Award-winning poet, novelist, teacher, and scholar Kaveh Akbar shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the ways antiquity’s spiritual verse can help us to better understand ourselves – and to sit more...

Acclaimed poet, fiction writer, and essayist Kim Addonizio shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the way that great poems work to surprise us, transcend time, and take us to unexpected places.

Poet, fiction writer, and essayist Kim Addonizio shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the opportunities that personal writing offers writers and readers – and about the strategies and approaches you...

Internationally-acclaimed writer Rabih Alameddine shares the few things he’s learned about the elasticity of identity and imagination.

Isabel Allende, one of the most widely read and acclaimed authors in the world, shares the Five Things She’s Learned about writing fiction, discovering your voice, and writing the work you were born to...

Bestselling writer and teacher Steve Almond shares Five Things He’s Learned about failure’s essential role in success – and about the necessity of reframing our creative setbacks as opportunities for...

Bestselling writer and teacher Steve Almond shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the powerful emotions that serve as the engines of our storytelling – and about the ways that these emotions show up...

Author and activist Ashton Applewhite shares the Five Things She’s Learned about ageism – and about cheering up, pushing back, and living the life you want to live.

Doctor, educator, professor of medicine, and Pulitzer Prize Award finalist Louise Aronson shares the Five Things She’s Learned about improving our shared healthcare system, aging, and the decades of old...

Distinguished biologist, professor, and author, Steven Austad shares the Five Things He’s Learned from researching the lives of animals in the wild about human health and our own aging process.

Writer, producer, and mother Julianna Baggott shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the good, beautiful, weirdly-efficient blur that can streamline your life and transform your writing.

Acclaimed scientist, professor, and author Dr. Nir Barzilai shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the scientific hacks that can improve your health, increase your life span, and make it possible for...

Celebrated film historians and writers Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson share the Five Things They’ve Learned about the people and values that shaped the movie business – and all they uncovered while...

Singer-songwriter Perla Batalla shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the essential role women played again and again in Leonard Cohen’s life and music.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Cara Black shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the ways that a strong sense of place anchors readers and draws them into the story.

Acclaimed teacher, scholar and public historian David W. Blight shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the ways that biography can help us better learn about thinking, writing, and living well.

Bestselling author, editor, and teacher Sari Botton shares the Five Things She’s Learned about getting older by inviting people to share their own personal experiences of aging.

Best-selling author, editor, and Executive Director of Aspen Words Adrienne Brodeur shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how attention and patience shape and deepen a writer’s craft.

Award-winning author and professor Nicholas Buccola shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the meaning and value of freedom by studying the life and writing Frederick Douglass.

Award-winning author and professor Nicholas Buccola shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the meaning of love from the life and thought of James Baldwin.

Writer and biographer Peter Ames Carlin shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the ways that Bruce Springsteen’s lifelong balance of talent, art, and artifice has shaped who he is – and all he...

Singer-songwriter Hayes Carll shares the Five Things He’s Learned about songwriting – through five great songs that helped give voice to his heartaches, joys, and aspirations.

Poet and writer Victoria Chang shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the ways that following an unconventional path can be a surprising source of creative inspiration and innovation.

Writer, author, and professor Myisha Cherry shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the essential roles that rage and anger play in public life – and in our principled responses to all forms of...

Legendary singer-songwriter Judy Collins shares the Five Things She’s Learned about Leonard Cohen – from her unique position at start of his music career to her current-day view of his enduring artistic...

Writer, speaker, and founder Nina Collins shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the richness and promise that shape the second half of women’s lives.

Historian and author Steven Conn shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how Americans value and appreciate the places we inhabit and the futures we can imagine for them.

Author, researcher, nonprofit leader, and MacArthur “Genius” award recipient MT Connolly shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how we underestimate longevity’s challenges and its gifts – and how...

Writer Ingrid Rojas Contreras shares the Five Things She’s Learned about writing and creativity – and about the artistic necessity to write from the emotional landscape of crisis.

Celebrated President and Publisher of the HarperOne Group, Judith Curr shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the power of storytelling and the joys of publishing – plus the behind-the-scenes...

Author and editor Mason Currey shares the Five Things He’s Learned from some of history’s greatest artists and thinkers about how they get their work done – and about the small changes we all can make...

Award-winning cartoonist Liza Donnelly shares the Five Things She’s Learned from a lifetime of drawing and writing, and from the fulfillment that comes with looking inward and observing of the world around...

