Mike Lupica is one of the most prominent sports writers in America. His longevity at the top of his field is based on his experience and insider’s knowledge, coupled with a presentation that takes an uncompromising look at the tumultuous world of professional sports. Today he is a syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News, which includes his popular “Shooting from the Lip” column, published every Sunday. In 1987, Lupica launched “The Sporting Life” column in Esquire magazine. His new book is “True Legend” (Penguin).

Paul Hendrickson, a prize-winning feature writer for The Washington Post for more than 20 years, now teaches nonfiction writing at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of “Seminary: A Search,” “Looking for the Light: The Hidden Life and Art of Marion Post Wolcott” and “The Living and the Dead: Robert McNamara and Five Lives of a Lost War.” He has most recently turned his attention to Ernest Hemingway’s life from the time when he was at the pinnacle of success until his death by suicide. “Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost: 1934-1961” (Knopf) changes the way this Nobel Prize winner is perceived and understood.

David Maraniss is an associate editor at The Washington Post who has recently published “Barack Obama: The Story” (Simon & Schuster). Maraniss is a three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and won the Pulitzer for national reporting in 1993 for his newspaper coverage of then presidential candidate Bill Clinton. His other critically acclaimed best-selling books include “When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi,” “First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton” and “They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America.”