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Directory

Some of the people on the record

Members who answer for themselves, verified candidates, and public figures whose documented words we keep on the record. A–Z sample, not a leaderboard — 60 of 960 profiles worth meeting shown here.

60+ people, A–Z Back to the directory
Agnès Varda

Film director, photographer and installation artist

2 answers Belgium / France 1928–2019

Alice Waters

Chef, restaurateur and food activist

9 answers United States b. 1944

Amy Tan

Novelist; author of The Joy Luck Club

5 answers United States b. 1952

Anne Enright

Novelist and short-story writer

8 answers Ireland b. 1962

Annie Proulx

Novelist and short-story writer

2 answers United States b. 1935

AF
Athol Fugard

Playwright, director and actor

3 answers South Africa 1932–2025

AW
August Wilson

Playwright; two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama

3 answers United States 1945–2005

BJ
Bong Joon-ho

Film director and screenwriter

4 answers South Korea b. 1969

Brian Eno

Composer, record producer and visual artist

4 answers United Kingdom b. 1948

Chuck Jones

Animator, cartoon director and screenwriter

2 answers United States 1912–2002

Colm Tóibín

Novelist, essayist and critic

2 answers Ireland b. 1955

David Hare

Playwright and screenwriter

1 answer United Kingdom b. 1947

David Hockney

Painter, draughtsman, printmaker and photographer

4 answers United Kingdom b. 1937

Elmore Leonard

Novelist and screenwriter

7 answers United States 1925–2013

Geoff Dyer

Essayist and novelist

3 answers United Kingdom b. 1958

Gustavo Dudamel

Conductor; Music and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

2 answers Venezuela b. 1981

Haruki Murakami

Novelist, short-story writer and translator

4 answers Japan b. 1949

HM
Hilary Mantel

Novelist and critic

4 answers United Kingdom 1952–2022

J.K. Rowling

Novelist and screenwriter

3 answers United Kingdom b. 1965

Jessye Norman

Operatic soprano and recitalist

3 answers United States 1945–2019

John Banville

Novelist; winner of the Booker Prize, 2005

4 answers Ireland b. 1945

Joyce Carol Oates

Novelist, short story writer and essayist

9 answers United States b. 1938

Juana Molina

Singer, songwriter and former television comedian

3 answers Argentina b. 1961

Kazuo Ishiguro

Novelist and screenwriter; Nobel laureate in Literature, 2017

9 answers United Kingdom b. 1954

Kurt Vonnegut

Novelist and essayist

2 answers United States 1922–2007

Marjane Satrapi

Graphic novelist, cartoonist and film director

2 answers Iran and France 1969–2026

Neil Gaiman

Author of fiction, comics and screenplays

10 answers United Kingdom b. 1960

Nick Cave

Songwriter, musician and novelist

4 answers Australia b. 1957

Nora Ephron

Journalist, essayist, screenwriter and film director

6 answers United States 1941–2012

Orhan Pamuk

Novelist; Nobel laureate in Literature, 2006

3 answers Turkey b. 1952

Patti Smith

Musician, poet and photographer

6 answers United States b. 1946

Paula Scher

Graphic designer

1 answer United States b. 1948

Richard Ford

Novelist and short-story writer

2 answers United States b. 1944

Roddy Doyle

Novelist, dramatist and screenwriter

3 answers Ireland b. 1958

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Composer, pianist and record producer

4 answers Japan 1952–2023

Sonny Rollins

Jazz tenor saxophonist and composer

5 answers United States

Suzan-Lori Parks

Playwright, screenwriter and novelist; Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 2002

3 answers United States b. 1963

Suzanne Farrell

Ballerina and ballet master; répétiteur for the Balanchine Trust

5 answers United States b. 1945

Tadao Ando

Architect; Pritzker Prize laureate, 1995

5 answers Japan

Tom Stoppard

Playwright and screenwriter

3 answers United Kingdom 1937–2025

Toni Morrison

Novelist and editor; Nobel laureate in Literature, 1993

6 answers United States

Twyla Tharp

Choreographer, dancer and author

3 answers United States b. 1941

Werner Herzog

Film director, screenwriter and opera director

4 answers Germany

Will Self

Novelist, essayist and journalist

3 answers United Kingdom b. 1961

Wisława Szymborska

Poet and essayist; Nobel laureate in Literature, 1996

3 answers Poland 1923–2012

Wole Soyinka

Playwright, poet and novelist; Nobel laureate in Literature, 1986

5 answers Nigeria b. 1934

Yaa Gyasi

Novelist

7 answers Ghana / United States

Yo-Yo Ma

Cellist

9 answers France / United States b. 1955

Yves Bonnefoy

Poet, essayist and translator

2 answers France 1923–2016

Zadie Smith

Novelist and essayist

7 answers United Kingdom b. 1975

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