Tim Seibles has published several collections of poetry, including Buffalo Head Solos, Fast Animal—a finalist for the National Book Award in 2012—and, most recently, One Turn around The Sun. He is a professor of English at Old Dominion University and the current Poet Laureate of Virginia.

Dagoberto Gilb has nine books, including The Magic of Blood, Woodcuts of Women, and Before the End, After the Beginning. Recipient of a Whiting and Guggenheim, he won the PEN Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the Pen Faulkner and National Book Critics Circle Awards. 

Laurie Jean Cannady’s Crave: Sojourn of a Hungry Soul was named one of the best nonfiction books by black authors in 2015 by The Root. Kirkus Review describes Crave as a "bold, honest, and courageous memoir." Foreword Reviews announced Crave as a finalist in the Indiefab 2015 Book of the Year competition.

Laurie Ann Guerrero is the author of A Tongue in the Mouth of the Dying and A Crown for Gumecindo. She held consecutive posts as the San Antonio poet laureate (2014–2016) and Texas poet laureate (2016–2017). She is the Writer-in-Residence at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.