Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay is the New York Times best-selling author of An Untamed State, the memoir Hunger, and a number of essay- and short-story collections. She has taught at a number of universities, most recently becoming the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University in 2022. A year earlier, Gay started her own imprint under Grove Atlantic, called Roxane Gay Books.

Sasha-Ann Simons
Sasha-Ann Simons is an award-winning journalist and the host of WBEZ’s Reset. She comes to Chicago from Washington’s NPR station WAMU where she was a program host, regularly behind the mic on newscasts and talk shows. Sasha-Ann was also a national reporter, focused on issues of race, identity and economic mobility. Her accolades include an Edward R. Murrow award and a radio feature award from the National Association of Black Journalists. In 2022, she received a Peter Lisagor award for health and science reporting from the Chicago Headline Club. Sasha-Ann has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University) and studied film and television production at American University.