The Archive Project Creators & Guests

Andrew Proctor is the Executive Director of Literary Arts.Previously, Proctor was the Membership and Operations Director of the PEN American Center, a global literary and human rights organization focused on the welfare of writers and editors. Before that, he was an editor for HarperCollins.Proctor received his B.A. in English and Music from Concordia University and his M.A. in English Literature at the University of East Anglia.

Albert Gore is an American politician and environmentalist. He served as the 45th vice president of the United States. He was Bill Clinton's running mate in their successful campaign, and he was also selected as the Democratic nominee.

Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships and the Chinese American experience. Her novel The Joy Luck Club was adapted into a film by director Wayne Wang.

Tommy Orange is a writer. His first novel, "There There," was one of the finalists for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize.Orange is a citizen of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations of Oklahoma. He received his M.F.A. from the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer physician, researcher, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, and author.

Heather McGhee is a political commentator and strategist.

Karen Louise Erdrich is an author of novels, short stories, and poetry. She is also the owner of Birchbark Books, which focuses on Native American literature.Erdich's stories have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker. Her first book, "Love Medicine," was published in 1984. She has published a 18 novels, several of which have won awards and/or become best-sellers. She has also published seven collections of short stories, and three collections of poems.Erdich received her B.A. in English from Dartmouth College and her M.A. in Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Ann Patchett is an author. She received the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. She is known for her novel Bel Canto.

Edna Ann Proulx is an American novelist, author, short story writer, and journalist.

Aleksandar Hemon is a Bosnian-American fiction writer, essayist, and critic.

Viet Thanh Nguyen is a novelist, writer, professor and, author of the book, The Sympathizer.

Jesmyn Ward is an American novelist and an associate professor of English at Tulane University. She won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction for her second novel Salvage the Bones.

Danzy Senna is an author and Professor of English at the University of Southern California.Senna's work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Vogue and The New York Times. Her first book, "Caucasia," was published in 1998.

Jennifer Egan is a novelist, short-story writer, and President of the PEN America Center.

An American author, journalist, and comic book writer, Coates gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at The Atlantic, where he wrote about cultural, social, and political issues, particularly regarding African Americans and white supremacy.

Anand Giridharadas is a writer of Indian descent. He is a former columnist for The New York Times, and he is also the author of three books: India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking, The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, and Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World.

Jesse Eisenberg (born October 5, 1983) is an American actor, author, and playwright.

Dušan Simić, known as Charles Simic, is a poet, translator, essayist and writer about poetry.Simic received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for "The World Doesn't End," and was a finalist of the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for "Selected Poems, 1963–1983" and in 1987 for "Unending Blues."Simic was the 15th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2007.

Malcolm Gladwell is a Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker known for his books and essays on social science, psychology, and human behavior. He has been a staff writer for New Yorker since 1996. Gladwell gained widespread recognition with his debut book, "The Tipping Point," followed by bestsellers like "Blink," "Outliers," and "David and Goliath." He is also the co-founder of the podcast company Pushkin Industries and hosts the "Revisionist History" podcast.