Berkley Center

Joshua Foer is the author of Moonwalking with Einstein (Penguin Press, 2011), a personal exploration of the art and science of memory which culminates with his victory as a first-time entrant in the U.S. Memory Championships. Moonwalking with Einstein, a bestseller in the United States and internationally, was named to year-end best-of lists by Amazon.com, O Magazine, Discover, and Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times, among many other reviewers and publications. Foer was born in Washington, D.C., in 1982, graduated from Yale University in 2004, and lives in New Haven with his wife, Dinah. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, Esquire, Slate, Outside, and The New York Times. He is the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura, an online guide to the world’s wonders and curiosities, and the co- founder of the design competition Sukkah City.

Reverend Jim Wallis is a bestselling author, public theologian, and commentator on religion and public life, faith, and politics who serves as the inaugural Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair in Faith and Justice and leader of the Center on Faith and Justice in the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy; he has been a research fellow at the Berkley Center since 2010. Wallis is the founder and ambassador of Sojourners, a progressive Christian grassroots movement that advocates spirituality and social change in America. His publications include Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus (2019); America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America (2016); The (Un)Common Good: How the Gospel Brings Hope to a World Divided (2014); On God's Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn't Learned about Serving the Common Good (2013); and Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street — A Moral Compass for the New Economy (2010).