Mecca M. Miles is a Black, queer writer and spoken word poet from San Antonio, Texas. Her work has appeared in such publications as Wellspringwords Literary Anthology , The San Antonio Review , Texas Bards Anthology , When the River Speaks , Voices de la Luna , Voices Along the River , and has been featured on Best of Button Poetry . She has competed nationwide, taking 8th in Florida at the Exit 36 Slam in 2023 and 8th in Dallas, TX at the Right to Write Slam in 2024. She ha

Grace Morse (she/they) is an essayist from New Orleans, Louisiana, currently living in Galicia, Spain. Her work can be found in various publications and has been recognized as a finalist for CRAFT Literary Magazine’s 2023 Flash Prose Prize and BRINK Literary Journal for Hybrid Writing Award in 2024. Morse is the winner of the BRINK’s 2025 Emerging Writer Fellowship in Hybrid Writing award, with their essay-in-archives forthcoming in the Spring 2026 journal. A scholar of Span

Dr. Cheryl R. Hopson is the John P. Fishwick Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. She has published essays on Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, and U.S. Black Feminism. Her poetry collection In Case You Get This (2023) was published by Finishing Line Press. In 2024, Reaktion Books published her biography Zora Neale Hurston . Alice Walker’s Mary Agnes Speaks They used to call me Squeak until I learned to speak back. Be

Marchaé Grair (they/she) is a storyteller, spiritual seeker, and facilitator making meaning of life’s liminal spaces. They are an alum...

Alana Benoit , a first-generation Black American with Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Central American heritage, holds a BA from Union College,...

Shia Shabazz Smith is a writer-director and educator based in Oakland, California. With over 20 years of storytelling across mediums,...

Jennifer Maritza McCauley is the author of the cross-genre collection SCAR ON/SCAR OFF (Stalking Horse Press),  When Trying to Return...

Penda Smith is a poet and educator whose work has appeared in Root Work Journal , Huffington Post ,  Frontier Poetry , and Muzzle...

Shy-Zahir Moses (they/them) is a Black person, poet, and educator from Dallas, Texas, whose poems appear in Callaloo , Dialogist , and A...

Yolanda Kwadey is a Ghanaian currently pursuing an MFA in Fiction at the University of Florida. Her writing typically centers African...

Tianna Bratcher (they/she) is a Black, queer, genderfluid poet. They are a Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, a fellow of Tin House,...

Tiezst “Tie” Taylor is a Disabled Black femme who is non-binary trans. They are a radical educator, artist-activist, poet, and...

Ashlee Haze is a Telly Award-winning poet, librettist, and spoken word artist from Atlanta by way of Chicago. Her work has been featured...

Soni Brown writes from the complicated spaces between countries, between family members who should love each other, between the person...

Courtney Conrad is a Jamaican poet. Her debut pamphlet I Am Evidence, is published by Bloodaxe Books. She’s won the Eric Gregory Award,...

Jā. R. Macki is the author of Linus Baby (Pie Face Child Press, 2023). Her writing and visual art have appeared in midnight & indigo ,...

Princess Usanga is a Miami-based director and writer with Haitian and Nigerian roots, born in Queens, New York. Her storytelling delves...

Schyler Butler is the author of Phantom Hue (forthcoming from CavanKerry Press, 2027). A recipient of funding from the Ohio Arts...

Imani Nikelle is a southern-born, East Coast dwelling poet & filmmaker. Her poetry is published or forthcoming in Callaloo , The...

Jessica Araújo (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of English at the Community College of Rhode Island. She has her MA in Literature and...