Benjamin Dreyer, author of the New York Times bestseller Dreyer’s English and the retired copy chief and managing editor of Random House, shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how you can make your...

View the archive of this two-hour class from Random House copy chief and author of Dreyer’s English Benjamin Dreyer and discover the Five Things He’s Learned about the roll-up-your-sleeves-and-do-the-work...

Award-winning writer and teacher Andre Dubus III shares the Five Things He’s Learned about writing, revision, and the glorious challenge of bringing your work to its fullest fruition.

Award-winning writer and teacher Andre Dubus III shares the Five Things He’s Learned about why writing happens best when we summon the faith and the nerve to get out of our own way – and free-fall instead...

Celebrated poet, writer, editor, and scholar Camille Dungy shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the ways that creativity arises from the soil of our most fundamental relationships – with the land,...

Entrepreneur, professor, MacArthur Fellow, and President Obama’s first appointment to the National Council on the Arts, Aaron Dworkin shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the life-changing power of...

Acclaimed writer and historian Thomas Dyja shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how we can use our city’s structures and energies to improve our well-being and help create a better place for all.

Author, professor, and Director of the Aging Metabolism Emotions Center at UCSF, Elissa Epel shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the ways that transforming stress can improve your health and add...

Poet, novelist, songwriter, and teacher Joseph Fasano shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how poetry works – and how poetry helps us all become better listeners to the world around us, to the voices...

Creators, publishers, and producers Grant Faulkner and Brooke Warner share the Five Things They’ve Learned about selling your book and maintaining a living as writer today.

Writer and Executive Director of National Writing Month Grant Faulkner shares the Five Things He’s Learned about what happens when you apply the principles and aesthetic of brevity to all your creative...

Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and Brooke Warner, Publisher of She Writes Press, share the Five Things They’ve Learned about the essential mindsets that...

Writer, editor, and educator Sarah Fay shares the Five Things She’s Learned about what it means to write our stories of illness, injury, and recovery.

Film-maker and producer James Fox shares the Five Things He’s Learned about all that’s certain – and all that remains unknown – in light of the U.S. Defense Department’s continuing investigation...

Social entrepreneur and author Marc Freedman shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the great things that happen when generations come together.

Writer, editor, speaker, and broadcaster Pauline Frommer and Five Things She’s Learned about the ways in which new places and experiences teach us that the person we are at home isn’t the only being we...

Singer, recording artist, instrumentalist, composer, and songwriter Robbie Fulks shares Five Things He’s Learned about some of the essential elements that enable music to communicate, cohere, and endure.

Singer-songwriter, troubadour, and author Mary Gauthier shares the Five Things She’s Learned about song’s unique power to bring hope in the face of deep trauma – inspiring lessons from her own life...

New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George shares the Five Things She’s Learned about self-editing can help you to recognize what works in your own writing – and to fix what doesn’t.

Author of How to Be a Travel Writer, Lonely Planet’s best-selling guide to travel writing, Don George shares the Five Things He’s Learned about what makes a great travel story — and how to maximize...

Multi-award winning journalist and author Janine di Giovanni shares the Five Things She’s Learned about writing — and appreciating — narrative non-fiction and memoir.

Multi-award winning journalist and author Janine di Giovanni shares the Five Things She’s Learned about understanding and surviving the moral injury individuals suffer when forced to witness an event that...

Critic, novelist, and memoirist William Giraldi shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the everyday anguish of America’s common strivers by reading one of our most revolutionary storytellers.

Writer, author, and professor Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. shares the Five Things He’s Learned about keeping connected to the voices and visions of our country’s past – and about James Baldwin’s America...

Best-selling author, essayist, public speaker, lyricist and libretto writer Adam Gopnik shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the mysterious alchemy of rules, practices, and inner secrets that memoir...

Best-selling author, essayist, public speaker, lyricist and libretto writer Adam Gopnik shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the mystery of mastery – and about the ways that our humanity is...

Award-winning writer and director James Gray shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the personal and professional craft of moviemaking.

Professor Timothy Hampton shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the historic roots of cheerfulness, and about how our control this essential tool of emotional life lies not in our deepest selves but...

Writer, scholar, and teacher Timothy Hampton shares the Five Things He’s Learned from a lifetime of listening to the greatest songwriter of our time: How some of Bob Dylan’s most famous songs work, and...

