all day
Past Participants
The Festival is renowned for featuring award-winning, best-selling fiction and non-fiction authors, year after year.
Previous authors have included:
Jamie Raskin, Michael Fanone, Diane Rehm, Kate DiCamillo, Wes Moore, Susan Page, Mahnaz Afkhami, Michael Hayden, Alberto Gonzales, Austin Channing Brown, Cody Keenan, Ann Patchett, Anthony Marra, Lisa Genova, DeRay Mckesson, Rabia Chaudry, Jim Lehrer, Clint Smith, Alice McDermott, Thomas Dolby, April Ryan, Keith Boykin, Ibram X. Kendi, Michael Isikoff, Andrea Mitchell, Jeffery Deaver, Gwen Ifill, Laura Lippman, D. Watkins, Ronald Kessler, Jake Tapper, Kenneth Starr, Jonathan Fields, Mark Shriver, Kathie Lee Gifford, Sharyl Attkisson, Debbie Levy, Daniel Pink, James Fallows, and Juan Williams.
2023 Authors & Headliners
Authors/Presenters
Mahnaz Afkhami
Addison Armstrong
Kathleen Best
Keith Boykin
Andrea Chamblee
Susan Coll
Alyssa Colman
Mari K. Eder
David Elfin
Michael Fanone
Paul W. Gillespie
Kerri K. Greenidge
Elisabeth Griffith
Christine Grillo
Karen Baum Gordon
C. C. Harrington
Rob Hart
Scott Higham
Sari Horwitz
Todd B. Kashdan
Cody Keenan
James Kirchick
Iris Krasnow
Anthony Marra
Michael Nelson
Bethanne Patrick
Nikki Payne
Nicholas Reynolds
Thomas E. Ricks
Barbara Carroll Roberts
John Shiffman
Lewis M. Simons
Howard L. Siskind
Kathy Bergren Smith
Nicole Sodoma
Jason Steinhauer
David O. Stewart
Manil Suri
Craig L. Symonds
Jack L. Talley
Susan Gurwell Talley
Martha Anne Toll
Jim Toomey
Elizabeth Williamson
Jung Yun
2022 Authors & Headliners
Authors/Presenters
Kate Albus,
Jenn Bouchard,
Sunu P. Chandy,
Laura Coates,
John Woodrow Cox,
Jeffery Deaver,
Dotty Holcomb Doherty,
Zein El-Amine,
Dan Fesperman,
Jay Fleming,
John Gilstrap,
Jeffrey Greene,
Adam Harris,
Nadia Hashimi,
Robin Hemley,
Kristin Henning,
Hannah Howard,
Theodore R. Johnson,
Cecilia Kang,
Lydia Kang,
Ivan Leshinsky,
Chloe Dulce Louvouezo,
Nilah Magruder,
Sarah Marsh,
Leeya Mehta,
Josh Mitchell,
Vivek Narayanan,
Ali Noorani,
Suzanne Nossel,
Ellen Oh,
Susan Page,
Jamie Raskin,
Constance Sayers,
Jeffrey Selingo,
Laura Shin,
Clint Smith,
Terence Smith,
William Stixrud,
Leslie Gray Streeter,
Adam Russell Taylor,
John Della Volpe,
Craig Whitlock,
Edith Widder,
Xu Xi,
John Yeigh,
Melissa Scholes Young,
Marisa Zeppieri
2021 Authors & Headliners
Authors/Presenters
Sharyl Attkisson,
Jazmina Barrera,
Catherine Belton,
Sophie Blackall,
Keisha N. Blain,
Austin Channing Brown,
Oliver Bullough,
Tom Burgis,
Israel Centeno,
Sarah Chayes,
Kate DiCamillo,
April Falcon Doss,
Jessie Dunleavy,
Charles Finch,
David Gendell,
Haben Girma,
Robin Preiss Glasser,
Garrett M. Graff,
Annabelle Gurwitch,
Sara Harberson,
Luke Harding,
Mary Dell Harrington,
Lisa Heffernan,
Harold Holzer,
Deborah Hopkinson,
Martha S. Jones,
Jason Karlawish,
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon,
Heather McGhee,
Bill McKibben,
Wes Moore,
Kate Murphy,
Ahmed Naji,
Jenny Odell,
Ann Patchett,
Tia Powell,
Erika Robuck,
Margaret Rodenberg,
Rudy Ruiz,
ire'ne lara silva,
Sue Stuart-Smith,
Karin Tanabe,
Sergio Troncoso,
Ben Westhoff,
Kelly Yang
2019 Authors & Headliners
Authors/Presenters
Cathy Barrow
Peter Blauner
Renee Brooks Catacalos
Liv Constantine
Kevin Cowherd
Timothy Denevi
Mark Di Ionno
Michael Dobbs
James Fallows
Tope Folarin
Kurt Fried
Laura Gehl
Jo Giese
Greg Grandin
David Grinspoon
Maria Hiaasen
Michael Isikoff
Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Beth Kanter
Ronald Kessler
Andy Kutler
Nancy Lawson
Katherine Reynolds Lewis
Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi
DeRay Mckesson
Roger McNamee
Vivek Narayanan
Maria Leonard Olsen
Aliya Peremel
David Reichenbaugh
Gary Reiner
Peggy Rowe
Chloe Schwenke
Kathryn Schwille
Arjun Singh Sethi
Ken Starr
Sother Teague
Evan Thomas
Brian VanDeMark
Ginger Woolridge
