Richard Abowitz

Mary Beard is a classics professor at University of Cambridge. Her books have covered everything from ancient art to Roman laughter. Her honors include a National Book Critics Circle Award. She is a public intellectual in the old-school sense of narrating BBC specials, as well as adding a contemporary twist with an active Twitter account and a blog. Her most recent book SPQR: A history of Ancient Rome was published earlier this year.

On February 1, 2016, the anniversary of Langston Hughes’s 1902 birth, the poet achieved a 21st-century mark of distinction: his name trended on Twitter. Over at the music streaming service Spotify, 8,099 listeners in the past 30 days had played recordings of Hughes reciting his poetry.

Mimi Brodeur Mimi Brodeur, PennLive/Patriot-News restaurant critic. (Daniel Zampogna, Pennlive) For 20 years, Mimi Brodeur has been a recognized name – but not a face – for restaurant reviews in The Patriot-News and on PennLive. That ends today. We're breaking precedent with standard journalistic custom and introducing Brodeur to our readers with a photograph to accompany her posts online and her columns in print.