Odilia Galván Rodríguez, poet, writer, activist, and co-editor of Poetry of Resistance: Voices for Social Justice, is the author of six volumes of poetry, also widely anthologized on and offline. She facilitates creative writing workshops nationally and coordinates Poets Responding.

Brenda Nettles Riojas is a CantoMundo Fellow who hosts a weekly radio program—Corazón Bilingüe, featuring interviews with writers. La Primera Voz Que Oí is her first collection of Spanish poetry. She earned her MFA from the University of New Orleans.

Rodney Gomez is the author of Citizens of the Mausoleum and Ceremony of Sand. His work appears in Poetry, Poetry Northwest, the Gettysburg Review, Blackbird, North American Review, Pleaides, Denver Quarterly, Verse Daily, and other journals. He works at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Priscilla Celina Suarez was the 2015–17 McAllen Poet Laureate. A native of the Rio Grande Valley, her poetry is a hybrid of rancheras, polkas, pop, rock, and musica internacional. She is the author of the YA book Cuentos Wela Told Me: That Scared the Beeswax Out of Me!.