Franny Choi is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer and community organizer. She is the coordinator for Providence Poetry Slam’s Youth Program and is an alumna of WORD Poetry Group.SPublished in numerous journals, she has been a finalist at the three most prestigious poetry slams in the U.S.

Jamila Woods is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet and a founding member of Young Chicago Authors Teaching Artist Corps. Her plays have been produced by theaters in Chicago and Providence. She is an alumna of Young Chicago Authors and WORD Performance Poetry Group at Brown University.

Aaron Samuels is a Cave Canem fellow and author of the book Yarmulkes & Fitted Caps. An alumnus of the Providence Youth Poetry Slam, he has coached youth poets in Providence, Boston, and DC. He is the founder of WU-SLam, a collegiate literary organization at Washington University in St. Louis.

Danez Smith, a Cave Canem Fellow and two-time Pushcart Nominee, works as a Student Advisor for the the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His recent work appears or is forthcoming in journals such as decomP, the Cortland Review, Anti-, Southern Indiana Review, and Muzzle.

Fatimah Asghar