Authors/Presenters who appeared in 2018: Sebastian Abbot, Rafael Alvarez, Robbi Behr, Roberto Brodsky, T.C. Cameron, Tyrese L. Coleman, Stephanie Dray, Kerry Dunnington, Amitai Etzioni, John Eisenberg, Clementine K. Fujimura, Andrea Gonzales, Garrett M. Graff, Annabelle Gurwitch, Jacob S. Hacker, Barbara Bradley Haggerty, Jimin Han, Nawaf Ashur Haskan, Leah Henderson, Mark Hendricks, Lisa Hillman, Meredith Hindley, Chelsea Leigh Horne, Amir Husain, McKay Jenkins, Laura Kamoie, Matthew Klam, Michael E. Mann, Khet Mar, Chris Matthews, J.G. McClure, Leeya Mehta, Liza Mundy, Courtney Pippin-Mathur, Amy Poeppel, Daniel Pink, Denise Robbins, Ericka Robuck, April Ryan, Paul Scharre, Jared Yates Sexton, Amy Siskind, Brad Snyder, JJ Strong, Matthew Swanson, Tom Toles, Grant Wahl, Heather Webb
Authors/Presenters who appeared in 2017: Jonathan S. Addleton, Beebe Bahrami, Sybil Baker, Louis Bayard, Gary Belsky, Marie Benedict, Stephens Broening, Kate Anderson Brower, Rabia Chaudry, Alejandro Danois, Jeffery Deaver, Stefanie DeLuca, Thomas Dolby, Kathry J. Edin, Jennifer Farley, Suzanne Feldman, Jonathan Fields, Amy Gary, John Gilstrap, Pamela Haag, Colin D. Halloran, Lauren Kay Halloran, Michael V. Hayden, Frederic B. Hill, Tom Horton, Margaret Hutton, Dini Duran Karasik, Brendan Kiely, Debbie Levy, Greer Macallister, Peter Manseau, Lisa Maxwell, Richard McCann, Eva KL Miller, Barbara Klein Moss, Stewart Moss, Cait Murphy, Daniel Nathan, Daniel Palmer, Kathy Wielech Patterson, Neal Patterson, Jason Reynolds, Mark K. Shriver, Rachel Starnes, Brian W. Stolarz, Marlene Trestman, Timothy Young
Authors/Presenters who appeared in 2016: Matt Bai, Jen Chaney, Ron Childress, August Cole, Dan Connelly, Joseph Cummins, Matthew Davis, Dario DiBattista, Stephanie Dray, Bob Drury, Beth Fantaskey, Jeffrey Greene, Jessie Hartland, David E. Hoffman, Terry Catusus Jennings, Brigid Kemmerer, Ibram X. Kendi, Kathryn Kramer, Jessica Lahey, Adele Levine, Jamie Madigan, Peter Manseau, T. Michael Martin, Bethany McLean, Reid Mitenbuler, Mark Moyar, Donna Jackson Nakazawa, Amy Ellis Nutt, Sarah Pekkanen, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Gregory Priebe, Nicole Priebe, Ted Rall, Diane Rehm, Seton Rossini, Jake Russell, Phyllis Saroff, Canden Schwantes, Chris Scotten, Scott Shane, John Shields, Lauren R. Silberman, Ronald L. Smith, Ben Strauss, Susan Stockdale, Bill Sykan, Evan Thomas, Greg Toppo, Michael J. Tougias, Benjamin Warner, D. Watkins, Tim Weiner, Richard Whittle
Authors/Presenters who appeared in 2015: Catherine Asaro, Mary Lou Baker, Louis Bayard, Mikita Brottman, Jamie Brown, Tonier Cain, Jack Campbell, W. Joseph Campbell, Andrea Chapin, Aviva Chomsky, Timothy Denevi, Jim Dwyer, Amitai Etzioni, Zachary Fallon, Bruce Ferber, Charles E. Gannon, Martin Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales, David Greene, Kathy Hunt, Rob Kasper, Cheryl Klam, Glen Kurtz, Eric Lichtblau, Barbara Lockhart, Michael Martin, Suajta Massey, Kembrew McLeod, Kate Milford, Barbara Klein Moss, Michael Moss, Diane Muldrow, Alex Myers, John A. Nagl, Boog Powell, James Risen, Erika Robuck, Marc Rotenberg, Joe Schreiber, Adam Sobel, Neely Tucker, John C. Unitas Jr., Jesse Walker, Gernot Wagner, Sarah Wildman, Timothy Young, Dan Zevin
Authors/Presenters who appeared in 2014: A.X. Ahmad, Kwame Alexander, Artie Bennett, Louis Bayard, Claude Berube, David Chapelle, Angelique Clarke, Kevin Cowherd, Catherine Crawford, Bob Ehrlich, Al From, Janice Gary, Charles Ota Heller, Daniel Klaidman, Cheryl Klam, Robert Kolker, Iris Krasnow, Debbie Levy, Bryan MacKay, Drew Magary, Sujata Massey, Alice McDermott, Seamus McGraw, Emily Miller, Edward O. Murdy, John A. Musick, Doug Norton, Valerie Ormond, Todd S. Purdum, Michael Rex, A. Lynden Rolland, Penelope Rowlands, John Sazaklis, Jill Smokler, Bruce Spizer, Marianne Szegedy-Maszak, Evan Thomas, Daniel W. Webster, Craig R. Whitney, Tom Wilbur, Juan Williams