Literary Arts
Leonard Pitts, Jr. — Writer
LEONARD PITTS, JR. (b 1957) is a commentator, journalist, and novelist. He is a nationally syndicated columnist and winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
read moreNancy L. Rosenblum: Author, Educator
NANCY L. ROSENBLUM is a political scientist and political philosopher. She is professor emerita from Harvard University and has been the co-editor of the Annual Review of Political Science (2015 to 2023). She studies modern political thought and constitutional law. Rosenblum has been the Chair of both the government department at Harvard and the political science department at Brown University,
read moreMeryl Frank: Politician, Diplomat, Author
MERYL FRANK is an American politician, non-profit executive, diplomat, and author. In 2023, Hachette Books published Frank’s memoir of searching for the history of her family lost in the Holocaust, “Unearthed: A Lost Actress, a Forbidden Book, and a Search for Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust.”
read moreThom Barrett: “Living While Dying”
THOM BARRETT is the author of ”Living While Dying” and “Chasing My Northern Lights.” He also pursues adventure travel — from the jungles of Central America to the untamed beauty of North America’s landscapes to the Alps to Antarctica. For the past 8 years he has been battling cancer, which has recently progressed to stage IV.
read moreLawrence Wright: “Mr. Texas” +
LAWRENCE WRIGHT is an author, screenwriter, playwright, and staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. He received a Pulitzer Prize for “The Looming Tower.” His latest novel is called “Mr. Texas.”
read moreAuthor Joel F. Johnson: Tales of the South
JOEL F. JOHNSON is the author of the novel “Never” (Arbitrary Press, 2023), a coming-of-age story in the segregated South, and “Where Inches Seem Miles,” a collection of poetry.
read moreIn Memoriam: Dr. Enid Curtis Pinkney
DR. ENID CURTIS PINKNEY (1931-2024) passed away on July 18, 2024 at the age of 92. She will be most remembered for saving the Hampton House in Brownsville from the Miami wrecking ball, and raising the funds to restore it to National Historic Registry standards. She was the founder of the Historic Hampton House Museum.
read morePoet Elizabeth Jacobson
ELIZABETH JACOBSON was the fifth Poet Laureate of Santa Fe, New Mexico and an Academy of American Poets 2020 Laureate Fellow. Her third collection of poems, “There are as Many Songs in the World as Branches of Coral,” will be published in 2025 by Free Verse Editions/Parlor Press.
read moreAna Menéndez: Author, Journalist, Educator
ANA MENÉNDEZ has published five books of fiction: “The Apartment” (2023), “Adios, Happy Homeland!” (2011), “The Last War” (2009), “Loving Che” (2004) and “In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd” (2001), whose title story won a Pushcart Prize. She has worked as a journalist in the United States and abroad, lastly as a prize-winning columnist for the Miami Herald.
read moreCartoonist Bill Griffith: Creator of Zippy the Pinhead
Cartoonist BILL GRIFFITH is best known for his surreal daily comic strip ZIPPY THE PINHEAD. The catchphrase “Are we having fun yet?” is credited to Griffith.
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