Pamela L. Laskin teaches graduate Children's Writing and directs the Poetry Outreach Center at the City College. Several of her poetry collections and books for children have been published—Ronit and Jamil, a Palestinian/Israeli Romeo and Juliet.

Suzanne Weyn is best known for her award-winning Bar Code Tattoo trilogy and her eco-thriller, Empty. She teaches writing at the City University of New York and at Medgar Evers College. Her comedic middle grade novel, Snapstreak, came out in 2018. Find her at suzanneweynbooks.com.

Lyn Di Iorio teaches at CUNY and is writing a book of short stories about Hurricane Maria's effects on Puerto Rico, which was awarded an Advanced Research Collaborative Distinguished Fellowship and a CUNY Book Completion Award. Her novel-in-progress was shortlisted for a 2015 Faulkner-Wisdom award.

Marilyn Nelson is a recipient of the Frost Medal, the NSK Neustadt Award, the NCTE Poetry Award, a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and Poet-in-Residence of The Poets Corner at he Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. Her most recently published books are My Seneca Village and American Ace

Amber Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of The Way I Used to Be (Amelia Bloomer List, TAYSHAS List, Bank Street Best Book of the Year) and The Last to Let Go, which received starred reviews from Booklist and VOYA, and has contributed to the anthology Our Stories, Our Voices.