Honoring

VICTOR LaVALLE

Victor LaValle is the author of five novels, two novellas, and a collection of short stories, including Lone Women, The Changeling, The Devil in Silver, and The Ballad of Black Tom. The Changeling has been adapted for television and airs on Apple TV+. He is also the creator and writer of two comic books, Victor LaValle’s Destroyer and Eve. His novels have been included in best-of-the-year lists by The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Nation, and Publishers Weekly, among others. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including the World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Bram Stoker Award, Whiting Writers’ Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Key to Southeast Queens. He lives in New York City with his wife and kids and teaches at Columbia University.

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BUSHRA REHMAN

Bushra Rehman grew up in Corona, Queens but her mother says she was born in an ambulance flying through the streets of Brooklyn. This might explain a few things. Bushra was a vagabond poet who traveled for years with nothing more than a Greyhound ticket and a book bag full of poems. She is co-editor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism and author of the collection of poetry Marianna’s Beauty Salon, described as “a love poem for Muslim girls, Queens, and immigrants making sense of their foreign home—and surviving.” Rehman’s first collection of stories, Corona, was chosen by the NY Public Library as one of its favorite books about NYC. Her new novel, Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion, is a modern classic about what it means to be Muslim and queer from a Pakistani-American community in Queens. 

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BRADLEY TUSK

Bradley Tusk is a venture capitalist, political strategist, philanthropist and writer. He is the CEO and co-founder of Tusk Ventures, the leading venture capital firm dedicated to investing in early stage technology companies operating in highly regulated markets, and the founder of political consulting firm Tusk Strategies. Bradley’s family foundation is funding and leading the national campaign to bring mobile voting to all U.S. elections. Tusk Philanthropies also runs and funds anti-hunger campaigns that have led to the creation of anti-hunger policies and programs (including universal school breakfast programs) in 19 different states, helping to feed over 12 million people. Bradley is the author of The Fixer: My Adventures Saving Startups From Death by Politics and Obvious in Hindsight, writes a column for Fast Company, hosts a podcast called Firewall about the intersection of tech and politics, and is the co-founder of the Gotham Book Prize. He recently opened a bookstore, podcast studio, event space P&T Knitwear on Manhattan's lower east side. He is also an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School.

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HOWARD WOLFSON

Howard Wolfson is the Education program lead of Bloomberg Philanthropies. He has launched the CollegePoint initiative to increase the number of low-income, high-achieving high school students who apply to and enroll in selective colleges and has developed a targeted strategy to support promising educational leaders and policies in selected geographies. Wolfson is also instrumental in the policy and political universe of Mike Bloomberg, running his SuperPAC and advising him on politics and communication. From 2010 to 2013, Wolfson was the New York City Deputy Mayor for Government Affairs and Communications. In this capacity, Wolfson oversaw local, state and federal government relations in addition to helping to craft the Bloomberg Administration’s overall communications strategy. He was particularly involved in the education, transportation, and technology sectors.

Wolfson served as the communications director for Hillary Clinton’s history-making run for the presidency in 2008. He has worked in and out of government, serving as Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Nita Lowey, and as the Executive Director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Wolfson has worked on campaigns at every level of government, advising Charles Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Andrew Cuomo, among others. Wolfson, a New York native, graduated from the University of Chicago and received a Master’s in history from Duke University. He is the co-founder of the Gotham Book Prize.

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