Jim Harrison (1937–2016) was the author of over three dozen books, including
Legends of the Falland
Dalva, and served as the food columnist for the magazines
Brickand
Esquire.He also published fourteen volumes of original poetry. His work has been translated into two dozen languages and produced as four feature-length films. As a young poet he co-edited
Sumac magazine with fellow poet Dan Gerber, and earned fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 2007, he was elected into the Academy of American Arts and Letters. Regarding his most beloved art form, he wrote: “Poetry, at its best, is the language your soul would speak if you could teach your soul to speak.” Jim Harrison certainly spoke the language.
Colum McCann is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he has been the recipient of many international honours, including the National Book Award, the International Dublin Impac Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish arts academy, and an Oscar nomination. In 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts. His work has been published in over forty languages. He is the co-founder of the non-profit global story exchange organization, Narrative 4, and he teaches at the MFA program in Hunter College and lives in New York City.
Joy Williams is the author of four novels, five short story collections, a book of essays, and a travelogue about Key West. A "Vintage Contemporaries" author, she’s been been a finalist for the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.
John Freeman is the Executive Editor at Knopf and founder of the journal
Freeman's. He is the author of three books of nonfiction, two books of poetry,
Maps and
The Park, and also edited a series of anthologies about inequality, He lives in New York City.
Joseph Bednarik is the Co-Publisher at Copper Canyon Press. He is the editor of
Jim Harrison: The Essential Poems,
The Sumac Reader, and co-editor of
One-Man Boat: The George Hitchcock Reader.