Michael Christopher Brown is an American photographer, author, filmmaker, and speaker whose work examines conflict, identity, and the psychological cost of bearing witness. A photographer with National Geographic since 2004 and a former Associate photographer at Magnum Photos, his work has been published and exhibited internationally. His book Libyan Sugar received the Paris Photo--Aperture First Book Award and the ICP Infinity Award for Artist's Book. He is co-directing a Cuba-based film with Alyse Ardell Spiegel, drawing on archival material made during the creation of his book Yo Say Fidel, documenting the funeral cortège of Fidel Castro. He is based in Los Angeles. Mosab Abu Toha is a Palestinian poet, short-story writer, and essayist from Gaza. His first collection of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear , was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and won the Palestine Book Award, the American Book Award, and the Walcott Poetry Prize. His second collection, Forest of Noise , was a New York Times Notable Book, a New Yorker Best Book & Essential Read of 2024, and a Library Journal Best Book of Poetry.

Abu Toha is also the founder of the Edward Said Library in Gaza, which he hopes to rebuild. He recently won an Overseas Press Club Award, a James Beard Award, and a Pulitzer Prize in Commentary for his essays on Gaza in The New Yorker .