Emmy Pérez, 2020 Texas poet laureate, is the author of With the River on Our Face and Solstice. She is a past recipient of an NEA poetry fellowship, cofounded Poets Against Walls, and serves on CantoMundo's organizing committee. She is also professor of creative writing at UT Rio Grande Valley.

Carolina Monsivais is the author of three collections of poetry: Somewhere between Houston and El Paso, Elisa’s Hunger, and Descent. She holds an MFA from NMSU and  worked many years with survivors of patriarchal violence. She is currently a doctoral candidate in borderlands history at UTEP.

Cesar L. De Leon is a poet-organizer for Poets Against Walls and an educator. He holds an MFA from UTRGV, and his work has been published in various anthologies and journals. He has received awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association.

Celina A. Gómez is a performance poet and educator who coaches performance poetry to high school students. She has her MFA in creative writing and graduate certificate in Mexican American studies. She is the reigning Ultimate Poetry Boxing Champion and published in various anthologies and journals.

Nayelly Barrios is an intersectional feminist, writer, educator, and Rio Grande borderlands native. Her poetry has appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Puerto del Sol, Notre Dame Review, and others. An activist, she is a cofounder of Angry Tias and Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley.