AUTHORS
Lawrence Burney
Journalist and critic Lawrence Burney is the founder of True Laurels, a media platform dedicated to highlighting the most compelling music and culture in the Baltimore–DMV area. He has served as a music columnist for The Washington Post, a senior editor at The FADER, and a staff writer at VICE.
Published:
No Sense in Wishing: Essays (Atria, 2025)
K. Austin Collins
Film critic K. Austin Collins has held staff positions at Vanity Fair, The Ringer, and Rolling Stone, where he most recently served as chief film critic. His work has also appeared in The New York Times and The New Yorker, where he regularly contributes crossword puzzles, as well as in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Reverse Shot, and The Brooklyn Rail.
Jordan Ritter Conn
Journalist and staff writer at The Ringer, Jordan Ritter Conn is a two-time finalist for the Livingston Award. He previously worked for Grantland and ESPN The Magazine and has written for The New York Times and Sports Illustrated. His first book, The Road From Raqqa, was the nonfiction runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2021.
Published:
The Road from Raqqa: A Story of Brotherhood, Borders, and Belonging (Ballantine, 2020)
Forthcoming:
American Men (Grand Central, 2026)
Joe Coscarelli
Culture reporter for The New York Times, Joe Coscarelli covers pop music and emerging artists. He previously worked at New York magazine and The Village Voice.
Published:
Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story (Simon & Schuster, 2022)
Kate Crane
Writer and editor Kate Crane has worked with The Wall Street Journal, Radar, Inc., Men’s Journal, Hearst, OZY, and Time Out New York.
Forthcoming:
What Ever Happened to Eddy Crane?: A Memoir and a Murder Investigation (Hanover Square Press, 2026)
Oline Eaton
Scholar of biographical writing and a writer of creative nonfiction, Oline Eaton focuses on celebrity lives, gender deviance, and representations of trauma. She teaches first-year writing as a non-tenure-track lecturer at Howard University and holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from King’s College London.
Published:
Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented (Diversion Books, 2023)
S. H. Fernando Jr.
Journalist and author of The New Beats: Exploring the Music, Culture, and Attitudes of Hip-Hop, S. H. Fernando Jr. has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Spin, Vibe, and The Source. He received his M.A. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Published:
From the Streets of Shaolin: The Wu-Tang Saga (Hachette Books, 2021)
The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap’s Masked Iconoclast (Astra House, 2024)
Forthcoming:
New book (Astra House, 2027)
Nathan Grayson
Journalist and reporter at Aftermath, Nathan Grayson covers video game culture. He was previously a staff writer for The Washington Post and Kotaku, and his work has also appeared in PC Gamer, IGN, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
Published:
Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen (Atria, 2025)
Nick Greene
Contributing writer at Slate, Nick Greene covers sports and culture. His work has also appeared in Vice, The Village Voice, Chicago magazine, and Men’s Health.
Published:
How to Watch Basketball Like a Genius (Abrams Press, 2021)
Forthcoming:
How to Watch Soccer Like a Genius (Abrams Press, 2026)
Michael Hayes
Criminal justice journalist Michael Hayes has written for ProPublica, HuffPost, BuzzFeed, Gothamist, and The Appeal. In 2019, he was a finalist for both the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and the Deadline Club Public Service Award for his reporting on the NYPD.
Published:
The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, the NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform (Kingston Imperial, 2023)
Alan Henry
Writer and digital strategist Alan Henry is the service editor at WIRED. He was previously the Smarter Living editor at The New York Times and editor in chief of Lifehacker.
Published:
Seen, Heard, and Paid: The New Work Rules for the Marginalized (Rodale Books, 2022)
Shanita Hubbard
Journalist and NABJ Chair of the Freelance Task Force, Shanita Hubbard has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, Pitchfork, ESSENCE, and ELLE.
Published:
Ride or Die: A Feminist Manifesto for the Well-Being of Black Women (Legacy Lit, 2022)
Interview
A monthly magazine covering film, fashion, art, music, and culture, Interview has received the National Magazine Award for General Excellence and has been nominated for 14 National Magazine Awards and 7 Webby Awards.
Published:
Interview: 50 Years (Assouline, 2019)
Claude Johnson
Historian and founder of the Black Fives Foundation, Claude Johnson’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and NPR.
Published:
The Black Fives: The Epic Story of Basketball’s Forgotten Era (Abrams Press, 2022)
Gerrick D. Kennedy
Cultural critic and journalist Gerrick D. Kennedy has written for GQ, WSJ. Magazine, NPR Music, Playboy, Teen Vogue, and Shondaland. He previously served as a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times.
Published:
Parental Discretion Is Advised: The Rise of N.W.A and the Dawn of Gangsta Rap (Atria, 2017)
Didn’t We Almost Have It All: In Defense of Whitney Houston (Abrams Press, 2022)
John J. Lennon
Incarcerated journalist and contributing editor at Esquire, John J. Lennon has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, and New York magazine, and has been featured in The Best American Magazine Writing 2019. He was a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Feature Writing.
Published:
The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us (Celadon Books, 2025)
Marcus J. Moore
Music journalist, author, and professor Marcus J. Moore has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Nation, NPR, and Pitchfork.
Published:
The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America (Atria, 2020)
High and Rising: A Book About De La Soul (Dey St., 2024)
Forthcoming:
Songs for My Mother (Atria, 2027)
Drums Unlimited (Atria, 2029)
Austin Moorhead
Writer and reporter covering gaming and technology, Austin Moorhead is the author of Young Guns: Obsession, Overwatch, and the Future of Gaming.
Published:
Young Guns: Obsession, Overwatch, and the Future of Gaming (Hachette Books, 2020)
Adam Nayman
Critic, lecturer, and author Adam Nayman writes for The Ringer, Reverse Shot, The New Yorker, and Sight and Sound. He teaches cinema studies at the University of Toronto and is the author of several books on film, including It Doesn’t Suck: Showgirls, as well as illustrated critical monographs on the Coen brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson, and David Fincher.
Forthcoming:
New book (Simon & Schuster, 2027)
Sheldon Pearce
Journalist and music writer at The New Yorker, Sheldon Pearce has written for The Guardian, Rolling Stone, NPR, VICE, Spin, and Complex. He was previously a contributing writer at Pitchfork.
Published:
Changes: An Oral History of Tupac Shakur (Simon & Schuster, 2021)
David Polfeldt
Former managing director of Massive Entertainment, Scandinavia’s largest video game studio, David Polfeldt has worked on major franchises including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy’s The Division.
Published:
The Dream Architects: Adventures in the Video Game Industry (Grand Central, 2020)
A. J. Poots
Nonfiction writer A. J. Poots studied Ancient History at the University of Manchester and Magdalen College, Oxford.
Published:
The Strangers’ House: Writing Northern Ireland (Twelve, 2023)
Casey Rae
Music industry commentator and critic Casey Rae is the Director of Music Licensing at SiriusXM and has written for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Billboard, and The Washington Post.
Published:
William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock 'n' Roll (University of Texas Press, 2019)
Forthcoming:
Dead Dharma: The Grateful Dead and the American Quest for Transcendence (Oxford University Press, 2026)
Noah Rubin
Writer, editor, and music producer Noah Rubin is the features editor at Hypebeast Magazine. He was previously editor in chief of Snoop Dogg’s MERRY JANE and Nas’s Mass Appeal, and has co-produced two albums with RZA for the Wu-Tang Clan.
Published:
How We Roll: The Art and Culture of Joints, Blunts, and Spliffs (Chronicle, 2022)
Forthcoming:
Rolling Deep: An Illustrated Guide to Weed and Rap (Ten Speed Press, 2027)
Nancy Schoenberger
Professor of English and Creative Writing at the College of William & Mary, Nancy Schoenberger is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee and Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century (with Sam Kashner), as well as Wayne and Ford: The Films, the Friendship, and the Forging of an American Hero.
Published:
Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams’s Greatest Creation (Harper, 2023)
Neil Shah
Former pop music reporter for The Wall Street Journal (2015–2025), Neil Shah covers music and entertainment.
Forthcoming:
All of the Lights (Doubleday, 2026)
Ryan Schreiber
Founder of Pitchfork, Ryan Schreiber served as the company’s CEO and editor in chief from 1996 to 2019. He has twice been named to Time’s annual Time 100 list of the world’s most influential people and holds an honorary Doctor of Arts from Columbia College Chicago.
Forthcoming:
Weird Era: How Pitchfork Changed Music Forever: A Memoir (MCD/FSG, 2026)
Shawn Setaro
Music journalist and reporter at Complex, Shawn Setaro has written for The Atlantic, Vibe, The Source, GQ, and Forbes. He also hosted The Cipher, a podcast featuring interviews with more than 250 figures in hip-hop.
Published:
Dummy Boy: Tekashi 6ix9ine and the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods (Kingston Imperial, 2021)
Vikki Tobak
Culture journalist, curator, and producer Vikki Tobak has written for Complex, Rolling Stone, The FADER, Mass Appeal, Paper, Vibe, i-D, and the Detroit News, among other publications. She is the author of Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History and Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop. She has lectured on music photography at American University, VOLTA New York, Photoville, the Chicago Cultural Center, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.
Published:
The Streets Win: 50 Years of Hip-Hop Greatness (Rizzoli, 2023)
Forthcoming:
New book (Taschen, 2026)
Tyler Watamanuk
Writer and contributor at GQ, Tyler Watamanuk covers design and style. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Playboy, McSweeney’s, and VICE.
Published:
Bigger Than Fashion: How Streetwear Conquered Culture (Simon & Schuster, 2025)
Walt Williams
Writer and narrative designer Walt Williams has worked on video games including Star Wars Battlefront II, BioShock, Borderlands, Civilization, Mafia II, Evolve, and the genre-bending Spec Ops: The Line.
Published:
Significant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games (Atria, 2017)
Elizabeth Winder
Nonfiction writer and Pushcart-nominated poet Elizabeth Winder is the author of Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 and Marilyn in Manhattan: Her Year of Joy. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vogue, New York magazine, ELLE, Vanity Fair, and Chicago Review.
Published:
Parachute Women: Marianne Faithfull, Marsha Hunt, Bianca Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, and the Women Behind the Rolling Stones (Hachette Books, 2023)