LaCoya Katoe is a writer, college English instructor, tutor, and teaching artist. She facilitates literature, poetry and writing workshops for teens in underserved communities, holds an MFA from Antioch University LA and is a VONA fellow.

Cassandra Lane is Managing Editor of L.A. Parent magazine. She received her MFA from Antioch University. Her stories have appeared in a variety of publications, including the New York Times’ “Conception” series in 2018. Her book-length project explores the impact of her great-grandfather's lynching.

Ryane Nicole Granados is a writer, professor, and former AWP Writer to Writer Mentee. She holds an MFA from Antioch University LA, has received several writing fellowships and has work appearing in numerous publications. Her fiction novella is forthcoming in early 2019.

Tameka Cage Conley, PhD is a graduate of the fiction program of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and 2018–19 recipient of the Provost Visiting Writer Fellowship at the University of Iowa. Her work is published or forthcoming in Ploughshares, VQR, Callaloo, African American Review, and elsewhere.

Cherene Sherrard is the author of the poetry collection Vixen, Dorothy West’s Paradise: A Biography of Class and Color, and a poetry chapbook entitled Mistress, Reclining. A Cave Canem fellow, she is a professor of English at University of Wisconsin–Madison.