Aimee Suzara is a poet, playwright, and performing artist based in Oakland, California. Her poetry has been published widely, including in her forthcoming first book, Souvenir. She is a lecturer in Creative Writing and Social Action at California State University, Monterey Bay.

Debra Busman is a fiction/creative nonfiction writer and professor at CSU Monterey Bay where she co-directs the Creative Writing and Social Action Program. She has published in numerous journals and recently co-edited the book Fire and Ink: An Anthology of Social Action Writing.

Elmaz Abinader is author of a memoir, The Children of the Roojme: A Family’s Journey from Lebanon; a poetry collection, In the Country of My Dreams. She has written and performed several one-woman plays including Country of Origin, Ramadan Moon, and 32 Mohammeds. She is co-founder of VONA/Voices.

David Mura has published four books of poetry, most recently The Last Incantations. He has written two memoirs, Turning Japanese and Where the Body Meets Memory. He’s also written fiction, criticism, essays, and plays, and he teaches in the Stonecoast MFA program and at the VONA writing conference.

Lee Herrick is the author of two books of poetry, Gardening Secrets of the Dead and This Many Miles from Desire. He teaches at Fresno City College and in the low-residency MFA Program at Sierra Nevada College.