Douglas Unger is the author of four novels, including Leaving the Land, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent book is Looking for War and Other Stories. He is cofounder of the Creative Writing International Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Sam Hamill co-founded Copper Canyon Press and was editor for thirty-two years. He has published forty books of poetry, translations mostly from Chinese and Japanese, and essays. In 2003, he founded Poets Against the War. His Habitation: Collected Poems was published in January 2014.

Shaun Griffin is the author of four books of poetry, most recently This Is What the Desert Surrenders, New and Selected Poems. He recently edited a book of essays on the late poet and critic, Hayden Carruth: From Sorrow’s Well.

Lee Briccetti has been the executive director of Poets House since 1989. Under her leadership, the annual Showcase and Poetry in the Branches were developed and became signature programs, and Poets House mounted a successful capital campaign and construction project, moving to its permanent home.

Malena Morling is the author of two books of poems, Ocean Avenue and Astoria. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Lannan Literary Fellowship. She teaches at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at New England College.