Ayelet Tsabari was born in Israel to a family of Yemeni descent and has lived and worked extensively abroad. She is the author of The Best Place on Earth (winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award) and The Art of Leaving (winner of the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Memoir). Her writing has appeared internationally and has been translated into multiple languages.

Heena Chopra is head chef and owner of Maaji's Street Kitchen

Stefan Heidemann is a Professor of Islamic Studies at Universität Hamburg

Prof. Ayala Hendin is an Israel Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis; Prof. Mona Khoury is the Vice President for Strategy and Diversity at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Dr. Kia Lilly Caldwell is the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity, Professor of African and African American Studies, and Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

Nancy E. Berg is professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at Washington University in St. Louis.

Ethan Katz is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley

Professor Iman Mersal is an Egyptian writer, translator, and literary scholar and a professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Alberta