wondered why Jesus wasn’t classified as a zombie, or laughed to the point of bladder failure when she accidentally forgot that she mailed herself a cobra. Her blog (www.thebloggess.com) is award-winning, extremely popular, and she is considered to be one of the funniest women alive by at least three people.
Dan Zevin is the author of DAN GETS A MINIVAN: Life at the Intersection of Dude and Dad, available now in both hardcover and audiobook formats. He has been a comic correspondent for NPR, the humor columnist for Boston Magazine and the Boston Phoenix, and a contributor to national publications, including Rolling Stone, Maxim, Details, Elle, andGlamour. A Thurber Humor Award finalist for THE DAY I TURNED UNCOOL: Confessions of a Reluctant Grownup, he is also the author of ENTRY-LEVEL LIFE and THE NEARLY-WED HANDBOOK. Dan lives with his wife and two children in suburban New York. He is an active member of his local Costco. Here, Dan talks about achieving fame in his kids’ eyes. For more information, visit DanZevin.com.
Jack Gantos has written books for people of all ages, from picture books and middle-grade fiction to novels for young adults and adults. His works include DEAD END IN NORVELT, HOLE IN MY LIFE, a memoir that won the Michael L. Printz and Robert F. Sibert honors; JOEY PIGZA SWALLOWED THE KEY, a National Book Award Finalist, and JOEY PIGZA LOSES CONTROL, a Newbery Honor book. Here, he answers a series of questions about recording DEAD END IN NORVELT.
Anna Quindlen's novels include RISE AND SHINE, BLESSINGS, BLACK AND BLUE, ONE TRUE THING and OBJECT LESSONS, and her nonfiction books include A SHORT GUIDE TO A HAPPY LIFE, GOOD DOG, STAY, BEING PERFECT, LOUD & CLEAR, LIVING OUT LOUD, THINKING OUT LOUD and HOW READING CHANGED MY LIFE. She has also written the children's books THE TREE THAT CAME TO STAY and HAPPILY EVER AFTER. She lives with her husband and children in New York City. Here, she talks about the experience of reading her own work outloud.
Richard Miniter is a Washington, D.C. writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications. He is the author of THE MYTH OF MARKET SHARE and several books on the war on terrorism, including SHADOW WAR and DISFORMATION. Richard is a national security columnist for Forbes.com Here, he talks about the experience of recording his book, MASTERMIND: The Many Faces of the 9/11 Architect, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
