Maria Popova is a reader and a writer, and writes about what she reads on
Brain Pickings (brainpickings.org), which is included in the Library of
Congress permanent web archive of culturally valuable materials. She is the
author of Figuring, co-editor of
A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader, and the creator and host
of The Universe in Verse--an annual charitable celebration of science through
poetry at the interdisciplinary cultural center Pioneer Works in Brooklyn.
Ping Zhu's illustrations are frequently seen in the New York Times and
other reputable publications, but also some questionable ones. She is a
graduate of ArtCenter and gave tours there as a work-study job. In 2013, she
won the ADC Young Guns award for being simultaneously young and talented.
Though she is no longer eligible for "30 Under 30" accolades, her goal in life
is to create work that will ideally age well like a fine wine. Or even an okay
wine. Ping's children's book debut,
The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor, A Life, published in June 2020
and was selected by the New York Times as a Best Children's Book of
2020.
