Salman Rushdie is the acclaimed author of more than a dozen novels, including Midnight's Children, which was awarded the Booker Prize in 1981. He has also written a book of stories and several works of nonfiction. He is a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature, and has received numerous awards for his writing.

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Jodi Picoult is the #1 bestselling author of 25 novels, including My Sister's Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, The Storyteller, Leaving Time, and Small Great Things. She was ranked in the top 10 of Princeton's most influential alumni and has received many awards for her work, including the Sarah Josepha Hale Award in 2019.  

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Isabel Allende is a Chilean-American writer, journalist, and educator. She is the author of 24 novels, including The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts, the winner of more than 60 awards in 15 countries, and the founder of the Isabel Allende Foundation, empowering women and girls worldwide.

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Anna Quindlen is a bestselling author, journalist, and opinion columnist. She has written 9 novels and 9 nonfiction books, including A Short Guide to a Happy Life, which sold over 1 million copies. in 1992, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her work with the New York Times.

Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty fiction novels, including The World That We Knew, The Rules of Magic, The Marriage of Opposites, Practical Magic, The Red Garden, the Oprah’s Book Club selection Here on Earth, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, and The Dovekeepers.

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Vanessa Diffenbaugh is the New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers and We Never Asked for Wings. She is also the co-founder of Lifeset Network, a non-profit committed to helping former foster youth.

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Hillary Jordan is a screenwriter and author of Mudbound, for which she received the 2006 Bellwether Prize and an Alex Award, and When She Woke, which was a Lambda Literary Award finalist.

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Jasmin Darznik is a New York Times bestselling novelist, memoirist, and professor. She is the author of The Bohemians, Song of a Captive Bird, and The Good Daughter.

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Elizabeth Berg is a New York Times bestselling author of nearly 30 books, including her memoir I'll Be Seeing You, Durable Goods, Joy School, The Story of Arthur Truluv, and Open House.

Robert Goolrick is the author of the bestselling novels A Reliable Wife, Heading Out to Wonderful, and The Fall of Princes, and the acclaimed memoir The End of the World as We Know It.