Bio
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Eric Liu is an author, educator, and civic entrepreneur. His first book, The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker, was a New York Times Notable Book featured in the PBS documentary “Matters of Race." He is also the author of Guiding Lights: How to Mentor – and Find Life’s Purpose, an Official Book of National Mentoring Month, and is founder of The Guiding Lights Network, an organization dedicated to promoting great citizenship. Eric's recent book, co-authored with Nick Hanauer, The Gardens of Democracy, was published in December 2011. Eric and Nick also co-authored The True Patriot, and together the two have created the True Patriot Network to advance the book's ideals of progressive patriotism. Eric's 2009 work, Imagination First, co-authored with Scott Noppe-Brandon of the Lincoln Center Institute, explores ways to unlock imagination in education, politics, business and the arts. Eric served as a White House speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and later as the President's deputy domestic policy adviser. After the White House, he was an executive at the digital media company RealNetworks. In 2002 he was named one of the World Economic Forum's Global Leaders of Tomorrow.
Eric lives in Seattle, where he teaches at the University of Washington and hosts an acclaimed television interview program called Seattle Voices. In addition to speaking regularly at venues across the country, Eric also serves on the boards of the League of Education Voters, Seattle Public Library and the Swedish Medical Center Foundation. He is also on the national leadership councils of Communities in Schools and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, and a proud Seattle Public Schools parent.