Rilla Askew is the author of four novels, a book of stories, and a collection of creative nonfiction, Most American: Notes from a Wounded Place. She received a 2009 Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and teaches at the University of Oklahoma.

Brandon Hobson is the author of Where the Dead Sit Talking, which was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award. He has won the Reading the West Book Award and a Pushcart Prize. He teaches creative writing at New Mexico State University and at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

Ito Romo's work, dubbed “Chicano Gothic” and “Chicano Noir,” shows the dark and gritty life along Interstate 35 through South Texas. He is the author of The Border is Burning and El Puente / The Bridge. This year, Romo was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters.

Constance Squires is the author of the novels Along the Watchtower, Live from Medicine Park, and Hit Your Brights, a short story collection. Her work has appeared in Guernica, The Atlantic, Shenandoah, The Rolling Stone 500 and other venues. She teaches writing at the University of Central Oklahoma.