Spring 2017

George Butler is an award-winning illustrator who reports on the ground from conflict zones, climate hot spots, and humanitarian crises. He is the author of Drawn Across Borders (Candlewick Studio, 2021). Butler’s Fall 2022 story for VQR, “Drawn to War,” was the recipient of the 2023 National Magazine Award for Best Illustrated Story.

Laura Kasinof is a freelance journalist and author of the memoir Don’t Be Afraid of the Bullets: An Accidental War Correspondent in Yemen (Arcade, 2014), about reporting for the New York Times during the Arab Spring. She has also written for Harper’s, the Atlantic, Newsweek, and Foreign Policy.

Diàna Markosian is a photographer whose images explore the relationship between memory and place. Born in the former Soviet Union, her family immigrated to the United States when she was a child. She holds a master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, the New Yorker, and the New York Times.

Ben Mauk is a writer based in Berlin. He last wrote for the magazine about an indigenous rights movement in the Russian Caucasus. His VQR debut, “The Useful Village,” was a finalist for the 2018 National Magazine Award in Feature Writing.