Dr. Charles Johnson, University of Washington (Seattle) professor emeritus and the author of 27 books, is a novelist, philosopher, essayist, literary scholar, short story writer, cartoonist and illustrator, an author of children's literature, and a screen-and-teleplay writer based in Chicago. A MacArthur fellow, Johnson has received a 2002 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature, a 1990 National Book Award for his novel Middle Passage, a 1985 Writers Guild award for his PBS teleplay Booker, the 2016 W.E.B. Du Bois Award at the National Black Writers Conference, and many other awards. In February 2020, Lifeline Theater in Chicago debuted its play adaptation of Middle Passage. Reginald Hudlin is an American film screenwriter, director, and producer based in Los Angeles. He and his older brother and creative partner Warrington Hudlin are known as the Hudlin Brothers. From 2005 to 2008, Hudlin was president of entertainment for Black Entertainment Television (B
