SXSW 2018: Ta-Nehisi Coates to Deliver Keynote, Mark Cuban Among New Round of Speakers

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates is joining the list of keynote speakers who will appear at the South by Southwest Conference and Festivals, which runs from March 9-18 in Austin, Texas, and will deliver the Convergence Keynote.

A national correspondent for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues, Coates is the author of The Beautiful Struggle and Between the World and Me. He joins previously announced SXSW keynotes Barry Jenkins, Esther Perel and whurley.

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“Ta-Nehisi Coates continues to explore America’s complex history of inequality with a voice that is both powerful and passionate,” Hugh Forrest, chief programming officer, said in making the announcement today. “His unique perspective highlights an important aspect of SXSW — sharing new ideas to common challenges in order to drive change.”

SXSW also announced additional names joining its line-up of featured speakers. They include entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban, ABC News co-anchor and author of 10% Happier Dan Harris, songwriter and producer Savan Kotecha, chief scientist of Google Cloud Dr. Fei-Fei Li, The Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj, CBS This Morning co-host and 60 Minutes correspondent Charlie Rose, O’Reilly Media founder Tim O’Reilly and Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Elaine Welteroth.

This article originally appeared in THR.com.

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