American Program Bureau is pleased to offer you one of the most comprehensive rosters of renowned literature speakers that include best-selling authors, historians, poets, essayists, academic experts on literary criticism, and spoken word artists. They offer illuminating commentary on a broad array of subjects and are perfect for any conference or commencement ceremony.
These high profile and award-winning literary icons of our time will share with you the finest, intellectually stimulating, thought-provoking, and entertaining presentations that always leave a lasting impression with audiences.
Nicholas Kristof
A Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, Kristof is an extraordinary thinker, human rights advocate, and astute chronicler of humanity. As a seasoned journalist who has traveled China, Africa, India, and South Asia, he offers a compassionate glimpse into such issues as global health, poverty and ...
Luis Alberto Urrea
An award-winning poet and essayist, Urrea authored the epic novel The Hummingbird’s Daughter, as well as the The Devil’s Highway, a best-selling nonfiction account of Mexican immigrants crossing over the US border. His latest book, Into the Beautiful North, is lauded for having Urrea’s ...
Gary Shteyngart
Celebrated by Publishers Weekly as an up and coming young author, and recently recognized as one of today's top fiction writers on The New Yorker's prestigious "20 Under 40" list, Russian immigrant Shteyngart penned the bestsellers The Russian Debutante's Handbook, Absurdistan, and his latest, ...
Sara Paretsky
One of the most influential female crime writers, the award-winning Paretsky changed the world of detective fiction with her groundbreaking popular female sleuth, "V.I. Warshawski." An activist, she explores the political and literary dissent that informed her life and work in her acclaimed book, Writing in an Age of ...
James McBride
An award-winning jazz musician, McBride is the author of The New York Times bestseller, The Color of Water, a memoir that has become a modern classic. Spike Lee directed the film adaptation of McBride's book, Miracle at St. Anna, paying tribute to African American soldiers who fought in WWII.
Michael Eric Dyson
Named by Essence magazine as one of the 50 most inspiring African Americans, Dyson is one of the nation's most renowned public intellectuals, revitalizing the role with the fervor of an ordained Baptist minister. Called "a street fighter in a suit and tie," he takes on the toughest and most controversial issues of ...
Michael Patrick MacDonald
Author of the incendiary New York Times bestselling memoir All Souls: A Family Story from Southie, and the companion bestseller Easter Rising: A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion, MacDonald shares his remarkable story of survival and redemption while examining the tangled relationship between poverty and ...
Colson Whitehead
A critically lauded, award-winning voice, Whitehead has been heralded as a promising young author to watch by Publishers Weekly. Recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for John Henry Days, his brilliant collection provides an articulate view of race, culture, and class today. ...
Terry McMillan
Since McMillan's breakout novel Waiting to Exhale surged onto The New York Times bestseller list, critics and readers alike have been captivated by her irreverent, often-hilarious take on the issues faced by contemporary African American women. With several of her bestsellers, including Waiting to ...
Audrey Niffenegger
Known for her imaginative plots and brilliant prose, Niffenegger is the author of The Time Traveler’s Wife, the inspired, best-selling novel behind the new film starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana. She offers audiences an inside look at the creative process, the relationship between art and writing, and ...
Gail Sheehy
As the best-selling author of over a dozen books, including Passages, Gail Sheehy has rocked the culture and changed the way millions of women and men look at the stages of their lives. A Library of Congress survey named Passages one of the ten most influential books of our time. In her latest book, ...
Sonia Nazario
Sonia Nazario, a projects reporter for The Los Angeles Times, has spent more than two decades reporting and writing about social issues, earning her dozens of national awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for her series, “Enrique’s Journey,” about the experiences of Latin American children ...
Raj Patel
Patel challenges preconceptions about the global economy through his work as a policy analyst and activist. His most recent book, The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy, paints a clear picture of how achieving a fair society and sustainable economy are possible. He has worked for ...
Rachel Simmons
Simmons is the author of The New York Times bestseller Odd Girl Out, the first book to explore the phenomenon of bullying between girls - just as harmful as boys, but harder to recognize. The Founder and Director of The Girls’ Leadership Institute, she is a highly sought-after consultant to schools all over ...
A.J. Jacobs
Renowned as “the human guinea pig,” A.J. Jacobs has outsourced his life to India, read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in a quest to become the smartest person in the world, and lived modern life as the ultimate biblical man. Throwing himself into bizarre situations all in the name of a little curiosity and a ...
Naomi Klein
Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, and author of the international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Exploring the flaws of neoliberal economics and globalization, her stunning revelations and well-researched insight provides a backdrop to the connections ...
Geoffrey Canada
Profiled on 60 Minutes, Canada has achieved great success as President and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, an agency that fuses community building with academic achievement to improve the futures of inner city youth. Recently, President Obama launched an initiative to create “Promise Neighborhoods” around ...
Parag Khanna
Parag Khanna is the leading next-generation voice on the future of global affairs. Named one of Esquire magazine's 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, Khanna was a foreign policy advisor to President Barack Obama during his historic presidential campaign. He is currently a senior fellow at the New ...
Touré
Touré is the author of Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness, a look at what it means to be black today. He's also an NBC Correspondent working with The Dylan Ratigan Show and the host of Fuse's The Hip-Hop Shop, as well as a Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone.
Lisa See
The New York Times best-selling author of the extraordinary Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love, See crafts highly praised works resplendent with fluid language, engrossing portrayals, and rich universal themes. Her newest book is Shanghai Girls, an unforgettable journey of two ...
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