Tamara J. Madison is a writer, poet, editor, and instructor. Her critical and creative works have been published in Poetry International, Web del Sol Review of Books, and Tidal Basin Review. Her poetry collection is Threed, This Road Not Damascus.

Amanda Johnston is the author of Another Way to Say Enter. She is an Affrilachian poet, a Cave Canem graduate fellow, a cofounder of Black Poets Speak Out, and founder of Torch Literary Arts. She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.

Remica L. Bingham-Risher is a Cave Canem fellow and an Affrilachian Poet. She has published three books of poems, Conversion, What We Ask of Flesh, and Starlight & Error. She is Director of Quality Enhancement Plan Initiatives at Old Dominion University.

Gabrielle Lawrence is a poet, editor, and writing instructor. Her writing has been nominated for Best of the Net and Best New Poets. She serves as the editor in chief of Linden Avenue Literary Journal, "a safe space for writers of all backgrounds." Gabrielle-l.com

JP Howard's debut collection Say/Mirror was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. JP was awarded the 2016 Judith Markowitz Emerging Writers Award from Lambda Literary Foundation. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Lambda, and VONA/Voices. JP curates Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon.