The Creative Process · Arts, Culture & Society: Books, Film, Music, TV, Art, Writing, Creativity, Education, Environment, Theatre, Dance, LGBTQ, Climate Change, Social Justice, Spirituality, Feminism, Tech, Sustainability

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing.   She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www,dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of Wench, and Balm. She was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for fiction, and she was awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in Washington, DC with her family and teaches at American University. She discusses her latest novel Take My Hand, along with the importance of family, legacy, and history, particularly in regards to race.In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight "Olive Titles," limited edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston.Dolen is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. On behalf of the foundation, she has visited nearly every public high school in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing.   She is currently Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and lives in Washington, DC with her family.· www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/113386/dolen-perkins-valdez/· www.penfaulkner.org· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

"When are we all going to start to care about one another? Because all of our individual choices do have impacts. And I just think the demands that we place on this planet, on the ecosystems, are what are driving conflict and human suffering. In some cases, it's really the scarcity of resources, just like water. In others, it's the changing climate and the loss of fertile lands to be able to grow food. But in the end, it's always the people living in these places that really suffer the most. All of my work today, it’s not really about wildlife, and it's not just about people either. It's about how deeply interconnected all of those things are. People and the human condition are the backdrop of every one of the stories on this planet."Photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale shares her personal odyssey—from documenting the heartbreaking realities of war to witnessing the inspiring power of an individual to make a difference. Her award-winning work illuminates the unsung heroes and communities working to protect our wildlife and find harmony in our natural world. Hear her awe-inspiring stories of the reintroduction of northern white rhinos and giant pandas to the wild, as well as Kenya’s first indigenous-owned and run elephant sanctuary. Ami has traveled to more than 100 countries, bearing witness not only to violence and conflict, but also to surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit. She has lived in mud huts and war zones, contracted malaria, and donned a panda suit— keeping true to her belief in the importance of “living the story.”Ami is an Ambassador for Nikon and a contract photographer with National Geographic magazine. She has documented wildlife and poaching in Africa, covered human-wildlife conflict, and concentrated on efforts to save the northern white rhino and reintroduce pandas to the wild.   She is a six-time recipient of World Press Photos and published a best-selling book, Panda Love, on the secret lives of pandas.  She lectures for the National Geographic LIVEseries, and she frequently gives workshops around the world.After more than a decade covering conflict, photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale couldn’t help but notice that the less sensational—but equally true—stories were often not getting told: the wedding happening around the corner from the revolution, triumphs amidst seemingly endless devastation. As a result, she re-committed herself to seeking out the stories within and around “the story.” Her belief that “you can’t talk about humanity without talking about nature” led her to chronicle her journey from documenting warzones to telling some of the most compelling wildlife and environmental stories of our time, where individuals are making a profound difference in the future of their communities and this planet.  She is Executive Director of Vital Impacts whose mission is to support grassroots organizations who are protecting people, wildlife and habitats. She is also a founding  member of Ripple Effect Images, a collective of scientists, writers, photographers and filmmakers who document challenges facing women and girls in developing countries. She is chair of the Photographers Advisory Board for National Geographic magazine photographers and also a member of the Executive Advisory Committee of the Alexia Foundations Photojournalism Advisory Board.  · www.amivitale.com· vitalimpacts.org · www.rippleeffectimages.org · Print sale for Vital Impacts:

Photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale shares her personal odyssey—from documenting the heartbreaking realities of war to witnessing the inspiring power of an individual to make a difference. Her award-winning work illuminates the unsung heroes and communities working to protect our wildlife and find harmony in our natural world. Hear her awe-inspiring stories of the reintroduction of northern white rhinos and giant pandas to the wild, as well as Kenya’s first indigenous-owned and run elephant sanctuary. Ami has traveled to more than 100 countries, bearing witness not only to violence and conflict, but also to surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit. She has lived in mud huts and war zones, contracted malaria, and donned a panda suit— keeping true to her belief in the importance of “living the story.”Ami is an Ambassador for Nikon and a contract photographer with National Geographic magazine. She has documented wildlife and poaching in Africa, covered human-wildlife conflict, and concentrated on efforts to save the northern white rhino and reintroduce pandas to the wild.   She is a six-time recipient of World Press Photos and published a best-selling book, Panda Love, on the secret lives of pandas.  She lectures for the National Geographic LIVEseries, and she frequently gives workshops around the world.After more than a decade covering conflict, photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale couldn’t help but notice that the less sensational—but equally true—stories were often not getting told: the wedding happening around the corner from the revolution, triumphs amidst seemingly endless devastation. As a result, she re-committed herself to seeking out the stories within and around “the story.” Her belief that “you can’t talk about humanity without talking about nature” led her to chronicle her journey from documenting warzones to telling some of the most compelling wildlife and environmental stories of our time, where individuals are making a profound difference in the future of their communities and this planet.  She is Executive Director of Vital Impacts whose mission is to support grassroots organizations who are protecting people, wildlife and habitats. She is also a founding  member of Ripple Effect Images, a collective of scientists, writers, photographers and filmmakers who document challenges facing women and girls in developing countries. She is chair of the Photographers Advisory Board for National Geographic magazine photographers and also a member of the Executive Advisory Committee of the Alexia Foundations Photojournalism Advisory Board.  · www.amivitale.com· vitalimpacts.org · www.rippleeffectimages.org · Print sale for Vital Impacts: https://vitalimpacts.org/collections/impact-now· https://newhouse.syr.edu/centers/the-alexia· IG: @amivitale· IG: @vital.impacts · IG: @wild.lifeincolourPhoto of Ami Vitale by Ken Lavazza· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

"I am very concerned that the future seems to be consolidated among the 10 wealthiest, most powerful people in the world who are all white guys. And they're great. I know most of them personally. I have mad respect for them, but it's really concerning when a private individual can buy Twitter. It's very concerning when a billionaire can own one of the most important news organizations in the United States. When Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post, at first I was very excited about it because we all know that journalism and journalistic integrity are an essential part of modern democracy.And that was very much threatened and dismantled by technology because their revenue structure was destroyed with the internet. So they had to reinvent themselves. So at first, when he bought it, I thought, Oh good, he's going to give them new lifeblood. And now I'm like, Oh, no. When we have major billionaires controlling the dialogue, the discussions, the flow of information–whether that's Facebook or Twitter or news organizations, that's really concerning. So my major deliverable and really the motivation behind writing Bet on Yourself was to democratize success, democratize entrepreneurism, and to wake up inside all of us, realizing that whether you're an intrepreneur working in another company, or if you're a more traditional quote, unquote entrepreneur - it doesn't have to be in a garage or getting funding from traditional VC companies. I wanted to wake that up in as many minds as possible that we can make a huge difference. No matter your expertise, your industry, your risk tolerance, there are ways that we can all participate in this, and what we need most, especially now when core algorithms of artificial intelligence are being written, is more participation from more perspectives.Whether that's cultural...every possible definition of diversity. I want more people participating because what concerns me most about globalization is it's being controlled by about 10 people."Ann Hiatt is a best selling author, executive consultant, speaker, and investor. She is a Silicon Valley veteran with 15 years experience reporting directly to CEOs Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Eric Schmidt (Google/Alphabet). Ann consults with CEOs and their leadership teams across the globe on c-suite optimization.Ann has published articles in publications such as Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and CNBC. She has also contributed to articles in The New York Times, Economic Times, The Financial Times and Forbes. Her bestselling book, Bet On Yourself, was published by HarperCollins in 2021.· https://annhiatt.co· www.BetOnYourselfBook.com · Bet on Yourself book· Season 5 of Bet on Yourself podcast  launch on May 25th· www.creativeprocess.info· www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Ann Hiatt is a best selling author, executive consultant, speaker, and investor. She is a Silicon Valley veteran with 15 years experience reporting directly to CEOs Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Eric Schmidt (Google/Alphabet). Ann consults with CEOs and their leadership teams across the globe on c-suite optimization.Ann has published articles in publications such as Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and CNBC. She has also contributed to articles in The New York Times, Economic Times, The Financial Times and Forbes. Her bestselling book, Bet On Yourself, was published by HarperCollins in 2021.· https://annhiatt.co· www.BetOnYourselfBook.com · Bet on Yourself book· Season 5 of Bet on Yourself podcast  launch on May 25th· www.creativeprocess.info · www.oneplanetpodcast.org

