ohn B. Judis is Editor-At-Large at Talking Points Memo and author of many books, including The Nationalist Revival: Trade, Immigration, and the Revolt Against Globalization, The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics, Genesis: Truman, American Jews, and the Origin of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, and The Emerging Democratic Majority, co-written with Ruy Teixeira.

He has written for numerous publications, including The New Republic, The National Journal, The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones and The Washington Post. Born in Chicago, he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. He lives in Silver Spring, MD.

Barbara Bradley Hagerty is an award-winning journalist who has spent nearly 20 years as a correspondent for NPR, covering law and religion.

She is the author of the New York Times bestselling Fingerprints of God (Riverhead, 2010), a recipient of the Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowship in Science and Religion and a Knight Fellowship at Yale Law School. Before joining NPR, she was a reporter at The Christian Science Monitor.

David Brooks' fourth volume of short fiction, Napoleon's Roads, is in the late stages of preparation, as is his second novel, The Umbrella Club.

His most recent book is Walking to Point Clear, a collection of poetry. He teaches Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, and is co-editor of Southerly.

Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was a contributing editor Vanity Fair and a colummnist for Slate. He was the author of numerous books, including works on Thomas Jefferson, George Orwell, Mother Teresa, Henry Kissinger and Bill and Hillary Clinton, as well as his international bestseller and National Book Award nominee, God Is Not Great.

His memoir, Hitch-22, was nominated for the Orwell Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The most recent of his numerous books are the international bestsellers God is Not Great, Hitch-22, Arguably and Mortality.

Peter Brown is an author and illustrator of children's books. His titles include New York Times bestsellers The Wild Robot, The Curious Garden, Children Make Terrible Pets, and Mr. Tiger Goes Wild.

Peter has earned numerous honors for his books, including a Caldecott Honor, a Horn Book Award, two E.B. White Awards, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award and six New York Times bestsellers. Peter lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Paul West is a trained chef, a passionate gardener, farmer and popular media personality. Paul hosted four seasons of River Cottage Australia (Foxtel and SBS), is the author of The River Cottage Australia Cookbook and has a regular slot on ABC radio and ABC television's Gardening Australia. After hosting River Cottage Australia in beautiful Central Tilba, Paul and his family swapped their 20-acre NSW South Coast property for a city life in Thornbury, in Melbourne's inner north turning a suburban backyard plot into a productive patch.

Colleen Carroll has been involved in education for nearly three decades as a classroom teacher, curriculum writer, and literacy specialist.

She lives in the New York City area, where she writes and teaches reading.