Ben Reed's fiction has appeared in West Branch, PANK, Seattle Review, and Tin House. His essays have appeared in Southern Humanities Review, The Millions, and The Texas Review. He teaches writing and literature at Texas State University. His first novel and first collection are forthcoming.

Kelli Jo Ford's debut novel-in-stories, Crooked Hallelujah, is forthcoming. She's the recipient of the Paris Review's 2019 Plimpton Prize and the Missouri Review's 2018 Peden Prize in Fiction. She's a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.

Syed Ali Haider is the executive director for Austin Bat Cave, a nonprofit that connects writers with students. ABC's writing programs empower students to find their voices and tell their stories. His work has been published in the Cimarron Review and Glimmer Train. He is working on a novel.

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.

DJ Lee