JOHN FREEMAN is is an American writer and a literary critic. He was the editor of the literary magazine Granta until 2013, the former president of the National Book Critics Circle, and his writing has appeared in almost 200 English-language publications around the world, including The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal.

VALERIA LUISELLI is the author of the book of essays Sidewalks, and the internationally acclaimed novel Faces in the Crowd, which won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Her most recent novel, The Story of My Teeth was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Best Translated Book Award, and won the Los Angeles Times Prize for Best Fiction, and the Azul Price in Canada.