Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

Martelle, a member of the Times' editorial board, is the author of five works of nonfiction, most recently "The Madman and the Assassin: The Strange Life of Boston Corbett, the Man who Killed John Wilkes Booth." He is at work on a biography of William Walker, the 1850s filibuster... Read More →

Dyson is one of America's premier public intellectuals. He occupies the distinguished position of University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University, has been an ordained minister for 35 years, is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and is a contributing... Read More →

Kaplan is a journalist, columnist and essayist who has written about black matters since 1992. She has been a staff writer for the LA Weekly and from 2005 to 2007 was a weekly opinion columnist for the Los Angeles Times, the first weekly black opinion columnist in its history. She... Read More →

Reid, author of “Fracture: Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide,” is the host of “AM Joy” on MSNBC and also appears regularly on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.” She is the former managing editor of TheGrio.com... Read More →