Advisory Board

• Host of America’s Next Great Author, TV’s first reality show for writers (premiering 2026)
• #1 New York Times bestselling author of 46 books
• Emmy® Award-winning producer of The Crossover

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 will premiere in 2026. He is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 46 books, including his memoir, Why Fathers Cry at Night. 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.

• Author of Orange Is the New Black, also a Netflix’s Emmy-winning, record-breaking series
• Serves on the boards of the Women’s Prison Association
• Forthcoming book (2027) about her years teaching writing to inmates

Piper Kerman is the author of the bestselling memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, adapted into Netflix’s Emmy Award–winning series that ran for seven seasons. A nationally recognized advocate for justice reform, she serves on the board of the Women’s Prison Association. She’s become a leading voice for justice reform to address mass incarceration, solitary confinement, and the unique challenges faced by women in prison. Honored as a Justice Trailblazer and Champion of Justice. Piper is the current Chair of the Bay Area Book Festival and has a new book forthcoming in 2027 about her experience teaching writing in state prisons.

• Recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, and ALTA
• Author of the award-winning The Magical Language of Others
• Winner of the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award

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.

• CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency
• President of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA)
• Author of You Should Really Write a Book.


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).

• Former editor-in-chief of Axios
• Recently returned to The Washington Post asPresident of the Creator Network
• Author of Kuleana: A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i

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.

• Former head of Programming at NPR
• Spearheaded the rise of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts, now a cultural icon
• Launched 15+ top podcasts, four of which rank among the nation’s top 20.

Anya Grundmann is a media consultant and former head of Programming at NPR, where she led the network’s acclaimed podcast portfolio, non-news Radio Programming, NPR Music, and NPR Video. Under her visionary leadership, NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts became a cultural touchstone, and NPR dramatically expanded its on-demand reach—launching more than 15 new shows and earning four spots among the top 20 podcasts in the U.S. She also oversaw the growth of NPR’s short-form video journalism, generating over 1 billion views in 2022. Programming she directed won every major journalism award including the Pulitzer Prize, a National Emmy Award, and multiple Peabody Awards.