Courtney Miller Santo teaches writing at the University of Memphis, where she received an MFA. She has a BA in journalism from Washington and Lee University. Redbook selected her novel, The Roots of the Olive Tree, for its bookclub. Her second book, Three Story House was nominated for a SIBA Award.

John Blair has published six books, including the short story collection American Standard, which won the Drue Heinz Literature prize, and the poetry collection Playful Song Called Beautiful, which won the Iowa Prize. He directs the undergraduate creative writing program at Texas State University.

Selected for the National Poetry Series in 2017 and a recipient of the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, J. Michael Martinez is the author of three collections of poetry. He is an Editor of NOEMI Press and is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Poetry at St. Lawrence University.

Lindsay Tigue is the author of System of Ghosts, winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize. She is a PhD student in Creative Writing at the University of Georgia and a graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University.

Melissa Yancy is the author of the story collection Dog Years, winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and California Book Award for First Fiction. Her work has appeared in One Story, Glimmer Train, Zyzzyva, and elsewhere, and she is the recipient of a 2016 NEA Literature Fellowship.