Ladan Osman has received fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, Cave Canem, and the Michener Center. The Kitchen-Dweller’s Testimony  won the Sillerman First Book Prize.

Mahtem Shiferraw is a poet and visual artist from Ethiopia and Eritrea. Her work has been published in many literary journals. She is the recipient of the 2015 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets and her poetry manuscript, Fuchsia, is forthcoming. She received her MFA from Vermont College.

Tsitsi Jaji is a poet and literary critic. Originally from Zimbabwe, she is author of a chapbook, Carnaval, and a scholarly book, Africa in Stereo. She is an associate professor of English at Duke University and scholar in residence at the Schomburg Center.

Warsan Shire is a London-based Somali poet. Her début pamphlet is Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth. Her poems have appeared in Wasafiri, Magma, and Poetry Review, and have been translated into Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. She is the winner of the 2013 Brunel University African Poetry Prize.

Amy Lukau