Jamaica Kincaid, writer, novelist and professor started her writing career at the New Yorker, where she became a staff writer and featured columnist for nine years. She won the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts for her first book, At the Bottom of the River. Her book A Small Place, inspired the 2001 documentary, Life and Debt. Kincaid was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2004 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. She began her academic career at Harvard University holding joint appointments in the English and African-American Studies departments. She is currently a professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College.

Brighde Mullins is an award-winning playwright and poet. Her work includes Monkey in the Middle, Fire Eater and Pathological Venus. Current theatre projects include a commission by the Pioneer Theatre Company and a site-specific piece with the Imaginists Theatre at Ann Hamilton's Tower. She is currently the Director of the Master of Professional Writing Program at U.S.C.