Ron Mitchell has worked for the IRS and he is the editor of Southern Indiana Review and SIR Press. He teaches creative writing and literary publishing at the University of Southern Indiana, and he is the assistant director of the New Harmony Writers Workshop.

Marcus Wicker is the author of Maybe the Saddest Thing, selected by DA Powell for the National Poetry Series. His awards include a Pushcart Prize and Ruth Lilly Fellowship. Wicker is assistant professor of English at University of Southern Indiana and poetry editor of Southern Indiana Review.

Robert Wrigley teaches at the University of Idaho. His most recent books include Anatomy of Melancholy & Other Poems, and The Church of Omnivorous Light: Selected Poems.

Patricia Smith's books include Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (2013 Lenore Marshall Prize) and Blood Dazzler (finalist for the National Book Award). A 2014 Guggenheim fellow and 2-time Pushcart winner, she teaches at the College of Staten Island and in the MFA program at Sierra Nevada College.

Michael Waters has published ten books of poetry, including Gospel Night, Darling Vulgarity (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize), and Parthenopi: New and Selected Poems. He is co-editor of Contemporary American Poetry. He teaches at Monmouth University and in the Drew University MFA program.