Maira Kalman is an award-winning artist, illustrator, and product designer. She has illustrated numerous covers for The New Yorker magazine and has written and illustrated more than a dozen children's books. Her articles and illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, Interview, and many other publications. Kalman has designed products for the Museum of Modern Art under the M&Co. label, fabric for Isaac Mizrahi, accessories for Kate Spade, and sets for Mark Morris Dance Group. She currently writes a monthly illustrated blog, Principles of Uncertainty for the New York Times which can be seen on the M&Co website and is known for her illustrations accompanying the iconic English grammar text, The Elements of Style. She teaches graduate design at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

Louise Steinman is curator of ALOUD at Central Library and co-director of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities USC. She is the author of two books: The Souvenir: A Daughter Discovers Her Father's War and The Knowing Body: The Artist as Storyteller in Contemporary Performance. Her writing has appeared in Los Angeles; West Magazine; New York Times Syndicate; L.A. Weekly; Salon.com and other publications.