About our guests:

Dara Horn is the award-winning author of seven books, including the novels In the Image (Norton 2002), The World to Come (Norton 2006), All Other Nights (Norton 2009), A Guide for the Perplexed (Norton 2013), and Eternal Life (Norton 2018), the essay collection People Love Dead Jews (Norton 2021), and One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe (Norton 2025). One of Granta magazine’s Best Young American Novelists, she is the recipient of two National Jewish Book Awards, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, the Harold U. Ribalow Award, and the Reform Judaism Fiction Prize, and she was a finalist for the JW Wingate Prize, the Simpson Family Literary Prize, and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Her books have been selected as New York Times Notable Books, Booklist’s Best 25 Books of the Decade, and San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of the Year, and have been translated into eleven languages. Her nonfiction work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian, and The Jewish Review of Books, among many other publications, and she is a regular columnist for Tablet. Horn received her doctorate in Yiddish and Hebrew literature from Harvard University. She has taught courses in these subjects at Sarah Lawrence College and Yeshiva University, and has held the Gerald Weinstock Visiting Professorship in Jewish Studies at Harvard. She has lectured for audiences in hundreds of venues throughout North America, Israel, and Australia. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and four children.

Sarah Hurwitz was a White House speechwriter from 2009 to 2017, starting out as a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama and then serving as chief speechwriter for First Lady Michelle Obama. Sarah worked with Mrs. Obama to craft widely-acclaimed addresses – including her 2008, 2012, and 2016 Democratic National Convention speeches – and traveled with the First Lady across America and to five continents. Sarah also worked on policy issues affecting young women and girls as a senior advisor to the White House Council on Women and Girls.
Before working at the White House, Sarah was chief speechwriter for Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential primary campaign. She then joined the Obama campaign, serving as a senior speechwriter for then-Senator Obama.

Prior to the Clinton and Obama campaigns, Sarah served as deputy chief speechwriter for Senator John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, deputy chief speechwriter for General Wesley Clark’s primary campaign, and a speechwriter for Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. Sarah was also a lawyer at the Washington, DC office of WilmerHale and is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Sarah has been profiled in The Washington Post, People.com, The Boston Globe, and The Guardian; interviewed on The Today Show, Morning Joe, Amanpour & Co., and NPR; and featured in The Forward as one of 50 Jews who impacted American life in 2016 and 2019.

Sarah is also the author of Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and a Deeper Connection to Life -- in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There), which was a finalist for two National Jewish Book Awards and for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Michelle Obama tweeted about Sarah’s book saying, “Sarah Hurwitz is a brilliant writer with a big heart and a kind soul — and I’m sure Here All Along will reflect her thoughtfulness and eloquence, which I depended on for so many years. I’m so proud of you, Sarah, for sharing your journey and your voice with the world!” Her latest book, As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Shame, Blame, and Try To Erase Us, is an urgent exploration of how antisemitism has shaped Jewish identity and how Jews can reclaim their tradition.

Sarah offers audiences a behind-the-scenes look at life in the White House, working for one of the most inspiring and influential women in the world. She also shares her advice on effective storytelling, providing concrete tips for how to create a moving, persuasive narrative that breaks through the noise and has a lasting impact.