Ann Larson and Alissa Quart

Ann Larson is a writer and activist focused on economic justice. Her writing on education, debt, and low-wage work has appeared in the New Republic, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. She is co-author of Can't Pay Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition and has given many invited talks on debtor activism, including at Brooklyn College, Western University, UCLA, and Harvard Law School.

Alissa Quart is the author of five acclaimed books of nonfiction including Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream (Ecco, 2023, out now in paperback). They Are Squeezed, Republic of Outsiders, Hothouse Kids, and Branded. She is the Executive Director of the non-profit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. She is also the author of two books of poetry Thoughts and Prayers and Monetized. She has written for many publications including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and TIME. Her honors include an Emmy, an SPJ award and a Nieman fellowship. She lives with her family in Brooklyn.