Alfred Abraham Knopf, Sr. (September 12, 1892 – August 11, 1984) was an American publisher of the 20th century, and founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.. His contemporaries included the likes of Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, and (of the previous generation) Frank Nelson Doubleday, J. Henry Harper and Henry Holt. Knopf paid special attention to the quality of printing, binding, and design in his books, and earned a reputation as a purist in both content and presentation.

Asked how to say his name, Knopf told the Literary Digest: "Sound the k: k'nupf."

Knopf was born into a Jewish family in New York City. His father Samuel Knopf was an advertising executive and financial consultant, his mother was Ida Japhe, and his brother Edwin H. Knopf, who worked for Alfred briefly, then became a film director and producer. Alfred attended Columbia University, where he was a pre-law student and a member of the Peithologian Society, a debating and literary club. He began to show an interest in publishing during his senior year, becoming advertising manager of an undergraduate magazine. His interest in publishing was allegedly fostered by a correspondence with British author John Galsworthy. After visiting Galsworthy in England, Knopf gave up his plans for a law career, and upon his return went into publishing.

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House, which has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark (shown at right), which was designed by co-founder Blanche Knopf. Many of its hardcover books later appear as Vintage paperbacks. Vintage is a sister imprint under the Knopf Publishing Group. In late 2008 and early 2009, the Knopf Publishing Group merged with the Doubleday Publishing Group to form the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Knopf was founded in 1915 and officially incorporated in 1918, with Alfred Knopf as president, Blanche Knopf as vice-president, and Samuel Knopf as treasurer. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in addition to leading American literary trends. Samuel Knopf died in 1932. William A. Koshland joined the company in 1934, and worked with the firm for more than fifty years, rising to take the positions of President and Chairman of the Board. Blanch became President in 1957 when Alfred became Chairman of the Board, and worked steadily for the firm until her death in 1966. Alfred Knopf retired in 1972, becoming chairman emeritus of the firm until his death in 1984.

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks is known for his roles in Philadelphia and as the title character in Forrest Gump, roles which won him two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor. Hanks is also known for his Oscar nominated roles in Big, Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away.

Hanks' other acting roles include Apollo 13 as Jim Lovell, The Green Mile as Paul Edgecomb, Toy Story as Woody and Charlie Wilson's War as Charlie Wilson.

Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks (born in Glenn County, California, on March 9, 1924 – died in Alameda, California, on January 31, 1992), was an itinerant cook. His mother, Janet Marylyn (née Frager; born in Alameda County, California, on January 18, 1932), was a hospital worker. Hanks' mother is of Portuguese ancestry, while two of his paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Britain. Hanks's parents divorced in 1960. The family's three oldest children, Sandra (now Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer)^{[citation needed]}, Larry (now Lawrence M. Hanks, PhD, an entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained with his mother in Red Bluff, California.^{[citation needed]}

Deborah Garrison (born 12 February 1965) is an American poet.

Garrison was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her father, Joel Gotlieb, died when she was fourteen, and she and her two sisters were raised by their mother Naomi Weisberg Harrison, an accountant. Garrison earned her bachelor's degree in creative writing from Brown University in 1986. She subsequently earned her master's degree in Literature from New York University. On August 10, 1986 she married attorney Mathew C. Garrison. Also in 1986, Garrison joined the staff of The New Yorker where she worked for the next fifteen years, starting on the editorial staff and ultimately becoming the senior non-fiction editor. She is now the poetry editor at Alfred A. Knopf and a senior editor at Pantheon Books. She was hired for Knopf by Sonny Mehta, president of the Knopf group, to replace publishing industry icon Harry Ford. Under Ford's direction, Knopf had become a prominent publisher of poetry. Mehta chose Garrison to fill Ford's shoes because "there was something so fresh about Deborah, and I admired her poetry." Garrison also edits fiction and nonfiction for Pantheon Press. Novelist Julia Glass, winner of the 2002 National Book Award calls Garrison an "incredible editor."