Author Bios

Carl Benedikt Frey is an economist and Oxford Martin Citi Fellow at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. He directs the Future of Work programme and is the author of The Technology Trap and How Progress Ends, which examines why technological progress stalls in some societies.

Simon Parkin is a British author and journalist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, and The New York Times. His book The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and named an Economist Book of the Year.

Diana Arterian is an American poet and author whose work spans poetry, hybrid prose, and visual art. Her collection Agrippina the Younger won the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. She is also the author of Playing Monster :: Seiche and Death Centos.

Andrea L. Rogers is a Cherokee Nation citizen and author of children’s and young adult literature. Her picture book Chooch Helped, illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz, won the 2025 Caldecott Medal. She is also the author of Man Made Monsters and Mary and the Trail of Tears.

Sonora Reyes is a bestselling Mexican American author known for writing honest, heartfelt young adult fiction. Her debut novel, The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School, won multiple awards including the Pura Belpre Award and a Stonewall Honor. She draws on her own experiences as a queer, Latine writer to craft stories about identity, family, and…

Dan Wang is a technology analyst and writer who spent nearly a decade living in China, where he closely observed the country’s rapid technological and industrial transformation. His writing has appeared in Bloomberg, Foreign Affairs, and other major publications. Breakneck, his first book, became a New York Times bestseller in 2025.

Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and the founder of Ness Labs, a platform dedicated to mindful productivity. She is a doctoral researcher at King’s College London and the creator of one of the most popular newsletters on intentional living and creative growth. Her debut book, Tiny Experiments, became a bestseller in 2025.

Edda L. Fields-Black is a professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University. She is an expert on the African diaspora, Atlantic slavery, and the Gullah Geechee people of the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry. Her book Combee won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for History and the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize.

Jeff Young is a British playwright, screenwriter, and author based in Liverpool. He is best known for his work in theater and radio drama, having written extensively for BBC Radio and the stage. His memoir Wild Twin, published by Little Toller Books, chronicles his youthful escape from Liverpool to the cities of Europe and his…

S.A. Cosby is an American author from southeastern Virginia whose crime fiction has redefined the Southern noir genre for a new generation. A former bouncer, construction worker, and funeral home employee, Cosby draws on his working-class roots and intimate knowledge of rural Southern communities to craft stories that burn with urgency and emotional depth. His…