Melissa Tuckey is a poet and literary activist. She has a background in environmental activism and is a co-founder of Split This Rock, a national organization dedicated to “calling poets to the center of public life.”
Kathy Engel is a poet, essayist, convener, educator, organizational strategic consultant, co founder of numerous organizations and projects including MADRE, the international women’s human rights group.
Palestinian-American writer Naomi Shihab Nye grew up in Ferguson, Mo. and lived in Jerusalem before moving to San Antonio, Texas. Her work has been posted at the Central Park Zoo and on a trash can at Times Square.
Ruth Irupé Sanabria is a poet and high school teach living in Perth Amboy, N.J. Her first collection of poetry, The Strange House Testifies (Bilingual Press), won 2nd place (Poetry) in the 2010 Annual Latino Book Awards.
Kimberly Blaeser, writer, photographer, and scholar, is the author of three poetry collections. She is currently at work on a collection, Ancient Light, which includes ekphrastic poetry and a form for which she coined the term “Picto-Poem.”
LeConté Dill was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. She holds degrees from Spelman College, UCLA, and UC Berkeley, and is the Director of Public Health Practice and a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU.
Lisa Wujnovich writes poetry and farms at Mountain Dell Farm in Hancock, NY; she has written two chapbooks and holds an MFA in poetry from Drew University. She hosts the poetic collaborative series, Bringing it to the Field.
Yusef Komunyakaa teaches in the Graduate Creative Writing Program at New York University and serves as State Poet of New York. He has written multiple books of poetry and has been the recipient of numerous awards.
Ross Gay is the author of three books of poetry, the most of recent of which is Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. He is also the author of the forthcoming collection of essayettes, The Book of Delights. He teaches poetry at Indiana University.
Tim Seibles is the author of six collections of poetry including Body Moves (1988), Hurdy-Gurdy (1992), Hammerlock (1999), and Fast Animal (2012). He lives and teaches at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Gregory Pardlo’s collection Digest (Four Way Books) won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Other honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Danez Smith is a Black, queer, poz writer & performer from St. Paul, MN. Danez is a member of the Dark Noise Collective and is the co-host of VS with Franny Choi, a podcast sponsored by the Poetry Foundation and Postloudness.
Ghost Fishing: Eco-Justice Poetry and the Diasporic City 