Alissa Quart is the author of Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers, and Rebels (The New Press); Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child; and Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers. She is the editor in chief of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project has written features and opinion pieces for the New York Times, The Atlantic, O Magazine, The Nation, and many other publications. Her poetry has appeared in the London Review of Books and elsewhere. She lives in New York City.