Donna Denize chairs the English department at St. Albans School and holds degrees from Stonehill College and Howard University, where she was a student of former US Poet Laureate Robert Hayden. The author two books of poetry, she has contributed to scholarly books and journals.

Andrew Motion was the UK Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009; he is now a Homewood Professor in the Arts at Johns Hopkins University. His has published a biography of Keats, and his Selected Poems is forthcoming.

Major Jackson is the author of four collections, most recently, Roll Deep. A recipient of a Whiting Award, Pushcart Prize, and Guggenheim Fellowship, Jackson is the Richard A. Dennis Professor at University of Vermont.

Vievee Francis is the author of three poetry collections, Blue-Tail Fly, Horse in the Dark, and Forest Primeval. Her work has appeared in various venues including Best American Poetry and Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry.