WEDNESDAY MARTIN (Cultural Critic, Author) has worked as a writer and social researcher in New York City for over two decades. Her memoir Primates of Park Avenue, an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller, is a hilarious and insightful look into the exotic world of Manhattan motherhood. Martin’s book Stepmonster, a finalist for the prestigious Books for a Better Life Award, is widely considered a go-to source for stepmothers, adult stepchildren, therapists and others who seek a uniquely candid, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural and comprehensive look at the topic. Martin is also the author of Untrue: Why Nearly Everything We Believe About Women, Lust, and Infidelity Is Wrong and How the New Science Can Set Us Free.
SARAH THORNTON (Sociologist of Culture, Author) writes about art, design and people. Formerly the chief art-market correspondent for The Economist, Thornton is the author of three critically acclaimed books, including 2008’s Seven Days in the Art World. A Canadian who went to the U.K. on a Commonwealth Scholarship, Thornton was once hailed as “Britain’s hippest academic.” Now based in San Francisco, she is better known as “the Jane Goodall of the art world.” Thornton’s newest book, Tits Up: What Sex Workers, Milk Bankers, Plastic Surgeons, Bra Designers, and Witches Tell Us About Breasts, is coming out this year.
FLORENCE WILLIAMS (Science Journalist, Author, Podcaster) is a contributing editor at Outside magazine and a freelance writer for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The New York Review of Books and numerous other publications. Williams’ latest book, Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey, won the 2023 PEN/E.O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing. Previously, her book Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History (2012, W.W. Norton) received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in science and technology and the 2013 Audie for general nonfiction. It was also named a notable book of 2012 by The New York Times.
JUDY MAMOU (Former Exotic Dancer) was well-known for performing at nightclubs in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco. Mamou’s acts included fire, a monkey and a boa constrictor. She is the author of The Other Woman, her intimate story of coming of age in the ’60s, the path she took to nightclub life and the events that motivated her to leave it.
