National Advisory Council

Kwame Alexander
Poet, Children’s writer, and Newbery Medal winner

Isabel Allende
Novelist, Memoirist, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

Marie Arana
Novelist, Biographer, Critic, National Book Award finalist, and L.A. Times Book Prize winner

Jabari Asim
Novelist, Children’s writer, Literary critic, and Educator

A. Scott Berg
Biographer, Pulitzer Prize winner, and National Book Award winner

Billy Collins
U.S. Poet Laureate and Educator

Maureen Corrigan
Journalist, Author, Professor, and Literary Critic, The Washington Post, and NPR

Rita Dove
Former U.S. Poet Laureate, Essayist, Educator, and Pulitzer Prize winner

Stuart Dybek
Poet and Fiction writer

Jennifer Egan
Novelist, Short story writer, and Pulitzer Prize winner

Dave Eggers
Author, Editor, Publisher, National Book Award finalist, and L.A. Times Book Prize winner

Louise Erdrich
Novelist, Bookseller, National Book Award winner, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction winner

Elliot Figman
Poet and Executive Director, Poets & Writers Foundation

Reginald Gibbons
Poet, Author, and Professor

Nikki Giovanni Jr.
Poet, Essayist, Activist, and Educator

Adam Gopnik
Author, Journalist, and George Polk Award winner

Joy Harjo
Poet, Writer, Musician, Playwright, and Ruth Lily Prize from the Poetry Foundation

Juan Felipe Herrera
Former U.S. Poet Laureate, Performer, Cartoonist, and Educator

Jeffrey Lependorf
Executive Director, Council of Literary Magazines and Presses

Lisa Lucas
Journalist, Broadcaster, and Executive Director, National Book Foundation

Haki R. Madhubuti
Author, Poet, and Publisher, Third World Press

Leonard S. Marcus
Author, Critic, and Children’s book historian

Alice McDermott
Novelist, Educator, and National Book Award winner

Azar Nafisi
Author and Professor

Joyce Carol Oates
Novelist and Educator

Roxana Robinson
Novelist, Biographer, and Critic

Marilynne Robinson
Novelist, Essayist, Educator, Pulitzer Prize winner, National Book Award finalist, Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction winner

Max Rudin
Publisher, Library of America

George Saunders
Fiction Writer and Educator

Donna Seaman
Senior Editor, Booklist, American Library Association

Lisa See
Novelist, Memoirist, andAsian/Pacific American Award for Literature winner

Anna Deavere Smith
Playwright, Actress, Educator, and Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize winner

Ilan Stavans
Editor, Essayist, Translator and Educator

Natasha Trethewey
Former U.S. Poet Laureate, Educator, and Pulitzer Prize winner

Scott F. Turow
Novelist and Memoirist

Viet Thanh Nguyen
Novelist, Educator, Pulitzer Prize winner, and Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature winner

Edward Widmer
Historian and Scholar