Diana Eck Born and raised in Bozeman, Diana Eck is an internationally recognized author and scholar. President Clinton awarded her the National Humanities Medal for the work of The Pluralism Project in the investigation of America’s religious diversity in 1998. She is a Professor of Comparative Religion and Indian Studies at Harvard University and is Master of Lowell House and Director of the Pluralism Project. Her books include A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Become the World’s Most Religiously Diverse Nation, and Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras.

Harry Fritz is Professor of History and Chairman of the Department of History at The University of Montana in Missoula. Professor Fritz teaches courses in early American history, American military history, and Montana history. He has been UM’s Teacher of the Year (1972 and 1999) and Distinguished Service Award winner (1985). Among his books are The Montana Heritage, Montana and the West, Montana Land of Contrast, and Montana Legacy: Essays on History, People, and Place. In 1985 and 1987 he served in the Montana House of Representatives, and in 1991 and 1993 in the Montana Senate. He has long been an Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau favorite, offering a variety of programs over the past 15 years including an Abraham Lincoln Chautauqua performance.

Sue Hart has taught English at Montana State University-Billings for nearly forty years, has published widely on western literature and has served Humanities Montana as both a presenter in its Speakers Bureau and a discussion leader for many READON! programs. She has received the PEN Award for Syndicated Fiction, is the long time host of the biweekly television show “Montana Books and Authors” and writes a column by the same name. She has volunteered her services and served as a speaker and humanist for dozens of organizations across the state.

Cindy Kittredge is an advocate and invaluable resource for museums across the state, and the Executive Director of the Cascade County Historical Society, a regional cultural organization that has grown remarkably in size and holdings in the fifteen years of her leadership. For twelve of those years she also served as the president of the Museums Association of Montana, building it into a highly effective professional organization for Montana’s museum community. She maintains a working family ranch, and also teaches as an adjunct professor at Montana State University-Great Falls.

James Welch is the author of the novels Winter in the Blood, The Death of Jim Loney, Fools Crow, The Indian Lawyer, and The Heartsong of Charging Elk; the poetry collection Riding the Earthboy 40; and is co-author of the non-fiction work Killing Custer: The Battle of the Little Big Horn and the Fate of the Plains Indians. He has received numerous national and international awards, including the Chevalier de Lettres et Artes from the government of France, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and several Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Book Awards.