The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has become the largest and most prestigious book festival in the country, attracting more than 130,000 book lovers each year.

Andrew Nystrom, on Twitter at @latimesnystrom, is the Times' senior producer for social and emerging media. His "Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks" hiking guide won a National Outdoor Book Award for Best Adventure Guidebook.

Otis Chandler is the founder of goodreads.com. He is a software engineer at heart and loves tinkering on his website to make it the best product possible. He graduated from Stanford University. Along with a passion for building websites, he's also a voracious reader.

Wil Wheaton's acting career began with roles in Stand By Me and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is also an author, blogger, voice actor, and social commentator. With more than 300,000 rollovers on Twitter, Wheaton is one of the best-known users of social media. His latest book is Sunken Treasure.

Sara Wolf is co-editor of Itch, an evolving art project/artist forum/journal/zine. She is also a doctoral candidate and teaching fellow in UCLA's department of World Arts and Cultures and a freelance dance critic for the Los Angeles Times.