Jeanne Marie Laskas

Jeanne Marie Laskas is a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and GQ, with work also published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Esquire. A two-time National Magazine Award finalist, she was a weekly syndicated columnist for The Washington Post Magazine from 1994 to 2008. She is the author of eight books, including Concussion, the basis for the 2015 film starring Will Smith. To Obama: With Love, Joy, Anger, and Hope draws on her interviews with President Obama, letter-writers, and White House correspondence staff to document the public's most intimate exchanges with the presidency during the Obama years.