Daniel Sherrell is the author of Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World, a memoir on the climate crisis framed as a letter to Sherrell's potential future child. He is a climate movement organizer and has led successful campaigns to phase out coal-fired power plants, divest millions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry, and pass a Green New Deal bill for New York State, legislation that the New York Times called “one of the world’s most ambitious climate plans.” He’s Campaign Director for the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, where he works with the American labor movement to tackle the climate crisis, reverse income inequality, and win millions of unionized clean energy jobs. The New Yorker and Publisher’s Weekly named Warmth one of the best books of 2021 and he’s a recipient of the Creative Force Foundation’s Award for “igniting positive social change through writing.”· www.danielsherrell.com · www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/670357/warmth-by-daniel-sherrell/·  Climate Jobs National Resource Center www.cjnrc.orgPhoto by Giovana Schluter Nunes“It felt to me that if I wasn't able to figure out a way to orchestrate a genuine emotional encounter for myself with the enormity of this thing I was meant to be taking action on, then something in me was going to break, and I just wouldn't be able to keep doing the work. So, there was never a point where it's like, I'm going to write a book, but I did turn to the written word, almost little diary entries, to make psychological and spiritual sense of the crisis that I was dealing with in a thin way every day."

“We become the stories we tell ourselves…I started writing around the time I learned English because we moved to the States soon after my fourth birthday, and so I was here for kindergarten into elementary school. I grasped this new language just as I was learning how to also put things onto the page. Those two things really happened at the same time for me. I entered this world where I felt very different and very other, for all intents and purposes I was set to be raised in Kuwait. And then that of course got turned upside down after the invasion by Saddam. I think that so much of my trying to make sense of the world had to do with the displacement, exile and these experiences that my parents had experienced but then that I had as well as we were fleeing the war. It’s hard to know because I think that language was being formed in my brain at the same time that these things were happening.”Hala Alyan is the author of the novel Salt Houses, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award and a finalist for the Chautauqua Prize, as well as the forthcoming novel The Arsonists’ City, and four award-winning collections of poetry, most recently The Twenty-Ninth Year. Her work has been published by the New Yorker, the Academy of American Poets, Lit Hub, The New York Times Book Review, and Guernica. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, where she works as a clinical psychologist.· halaalyan.com · www.creativeprocess.info

Hala Alyan is the author of the novel Salt Houses, winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Arab American Book Award and a finalist for the Chautauqua Prize, as well as the forthcoming novel The Arsonists’ City, and four award-winning collections of poetry, most recently The Twenty-Ninth Year. Her work has been published by the New Yorker, the Academy of American Poets, Lit Hub, The New York Times Book Review, and Guernica. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, where she works as a clinical psychologist.· halaalyan.com · www.creativeprocess.info

James Fallows has been a national correspondent for The Atlantic for more than thirty-five years, reporting from China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe, and across the United States. Winner of the National Book Award and National Magazine Award, he’s the author of twelve books and his work has appeared in numerous publications and on public-radio. For two years he was President Jimmy Carter’s chief speechwriter.Deborah Fallows is a linguist and writer. The author of Dreaming in Chinese and A Mother's Work, she has written for The Atlantic, National Geographic, and The New York Times, among others and has worked at the Pew Research Center, Oxygen Media, and Georgetown University.Following the success of their NYTimes bestselling book Our Towns and HBO documentary based on their reporting on around 50 towns around the country, they formed the Our Towns Civic Foundation to promote reporting from under-served areas across the US, connect innovators and give Americans a fuller and more realistic picture of their country’s challenges and opportunities.Our Towns (HBO Movie):  https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/our-townsOur Towns (book): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/550194/our-towns-by-james-fallows-and-deborah-fallows/ Our Towns Civic Foundation: https://www.ourtownsfoundation.org/ Our Towns Civic Foundation is a new non-profit organization that promotes reporting from under-served areas across the United States, to connect innovators dealing with the problems of this era, and gives Americans a fuller and more realistic picture of their countries challenges and opportunities."Deb Fallows, Dreaming in Chinese   https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/dreaming-in-chinese-9780802779144/Deb Fallows, A Mother's Work   https://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Work-Deborah-Fallows/dp/0395362180Jim Fallows, More Like Us  https://www.amazon.com/More-like-Strengths-Traditional-Challenge/dp/B0010HBVYQOther books https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/8383/james-fallows/ Substack: https://fallows.substack.com/Photo © Michael Shay Polara Studio