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Emmanuel N. Obiechina is a distinguished scholar and literary critic known for his keen and thoughtful interpretations of African literature and the African diaspora. Born in 1933 in Nigeria, Obiechina received his BA in English from University College in Ibadan, Nigeria, an affiliate of the University of London in 1961 and his PhD in English from the University of Cambridge in 1967. With 20 years of teaching experience, Obiechina has taught students at universities in both the US and Africa. From 2002 to 2003, Obiechina was a Visiting Scholar in the department of African and African American studies at Harvard University. He was also a fellow in the Du Bois Institute where he presented research work entitled "Slavery and the Fall of Africa: Textualizing a Historic Tragedy" as part of an ongoing book project. His honors include being awarded a festschrift, entitled Meditations on African Literature edited by Dubem Okafor and awards for "Humanistic Perspectives on Contemporary Society" from the Ford Foundation. Additional prizes include several NEH Summer Institute appointments as well as fellowships at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the University of Cambridge and a Fulbright Travel Fellowship for Senior African Scholars.

Manning Marable is M. Moran Weston/Black Alumni Council Professor of African-American Studies, and Professor of Public Affairs, History and Political Science at Colombia University in New York City. Marable has written, edited or contributed to twenty-seven books, including *How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America* (1983), *Black American Politics* (1985), *Black Leadership* (1998), *The Great Wells of Democracy* (2002), and *Living Black History* (2006). He is currently completing a major new biography of Malcolm X.

Dan Rhodes was born in 1972. He studied Humanities at the University of Glamorgan and later returned there for an MA in Writing, which he completed in 1997. He has worked on a fruit and vegetable farm, in the stockroom of a book shop, behind the bar of his parents' pub, as a teacher in Ho Chi Minh City, and, sporadically, as a full-time writer. He has published two collections of short fiction: *Anthropology: And a Hundred Other Stories* (2000), which contains very short, darkly humorous stories about romantic relationships, and *Don't Tell Me the Truth About Love *(2001), which consists of seven longer stories on a similar theme. His first novel,* Timoleon Vieta Come Home: A Sentimental Journey*, was published in April 2003, and is about a dog's travels across Italy. This was followed by *Little White Car* (2004). Dan Rhodes was recently named by *Granta *magazine as one of twenty 'Best of Young British Novelists'. His latest novel is *Gold* (2007), shortlisted for the 2008 Catherine Maclean Prize.

Dwight Andrews, composer, musician, educator, and minister, joined the Emory College faculty in 1987. Dr. Andrews is an Associate Professor of Music Theory and African American Music at Emory University and Senior Minister of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Atlanta. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music from the University of Michigan. He continued his studies at Yale University, receiving a Master of Divinity degree and a PhD in Music Theory. While at Yale, Andrews served as Associate Pastor of Christ's Church and was on the faculty of the Music Department and African American Studies Program for over ten years. He also served as the Resident Music Director (1979-1986) at the Yale Repertory Theater under Lloyd Richards. It was during this period that his fruitful association with playwright August Wilson began. As a result, Andrews served as music director for the Broadway Productions of *August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom*, *Joe Turner's Come and Gone*, *Fences*, *The Piano Lesson*, and *Seven Guitars*. He also served as Music Director for the Broadway revival production of *Ma Rainey* starring Charles S. Dutton and Whoopi Goldberg and collaborated with Director Kenny Leon on the Broadway production of *A Raisin in the Sun*, starring Sean Combs and Phylicia Rashad. His work has been presented at professional theatres throughout the United States and Great Britain. He is presently working on a study of Black Music and Race based on his Harvard lectures and a manuscript on spirituality in the works of John Coltrane, Mary Lou Williams, Sun Ra, Dave Brubeck, and Albert Ayler.

Susan Orlean has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1992, contributing profiles, columns, Reporter at Large, Talk of the Town, and Popular Chronicles on subjects ranging from umbrella inventors to figure skater Tonya Harding to clowns. Prior to joining The New Yorker, Orlean was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and at Vogue and has also written for Esquire, Smithsonian, and New York Times Magazine. In addition to her magazine work, Orlean is the author of seven books, including My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who’s Been Everywhere; The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup: My Encounters with Extraordinary People; Saturday Night; and Lazy Little Loafers. In 1999, she published The Orchid Thief, a best-selling narrative about orchid poachers in Florida. The Orchid Thief was made into the movie Adaptation, written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze.

Nancy Lusignan Schultz was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and completed her B.A. cum laude in English and French at the College of the Holy Cross. Following a semester of study at both McGill University in Montreal and at the University of Paris, Sorbonne, she entered the Ph.D. program in English at Boston College, where she was a university fellow, and received her doctorate in 1984. She was a visiting professor at Boston College from summer 1988-98. Schultz joined the faculty at Salem State College in Massachusetts in 1983, where she co-directed the College's Writing Center for fifteen years, and teaches writing and literature courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In 1999, she was appointed coordinator of the College's graduate programs in English. In Spring 2007, Dr. Schultz was elected English Department Chairperson and began this new position on July 1, 2007. Dr. Schultz was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship during AY 2003-04 and a Senior Fellowship at the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, during AY 2002-03 for her current book project, a study of the 1824 Mattingly miracle in Washington D.C., under contract with Yale University Press.

Bruce Twickler is President of Docema, LLC, the film company that produced the ground-breaking documentary *Damrell's Fire* (2006) for PBS and is currently producing *Broadside, the Influence of Sea Power on History *(2009). Bruce graduated from MIT with a BS/MS in Electrical Engineering; was on the technical staffs of GenRad and MITRE Corp; and, he spent a dozen years in the consumer electronics industry, the last few as VP of Marketing for Pioneer Electronics. In the early personal computer market of the 1980s, he was President/CEO of Hayden Software and later, Shiva Corporation. In the late 1990s, his Internet company, Andover.Net, with over 50% of all Linux-related internet traffic, enjoyed one of the most successful initial public offerings of that era.

Harlan Lane is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at Northeastern University and has received the International Social Merit Award of the World Federation of the Deaf, among numerous other honors. He is n internationally recognized advocate for the deaf and the author or editor of nine books on deaf history, language, and culture.