April Naoko Heck is a Kundiman fellow and the author of A Nuclear Family, a poetry collection. Her writing appears in publications including the Margins, Asian American Literary Review, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Poets & Writers, VIDA, Kartika, and many others. She has held residencies at VCCA and VSC.

Robin Coste Lewis is a Provost's Fellow in Poetry and Visual Studies at USC, where she researches the history of the black anthology and black photography. She is the author of Voyage of the Sable Venus.

Gregory Pardlo's ​collection​ Digest won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Digest​ was also shortlisted for the​ 2015 NAACP Image Award and he is a current finalist for the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. His other honors​ include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Douglas Kearney teaches in CalArts’ School of Critical Studies and has taught in the theater and music schools. Patter is his third book. His second, The Black Automaton, was a National Poetry Series selection. A librettist, his operas include Crescent City, Mordake, Sucktion, and Freedom of Shadow.