The Common Reader staff and contributors

The Common Reader is staffed by Professor Gerald Early, staff writers Jeannette Cooperman and John Griswold, and managing editor Ben Fulton.

Eric Brown is associate professor of philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis. His research has explored ancient Stoic calls to live as a citizen of the world, the argument of Plato’s Republic, Plato’s theory of the soul, Aristotle’s evaluation of external goods such as wealth and honor, and Epicurus’s account of friendship and society.

Stephen Dark has worked as a journalist and writer for more than thirty years in locations as diverse as London, Buenos Aires, and Salt Lake City. He currently resides in Eastbourne, on the southeast coast of England.

Michael A. Kahn is a trial lawyer by day and a writer at night. He is the award-winning author of thirteen novels and various short stories. His most recent novel, Bad Trust, is the eleventh in the Rachel Gold mysteries.

Jared Klemp teaches writing at Arizona State University. He holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from Washington University in St. Louis. His current research explores the legacies of modernism in contemporary fiction and literary scholarship.

Zachary Manditch-Prottas is a full-time lecturer in the Department of African and African American Studies and the American Culture Studies Program at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his Ph.D. in African American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael Sims’s books include Adam’s Navel, which was a New York Times Notable Book, and The Story of Charlotte’s Web, which The Washington Post and several other venues chose as a best book of the year. His books have been widely translated and he writes regularly for national periodicals.

Clifford Thompson is the author and illustrator of Big Man and the Little Men, was published by Other Press in the fall of 2022.