join in conversation

Elmer Dixon, co-founder of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party, will also join in conversation.

Natalie A. Martinez will join in conversation around readings from the work.

Readers will have the opportunity to join in conversation with leading novelists, newsmakers and thought leaders, and connect with members of the Times staff too.

The poet Eileen Myles speaks on Thursday afternoon; on Saturday, the novelist Ben Lerner will join in conversation with the critic Hal Foster.

"We're very social animals. If you get a more mature person, they can become more and more isolated, they can't join in conversation, and that's been shown to affect cognition," Derebery says.