Shinelle L. Espaillat teaches at Dutchess Community College in New York. Her work has appeared in Tahoma Literary Review, Two Hawks Quarterly, Minerva Rising, the Westchester Review, Ghost Parachute, Cleaver Magazine, and Midway Journal. She is represented by Annie Bomke of Annie Bomke Literary Agency.

Mohamed (Moe) Shalabi is a Palestinian American author, educator, neuroscientist, and former junior literary agent. He writes literary fiction with elements of magical realism and speculative and science fiction. He is represented by Kat Kerr of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Tonya Abari is a writer, editor, and book reviewer. A 2021 We Need Diverse Books mentee, Abari is a Carnegie Hall NeOn Arts ten-week nonfiction writing intensive alum as well as the 2020 Hurston Wright Foundation Writers Week creative nonfiction alum. She is currently agented and on submission.

KL Burd is a speculative fiction writer who lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and two boys. Passionate about social issues and creating change through writing, KL writes so that underrepresented kids, especially young Black boys and girls, can see themselves in every type of story imaginable.

Allison Hubbard