Frank X Walker is a cofounder of the Affrilachian Poets, a Cave Canem fellow, and Editor of PLUCK!. The author of nine collections of poetry and a recipient of a Lannan Foundation Poetry Fellowship, he is professor of English and African American and Africana studies at the University of Kentucky.

Christopher Rose is a Cave Canem fellow and he serves as department chair for the English department at the Cascade campus of Portland Community College.

Jonterri Gadson is the author of Blues Triumphant. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Bread Loaf, University of Dayton, and University of Virginia. She was selected for the 2016 NBC Late Night Writers Workshop. She is the assistant professor of creative writing at Bloomfield College.

Catherine Ntube is a poet and educator currently pursuing an MFA at the University of South Carolina. She is a Cave Canem and Watering Hole fellow.