Clint Smith is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and was named one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2021. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling poetry collection Above Ground and the award-winning poetry collection Counting Descent. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic.

Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul is the founder of Red Clay Educators, co-director of the Institute for Racial Equity in Literacy, co-director of the Teach Black History All Year Institute, and executive producer and host of The Black Creators Series. She is a former middle school English teacher and has written several books for educators to support reading and writing instruction including Antiracist Reading Revolution: A Framework for Teaching Beyond Representation Toward Liberation. Sonja leads professional development for schools and organizations in equity and antiracism. She invites you to visit her online at sonjacherrypaul.com.