Morowa Yejidé’s novel Time of the Locust was a 2012 finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize, longlisted for the 2015 PEN/Bingham award, and a 2015 NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literary Work. She is currently a PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools author.

Jeffery Renard Allen is the author of five books of fiction and poetry, most recently the novel Song of the Shank. He teaches in the writing program at University of Virginia. He has received many accolades for his work, including a Whiting Award and a Guggenheim fellowship.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Wench. Her second novel is Balm. Her stories have appeared in the Kenyon Review and elsewhere. She teaches in the American University MFA program.

Jason Reynolds is the author of the critically acclaimed young adult novels, When I Was the Greatest, which won the Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe Award, and, The Boy in the Black Suit. Besides those two books, Reynolds coauthored the young adult poetry/art book, My Name Is Jason. Mine Too.