U.S., Western

Derrick C. Brown is a poet, comedian, and former paratrooper based in Los Angeles, California. His books of poetry include Love Ends in a Tandem Kayak (2023) and Strange Light (2013), both published by Brown...

Angelina Sáenz (she/her) is a writer, a poet, and an educator and staff developer recognized for her contributions to education. She received the 2014 Exceptional Woman Award from La Opinión newspaper and ...

fahima ife (she/her) is an American poet, essayist, and editor. She is the author of the poetry books Septet for the Luminous Ones (Wesleyan University Press, 2024) and Maroon Choreography (Duke University...

Sapphire (she/her) is the author of the poetry books American Dreams, first published by High Risk Books/Serpent’s Tail in 1994 and reissued by Vintage Books in 1996; and Black Wings & Blind Angels (Alfred...

Rena Rosenwasser’s (she/her) publications include the chapbook Queer Registry: The Body & Film (Kelsey Street, 2024), Elevators (Kelsey Street Press, 2011), Dittany (Taking Flight) (Mayacamas Press, 1993),...

Coming from a background in literature and classical Indian dance, transdisciplinary artist Ashwini Bhat (she/her) uses sculptures, installations, video, and text to develop a unique visual language that explores...

George B. Bailey (he/him) is an associate professor of English, emeritus, in the English department of Columbia College Chicago. He earned a BA in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago, an MA in English...

Catherine Theis was born in New York. Theis is the author of the play Medea (Plays Inverse, 2017), the poetry chapbook The June Cuckold (Convulsive Editions, 2012), and the poetry collection The Fraud of Good...

Alexis Sears (she/her) is the author of Out of Order (Autumn House Press, 2022), winner of the 2021 Donald Justice Poetry Prize and the Poetry by the Sea Book Award: Best Book of 2022. Her work appears in ...

Camille Roy is a writer of fiction, poetry, and plays. Nightboat Books published her fiction collection Honey Mine in 2021. Previous books include Sherwood Forest (2011), a book of poetry and prose published...

Gabrielle Joy Lessans is an experimental poet from Baltimore, Maryland. She earned a BA in literature from Duke University and an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University...

Sarah Alcaide-Escue is a writer, artist, and editor from Florida. Her poetry chapbook, Bruised Gospel, was published by The Lune in 2020. A Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, her work has been published...

Cathleen Calbert has published books of poetry including The Afflicted Girls (Little Red Tree, 2016), Sleeping with a Famous Poet (WordTech, 2007), Bad Judgment (Sarabande Books, 1998), and Lessons in Space...

Robert McDowell is a proponent of narrative and formal resurgence in American poetry as well as poetry as spiritual practice. McDowell’s poems, narratives, and lyrics focus on 20th-century American life. His...

Winner of both an Oxford Prize in Poetry and the Edwin Markham Prize in Poetry, Linda Ravenswood is a poet and performance artist living in Los Angeles. Working closely with arts organizations, including the...

Shara Lessley was born and raised in central California. She is the author of The Explosive Expert’s Wife (University of Wisconsin Press, 2018), winner of the Sheila Margaret Motton Prize for best collection...

Troy Osaki is a Filipino Japanese poet, organizer, and attorney from Seattle, Washington. He won a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry fellowship from the Poetry Foundation in 2022. Osaki has also...

Adedayo Agarau (he/him) is the author of the chapbooks Origin of Names (African Poetry Book Fund, 2020), The Arrival of Rain (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2020), and the self-published For Boys Who Went (Authorpedia...

Kevin Simmonds is a writer and musician originally from New Orleans. His books include the hybrid poetry and essay collection The Monster I am Today: Leontyne Price and a Life in Verse (2021), and the poetry...

American rapper and actor Tupac (2Pac) Amaru Shakur was born Lesane Parish Crooks in 1971 in Manhattan. His family then moved to Baltimore around the age of 13, and then the San Francisco Bay Area around the...