Best-selling writer Daniel Handler shares the Five Things He’s Learned about Creativity – or the five things he had thought he’d learned, until life and experience suggested otherwise.

Acclaimed author and film critic Molly Haskell shares the Five Things She’s Learned about loving film and film criticism during the golden age of film appreciation.

Songwriter, singer, recording artist, and Grammy-winning record producer Joe Henry shares the ways he’s found that the process and progress of our lives – like Song – knows more than we do.

Culture journalist, author, and teacher Will Hermes shares the Five Things He’s Learned about telling someone else’s story – in ways that both preserve and pay tribute to their personal history.

Culture journalist, author and teacher Will Hermes shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how to articulate and share the emotional impact of songs you love — how to illuminate their meaning, amplify...

Award-winning poet, essayist, and translator Jane Hirshfield shares the ways that poems’ original seeing can be invited, recognized, and worked with to open new depth, openness, and possibility – in words...

Award-winning author and teacher Ann Hood shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how to bring focus to a singular slice of your life in ways that produce the story that you want to read – and write.

Award-winning author and teacher Ann Hood shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how to bring the characters, conflicts, and plot points that keep you up at night from your heart to the page.

Author and senior fellow at the Milken Institute Paul Irving shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how each of us can make the most of the unprecedented potential and possibility that awaits our...

Acclaimed writers and interviewers Pico Iyer and Michael Shapiro share the Five Things They’ve Learned from experience about the Art of the Interview.

Internationally-acclaimed writer Pico Iyer share the Five Things He’s Learned about opening up space in our heads, and in our days.

Acclaimed writers and interviewers Pico Iyer and Michael Shapiro share the Five Things They’ve Learned from their own experience — and from the experience of the many creative figures they’ve met —...

Best-selling author Steven Johnson shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the critical tools innovative thinkers use to nurture their creative practice – and the five key questions consistently...

Acclaimed historian and writer Catherine Grace Katz shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how to uncover and share the stories that challenge our ideas of history.

Best-selling writer Laurie R. King shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the essential elements of a great mystery, and the rewards they make possible for readers and writers.

New York Times bestselling author Laurie R. King shares the Five Things She’s Learned about creating memorable characters who come to life for her readers.

Acclaimed journalist and historian Carol Kino shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the rewards and challenges that shaped life for American women after World War II – and the lessons their struggles...

U.S. Marine Corps veteran, writer, and teacher Phil Klay shares the Five Things He’s Learned about American citizenship – what it means, the obligations it places upon us, and the uglier way our shared...

Writer and speaker Stephanie Land shares the Five Things She’s Learned about writing that breaks down walls and encourages empathy toward others – and about how you can claim and share your personal...

New York Times bestselling author and Omega Institute co-founder Elizabeth Lesser shares the Five Things She’s Learned about what happens when women trust their instincts, dignify their values, and speak...

In this free, 90-minute class, writer, editor, and broadcaster Alan Light shares the Five Things He’s Learned about our country’s complexities, possibilities, and limitations from some of our greatest...

Acclaimed songwriter, producer, and arranger John Lissauer shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the inspiration, writing, and recording of some of Leonard Cohen’s most unforgettable songs.

Distinguished scientist, researcher, and professor Gordon Lithgow shares the Five Things He’s Learned about scientists’ remarkable recent efforts to slow aging and improve our chances of a healthy late...

Acclaimed author and editor Phillip Lopate — the celebrated central figure in the revival of the American essay —, shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the powerful legacy and continuing pleasure...

Bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims shares the Five Things She’s Learned about deepening her ability to love others, and the practical steps that help her build, maintain, and celebrate her most...

Celebrated writer and teacher Rebecca Makkai shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how to navigate the joys and demands that come with creating art while at the same time keeping the people you love...

Celebrated writer and teacher Rebecca Makkai shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the issue she’s found most connected to almost early every problem on the page – and why improving the ability to...

Poet, teacher, and Editor-in-Chief of Poetry magazine Adrian Matejka shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the complicated and animating process of turning a stack of poems into a cohesive poetry...

In this free, 90-minute class, Dr. Jennifer Mercieca shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the increasing weaponization of our public discourse – and about steps we can each take today to rebuild...

Acclaimed music critic Anne Midgette shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the women whose important work provides new ways to understand and enjoy the pleasures of classical music.

Acclaimed music critic and opera insider Anne Midgette shares the Five Things She’s Learned that make it easy to appreciate and enjoy this essential art form.

