Wright Thompson is a senior writer for ESPN and the bestselling author of Pappyland and The Cost of These Dreams. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family. 

Admiral William H. McRaven, is a retired U.S.

Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and numerous other awards. His most recent publication is A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial. His other books are the sequel to The Sympathizer, The Committed; a short story collection, The Refugees; Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (a finalist for the National Book Award in nonfiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award in General Nonfiction); and Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America.

From Grammy award-winning spoken word artist and poet Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball comes a powerful second collection of poetry about falling out of love and into a renewed sense of self.
After getting “vulnerable AF” on her 2021 book tour, Tank realized she was truly ready to move on from her first love. In The Thing About Falling, she writes about that experience as well as what followed—a period of shallow comfort, followed by a much deeper transformation.

Stacey Abrams is a New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur and political leader. She served as Minority Leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, and she was the first Black woman to become gubernatorial nominee for a major party in United States history. Abrams has devoted her career to democracy protection, voting rights, and effective public policy. She has also co-founded successful companies, including a financial services firm, an energy and infrastructure consulting firm, and the media company, Sage Works Productions, Inc.

Karisma Price is the author of I'm Always So Serious (Sarabande Books, 2023) which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice Pick. Her work has appeared in publications including Poetry, Indiana Review, Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, and elsewhere.

Eddie S. Glaude Jr. is the author of several books, including We are The Leaders We Have Been Looking for, Democracy in Black and the New York Times bestseller Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own, winner of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Book Prize. He frequently appears in the media as an MSNBC contributor on programs like Morning Joe and Deadline: White House. A native of Moss Point, Mississippi, Glaude is the James S.

Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years. Since the Academy Award nominated Brooklyn Bridge in 1981, Ken has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The War; The National Parks: America’s Best Idea; Prohibition; The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; The Vietnam War; Country Music; The U.S. and the Holocaust; The American Buffalo; Leonardo da Vinci; and most recently, The American Revolution. 

General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) (New York) joined KKR in 2013. He is a Partner at KKR, Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, and Chairman of KKR Middle East. He is also a member of the boards of directors of Optiv and OneStream, a Strategic Advisor for Sempra and Advanced Navigation, a personal venture investor, an academic, and the co-author (with British historian Andrew Roberts) of the New York Times best selling book “Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Gaza”. Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S.

Kyle DeCoste is a popular music and sound scholar from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. His work focuses on articulations of race, gender, and childhood in popular music.