Forrest Gander is a writer & translator with degrees in geology and English literature. Recent books include Eiko & Koma, Fungus Skull Eye Wing: Selected Poems of Alfonso D'Aquino, and Core Samples from the World, a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist.

Richard Blanco’s first book, City of a Hundred Fires, received the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. His second book, Directions to The Beach of the Dead won the PEN/Beyond Margins Award. His third collection, Looking for The Gulf Motel, won the Paterson Poetry Prize and Thom Gunn Award from the Publishing Triangle. He stands as the youngest, first Latino, and first openly gay person to serve as the Presidential inaugural poet.

Cristina García is the author of several novels, including The Agüero Sisters, winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize; and Dreaming in Cuban, finalist for the National Book Award, and, most recently, King of Cuba. She has edited two anthologies, Bordering Fires: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Mexican and Chicano/a Literature and Cubanísimo: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature. Her other work includes three books for young readers and a collection of poetry, The Lesser Tragedy of Death.