Browse our roster of speakers whose messages of inspiration, justice, and hope are perfect for college audiences.
Popular Categories for the First Year Experience®
- Climate and the Environment
- Literary Fiction
- History
- Memoir
- Poetry
- Public Health
- Science and Technology
- Social Justice
- Student Success
Climate and the Environment
Suzanne Simard
Leader of The Mother Tree Project and author of Finding the Mother Tree
Daniel Sherrell
Environmental advocate and author of Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World
Literary Fiction
Brit Bennett
Novelist of National Book Award nominated, New York Times-bestselling The Vanishing Half
Geraldine Brooks
Bestselling author of Horse and the Pulitzer Prize-winning March
Omar El Akkad
Award-winning journalist and author of What Strange Paradise
Kali Fajardo-Anstine
National Book Award Finalist and author of Woman of Light
Mohsin Hamid
Booker Prize finalist and New York Times-bestselling author of The Last White Man
Leila Mottley
Author of Oprah’s Book Club selection Nightcrawling and former Youth Poet Laureate of Oakland
Celeste Ng
New York Times-bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere and The Missing Heart
Tommy Orange
Author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist and national bestseller There There
Ruth Ozeki
Author of The Book of Form and Emptiness, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction
Kiley Reid
Author of Such a Fun Age, an instant New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club Pick
Colson Whitehead
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of The Underground Railroad and Harlem Shuffle
Charles Yu
National Book Award-winning author of Interior Chinatown
Gabrielle Zevin
New York Times-bestselling author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
History
Isabel Wilkerson
Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of the critically-acclaimed bestsellers The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste
Memoir
John Hendrickson
Staff Writer for The Atlantic, author of Life on Delay
Cathy Park Hong
Award-winning poet and New York Times-bestselling author of Minor Feelings
Ian Manuel
Advocate, poet, motivational speaker, and author of My Time Will Come
Chanel Miller
Artist, activist, and author of the New York Times bestseller Know My Name
Emi Nietfeld
Software engineer, writer, and author of Acceptance
Javier Zamora
Memoirist, poet, and author of Solito
Michelle Zauner
Frontwoman of Japanese Breakfast and author of New York Times bestselling Crying in H Mart
Poetry
Alora Young
Spoken word poet and author of Walking Gentry Home
Public Health
Dr. Thomas Fisher
Emergency room physician and author of The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha
Physician, scientist and activist who exposed the Flint water crisis
Dr. Michele Harper
Emergency room physician and author of the New York Times-bestselling The Beauty in Breaking
Science and Technology
Ed Yong
Pulitzer Prize-winning science staff writer for The Atlantic and author of An Immense World
Social Justice
Adam Benforado
New York Times-bestselling author of A Minor Revolution
Dr. Jennifer L. Eberhardt
Award-winning social psychologist and author of Biased
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
National Book Award-winning historian and New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist
Shaka Senghor
Author of Letters to the Sons of Society and Writing My Wrongs and a leading voice on criminal justice reform
Student Success
Seth Goldenberg
Entrepreneur, design visionary, and author of Radical Curiosity
John Green
#1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars and The Anthropocene Reviewed, podcaster, and philanthropist
Bo Seo
Two-time world champion debater and author of Good Arguments
Dr. Simran Jeet Singh
Motivational speaker, human rights activist, and author of The Light We Give