Hospice and palliative care specialist Dr. BJ Miller shares the Five Things He’s Learned anew about living and preparing for death after this year of shared loss, challenge, and renewal.

Writer, author, and professor Roosevelt Montás shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the transforming power of the Great Books—and why the ideas and passions within these ancient sources still...

Singer/songwriter, producer, and author Allison Moorer shares the Five Things She’s Learned about sharing her family’s stories in prose and in song – and about all that taking ownership of our most...

Acclaimed journalist and author Susan Orlean shares the Five Things She’s Learned while writing her forthcoming memoir, and about the approaches sure to be of help as you share your own personal history.

Celebrated novelist, essayist, short-story writer, and professor Peter Orner shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the ways that great writers bind fact and invention to create something new: the...

Peter Orner and Yvette Benavides share the Five Things They’ve Learned about the joys of returning to their favorite stories and short-story writers. They look at the works of three great masters, and at...

Celebrated novelist, essayist, short-story writer, and professor Peter Orner shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how great writers create remarkable movement and energy within a single paragraph –...

Celebrated novelist, essayist, short-story writer, and professor Peter Orner shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how worrying less, chilling out, and reveling (a little) in not writing makes all the...

Best-selling writer and teacher Richard Panek shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the spirit of discovery and exploration – and the process by which great writing begins with something new and...

Novelist and host of “The Page One Podcast” Holly Payne shares the Five Things She’s Learned about a book’s critical first page – and about how you can ensure your opening paragraphs do all they can to...

Academy-Award-winning writer and director Alexander Payne shares the Five Things He Thinks He’s Learned about writing, directing, and editing films — as well as the joys that he’s certain accompany a...

Global-film community tastemakers Richard Peña and Phillip Lopate share the Five Things They’ve Learned about cinema’s rich history — and about the many ways to love the movies.

Speaker, researcher, and UCSF Clinical Professor Andrew Penn share the Five Things He’s Learned about the ways that psychedelic-assisted therapy is revolutionizing medical treatment for hard-to-treat...

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Carl Phillips shares the Five Things He’s Learned about some of the less obvious – but common – ways in which patterns arise and contribute meaning in poems we love.

Poet, editor, and founder of Conscious Writers Collective Maya C. Popa shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the literature that has shaped her and that informs the poems in her wonderful new...

Poet, editor, and founder of Conscious Writers Collective Maya C. Popa shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the ways that poets can bring desire to the page with heat, precision, mystery, and...

Writer, editor and performer Joe Randazzo shares the Five Things He’s Learned about cultivating creativity and collaboration – and about all it takes to consistently turn good ideas into great ones.

Doctor, psychiatrist, and medical director Dr. Ken Robbins shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the latest, most effective care for individuals suffering from dementia and similar age-related...

Writer, trainer, life coach, and former cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist Donald J. Robertson shares the Five Things He’s Learned from the wisdom of the ancient Stoics about coping with anxiety and...

Writer and teacher Maurice Carlos Ruffin shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how to make the most of your one opportunity to announce yourself to the world – and to set the tone for the writing life...

Michael Ruhlman – best-selling writer of more than 30 books of non-fiction, fiction, memoir and cookbooks – shares the Five Things He’s Learned about writing and living well – while writing about...

View the archive of this two-hour class from Pulitzer Prize winning critic and author Jerry Saltz, and discover the Five Things He’s Learned about all that happens each time we encounter a work of art –...

Pulitzer Prize winning critic and author Jerry Saltz shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the remarkable advances that have refashioned art and the art world – and why today we’re living in one of...

Pulitzer-Prize winning art critic and New York magazine columnist Jerry Saltz shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how artists and art lovers become really good at art.

Classical music composer, critic, teacher, and thought leader Greg Sandow shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the contemporary cultural shifts reshaping classical music – and what the future might...

New York Times bestselling writer Russell Shorto shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how the Dutch founding of New York City shaped the world’s most dynamic metropolis – and continues to impact...

New York Times bestselling writer Russell Shorto shares the Five Things He’s Learned about diving into your past and bringing the story you find there to life.

Author, journalist, biographer, and singer-songwriter Sylvie Simmons shares the Five Things She’s Learned about Leonard Cohen – and all she still learns from him five years after he passed away.

