Junot Díaz
Junot Díaz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and is the author of Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao which won the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, African Voices, Best American Short Stories (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000), in Pushcart Prize XXII and in The O'Henry Prize Stories 2009. Central to Díaz's work is the duality of the immigrant experience. Díaz has been active in a number of community organizations in New York City, from Pro-Libertad, to the Dominican Workers Party (Partido Trabajador Dominicano) and la Unión de Jóvenes Dominicanos. Díaz is currently a creative writing professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Firoozeh Dumas
Firoozeh Dumas was born in Abadan, Iran and moved to Whittier, California at the age of seven. Firoozeh grew up listening to her father, a former Fulbright Scholar, recount the many colorful stories of his life. In 2001, with no prior writing experience, Firoozeh decided to write her stories as a gift for her children. Random House published these stories in 2003. Funny in Farsi was on the SF Chronicle and LA Times bestseller lists and was a finalist for the PEN/USA award in 2004 and a finalist in 2005 for an Audie Award for best audio book. For the past five years, Firoozeh has traveled the country reminding us that our commonalities far outweigh our differences…and doing so with humor. She has spoken in conferences, schools, universities, churches, Jewish Temples and Islamic centers. Everywhere she has gone, audiences have embraced her message of shared humanity and invited her back for more.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Senator Edward M. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for forty-three years and is now the second most senior member of the Senate. Elected in 1962 to finish the final two years of the Senate term of his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy, Senator Kennedy has championed innumerous causes that benefit the citizens of Massachusetts and the nation at large. Among these important issues, Kennedy has fought tirelessly for education and immigration reform, defending the rights of workers and their families, strengthening civil rights and assisting individuals with disabilities. Kennedy is the youngest of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and is a graduate of Harvard University. He currently resides in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, with his wife Victoria Reggie Kennedy.
Senator Charles E. Schumer
Over the past three decades in public service, U.S. Senator Charles "Chuck" Ellis Schumer has built a reputation as a leader in finding common-sense solutions to national issues and a tireless fighter for New York. Throughout his time in the Senate, Chuck has made improving New York's economy his top priority, bringing affordable air service to Upstate New York and the Hudson Valley and delivering over $20 billion in aid to New York City following the attacks on September 11, 2001. He also aggressively championed agricultural measures to preserve vital market support programs for New York's dairy farmers and crop growers. Senator Schumer is currently the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security; the Joint Economic Committee, where he is the Vice Chairman; and the Joint Committee on the Library.
Junot Díaz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and is the author of Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao which won the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, African Voices, Best American Short Stories (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000), in Pushcart Prize XXII and in The O'Henry Prize Stories 2009. Central to Díaz's work is the duality of the immigrant experience. Díaz has been active in a number of community organizations in New York City, from Pro-Libertad, to the Dominican Workers Party (Partido Trabajador Dominicano) and la Unión de Jóvenes Dominicanos. Díaz is currently a creative writing professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
Firoozeh Dumas was born in Abadan, Iran and moved to Whittier, California at the age of seven. Firoozeh grew up listening to her father, a former Fulbright Scholar, recount the many colorful stories of his life. In 2001, with no prior writing experience, Firoozeh decided to write her stories as a gift for her children. Random House published these stories in 2003. Funny in Farsi was on the SF Chronicle and LA Times bestseller lists and was a finalist for the PEN/USA award in 2004 and a finalist in 2005 for an Audie Award for best audio book. For the past five years, Firoozeh has traveled the country reminding us that our commonalities far outweigh our differences…and doing so with humor. She has spoken in conferences, schools, universities, churches, Jewish Temples and Islamic centers. Everywhere she has gone, audiences have embraced her message of shared humanity and invited her back for more. 
Senator Edward M. Kennedy has represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate for forty-three years and is now the second most senior member of the Senate. Elected in 1962 to finish the final two years of the Senate term of his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy, Senator Kennedy has championed innumerous causes that benefit the citizens of Massachusetts and the nation at large. Among these important issues, Kennedy has fought tirelessly for education and immigration reform, defending the rights of workers and their families, strengthening civil rights and assisting individuals with disabilities. Kennedy is the youngest of nine children of Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, and is a graduate of Harvard University. He currently resides in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, with his wife Victoria Reggie Kennedy. 
Over the past three decades in public service, U.S. Senator Charles "Chuck" Ellis Schumer has built a reputation as a leader in finding common-sense solutions to national issues and a tireless fighter for New York. Throughout his time in the Senate, Chuck has made improving New York's economy his top priority, bringing affordable air service to Upstate New York and the Hudson Valley and delivering over $20 billion in aid to New York City following the attacks on September 11, 2001. He also aggressively championed agricultural measures to preserve vital market support programs for New York's dairy farmers and crop growers. Senator Schumer is currently the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security; the Joint Economic Committee, where he is the Vice Chairman; and the Joint Committee on the Library.