Diane Ackerman & Daniel Siegel celebrate the life and works of poet and philosopher, John O’Donohue.  He is the beloved author who won hundreds of thousands of admirers with his now classic work on Celtic spirituality Anam Cara and the bestsellers To Bless the Space Between Us, Beauty, and Eternal Echoes, as well as two collections of poetry, Echoes of Memory and Conamara Blues. Unfortunately he died suddenly at age fifty-two in 2008 and the loss of his powerfully wise and lyrical voice has been profoundly missed.  O’Donohue’s readers know him as both a spiritual guide and a poet, and in his work he exhibits both qualities, sharing his Celtic heritage and his love for his native landscape in the west of Ireland. He frequently traveled to the United States to give lectures and conduct workshops.

Robert Kirkman is creator, writer and executive producer of The Walking Dead on AMC TV and Outcast on Cinemax. He is also a successful creator of independent comics. He created and continues to write the long-running Image Comics title The Walking Dead, on which the show is based, and the comics have been gaining popularity throughout its run. He also writes the acclaimed and equally long-running super-hero comic Invincible.

Chloe Coscarelli made her mark into the culinary scene as the only vegan chef to capture the top prize on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. She has been recognized for bringing vegan cuisine to the mainstream as an award-winning chef, successful entrepreneur, and bestselling cookbook author. Debunking the myth that vegan cooking is bland and visually unenticing, Chloe shares her bright, colorful, and tasteful recipes using fresh, healthy ingredients. She has published three bestselling cookbooks, bringing healthy and satisfying vegan and plant-based dishes to the masses.

Amy Tan is the author of The Valley of Amazement, The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, The Opposite of Fate, Saving Fish from Drowning, and two children’s books, The Moon Lady and Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat.  In Where the Past Begins, Amy Tan is at her most intimate in revealing the truths and inspirations that underlie her extraordinary fiction.

“I was married to a crime fighter for a decade,” writes Patton Oswalt in describing his late wife, Michelle McNamara. “She was born with a true cop’s heart and mind… She made everything about me and everyone around her better. And she did it by being quietly, effortlessly original.”  I’ll Be Gone in the Dark—the book McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death—offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman’s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Framed by an introduction by Gillian Flynn and an afterword by her husband, Patton Oswalt, the book was completed by Michelle’s lead researcher and a close colleague. It is destined to become a true crime classic—and may at last help unmask the Golden State Killer.

Andrew Friedman has chronicled the life and work of some of the best American chefs. He is the author of Knives at Dawn: America’s Quest for Culinary Glory at the Bocuse d’Or, the World’s Most Prestigious Cooking Competition and coeditor of the internationally popular anthology Don’t Try This at Home. He has also coauthored more than two dozen cookbooks and memoirs with chefs. Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll transports readers back in time to witness the remarkable evolution of the American restaurant chef in the 1970s and 1980s. 

David Mamet, one of the most extraordinary writers in contemporary American literature, has written twenty-three plays, eight collections of essays, two novels, five children’s books, two books of poetry, and eighteen films, including The Verdict and Wag the Dog, for which he received Academy Award nominations. State and Main is his seventh feature as a writer-director, after House of Games, Things Change, Homicide, Oleanna, The Spanish Prisoner, and The Winslow Boy. Mamet has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for Glengary Glen Ross.

Kathy Freston is a bestselling author and wellness expert with a focus on healthy eating and conscious living. Her books include The Lean, Veganist, Quantum Wellness, and The One.  Bruce Friedrich is Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Good Food Institute and Co-Founder of New Crop Capital. His opinion pieces have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune. He lectures frequently and all over the world about the future of food.

David Frum is a senior editor at the Atlantic and the author of nine books, including the New York Times bestseller The Right Man. From 2001 to 2002, he served as a speechwriter and special assistant to President George W. Bush.  Frum explains why President Trump has undermined our most important institutions in ways even the most critical media has missed, in this thoughtful and hard-hitting book that is a warning for democracy and America’s future.