Advisory Board

Kwame Alexander is an Emmy® Award-winning producer of The Crossover, his Newbery Medal-winning novel turned Disney+ TV series, the creator of the new animated PBS special Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Band, and the host of America’s Next Great Author, the first reality television show for writers which is produced by Libby and Kanopy and will premiere in 2026. He is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 44 books, including Why Fathers Cry at Night, How Sweet The Sound, J vs. K, an illustrated novel he penned with Jerry Craft. A recipient of the 2025 NAACP Image Award, Kwame regularly shares his passion for literacy, books and the craft of writing around the world, including Ghana, West Africa, where he opened the Barbara E. Alexander Memorial Library and Health Clinic. His mission is to change the world —one word at a time.

Piper Kerman is an American author.

E. J. Koh is the author of the memoir The Magical Language of Others, which won a Washington State Book Award, Pacific Northwest Book Award, Association for Asian American Studies Book Award, and was longlisted for the PEN/Open Book Award. Koh is also the author of the novel The Liberators, which won The New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award. Her poetry book A Lesser Love won the Pleiades Editors Prize for Poetry. Her work has appeared in AGNI, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books, NPR, POETRY, and Teen Vogue. Koh earned her MFA at Columbia University and her PhD at the University of Washington, and has received National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, and American Literary Translators Association fellowships.

Sara Kehaulani Goo is a journalist and senior news executive who has led several news organizations including Axios, NPR and The Washington Post. She is the former editor-in-chief at Axios, where she launched the company’s editorial expansion into national and local newsletters, podcasts and live journalism. Before Axios, she led online audience growth as a managing editor at NPR, overseeing the newsroom's digital news operation. Goo also served as news director at The Washington Post, where she also served as a business editor and reporter. Originally from Dana Point, California, she graduated from the University of Minnesota's journalism school. She lives in Washington, D.C.

An award-winning and innovative content leader at one of America's most trusted and beloved media organizations, Anya Grundmann is NPR's Vice President for Programming and Audience Development.

Regina Brooks is the founder and CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency in New York, the largest African American–owned agency in the US. She is the president of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) and coproducer of the U.S. Book Show and a founding member of Literary Agents of Change (LAOC) and the Black Book Accelerator. Brooks is the author of Writing Great Books for Young Adults and You Should Really Write a Book: How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir. Brooks is a copublisher with Open Lens, an imprint of Akashic Books. Brooks has been highlighted in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, BK Reader, and the Los Angeles Times. When she’s not agenting, she’s gardening, fishing, and flying her own plane (always in a dress).