Best-selling writer and poet Maggie Smith shares the Five Things She’s Learned about what it means to prioritize your creative practice in ways that allow you to stay productive and feel most like yourself...

Grief expert and author Claire Bidwell Smith shares the Five Things She’s Learned about reconciling the anxiety and loss that accompanies grief – and about the writing process that can bring hope,...

Novelist, memoirist, cultural critic, and screenwriter Matthew Specktor shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the powerful ways that the imagination can operate in nonfiction writing – and how reality...

In this free class, best-selling author and former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the coordinated forces working to end American democracy as we know it –...

Writer, poet, and minister Danté Stewart shares the Five Things He’s Learned about storytelling’s power and magic, and all that happens when readers encounter stories that help them get safely through...

Writers and teachers Laurie Stone and Richard Toon share the Five Things They’ve Learned about the ways that great writing delivers genuine pleasure for the reader – and the writer.

Adobe Research Lab veteran Matt Strain share the Five Things He’s Learned about the ways artificial intelligence is helping writers find new ways to develop their ideas and cultivate their creativity.

Adobe Research Lab veteran Matt Strain shares the Five Things He’s Learned about getting started in the emerging, exciting world of artificial intelligence.

New York Times best-selling author Cheryl Strayed shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how to honor your desire to create and see your projects through – even when life’s demands make doing so...

Journalist and author James Surowiecki share the Five Things He’s Learned about how to write about ideas – how to take complicated concepts and make them accessible; and how, in the process, to enlighten...

Journalist and author James Surowiecki shares the Five Things He’s Learned about how the Internet is reshaping the way we learn and think – and why, for all of its promise, social media seems to be...

Poet, author, actress, and director Amber Tamblyn shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how to harness our emotions into the full force of our creative work — and how to put all that we’re...

Acclaimed producer, executive, professor, and author Jonathan Taplin shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the tenuous link between media and democracy – and what the continuing convergence of...

Scholar, writer, translator, and teacher Bob Thurman shares the Five Things He’s Learned about achieving reliable and lasting happiness during his lifetime learning and teaching the Buddha’s curriculum.

Multi-award-winning photojournalist Nicole Tung shares the Five Things She’s Learned about photos’ unique power to inform, to connect, and to document people’s lives.

President and Chief Executive Officer of the Buck Institute Dr. Eric Verdin shares the Five Things He’s Learned about aging and immunity by studying Covid-19 – and all we can do to continue thriving in a...

Retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel Alexander Vindman shares the Five Things He’s Learned about this critical time in history from his years engaging with Russia’s military and political leadership.

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Lisa Immordino Vreeland — alongside her special guest Penelope Tree—, shares the Five Things She’s Learned about documenting and sharing the lives of some of the...

Editor, writer, and publisher Brooke Warner shares the Five Things She’s Learned about the ways in which our intimate responses to change can positively drive our most powerful urges to write and create.

Editor and publisher Brooke Warner shares the Five Things She’s Learned about what agents, editors, and publishers look at when considering a new manuscript – and all they’re really looking for.

Editor and publisher Brooke Warner shares the Five Things She’s Learned during her nearly two decades of leading and championing women-only publishing about the ways that women writers work, collaborate,...

Writer and publisher Brooke Warner shares the Five Things She’s Learned about putting out the message you most want to share in the new year.

Celebrated author Sam Wasson shares the Five Things He’s Learned about Hollywood’s second golden age, and the ways that those few gorgeous years in the late sixties and early seventies illuminate the...

Photographer, archivist, curator, and teacher Lewis Watts shares the Five Things He’s Learned about photography’s power to trace, preserve, and celebrate the people and communities of the African diaspora.

Author and critic Alissa Wilkinson shares the Five Things She’s Learned about shaping her voice and perspective in support of the art she loves.

Film critic, author, and teacher Alissa Wilkinson shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how we develop our personal mythologies by studying and writing about Joan Didion.

Celebrated writer and raconteur Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman and The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary, shares the Five Things He’s Learned...

Celebrated poet, writer, and professor Matthew Zapruder shares the Five Things He’s Learned about the practical and spiritual techniques that have helped him to keep the faith and to keep going as a...

Celebrated poet, writer, and professor Matthew Zapruder shares the Five Things He’s Learned about honoring family as a source of creative inspiration – about being truthful in the service of mercy and...

Investigative journalist Larissa Zimberoff shares the Five Things She’s Learned about how technology is reshaping our food and reimagining our food system – and what these changes mean for people who...