Marilyn Nelson is the author or translator of more than 20 books and chapbooks for adults and children. Her critically acclaimed YA books include A Wreath for Emmett Till and Carver: A Life in Poems, a Newbery Honor Book. Nelson has also come out with nine poetry collections for adults, and will be releasing a new picture book, Lubaya’s Quiet Roar, in October, 2020. Currently professor emerita of English at the University of Connecticut, she was also Poet Laureate of Connecticut, 2001– 2006.

Frederick-Douglass Knowles II is an educator and activist dedicated to community development. He is the inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of Hartford. His collection of poetry, BlackRoseCity was featured at the 2018 Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP). Frederick-Douglass is an Associate Professor of English at Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, CT.

Antoinette Brim-Bell is the author of These Women You Gave Me, Icarus in Love, and Psalm of the Sunflower. She has hosted a series of Black History Month television programs for the OneWorld Progressive Institute. Brim-Bell is also a Professor of English at Capital Community College.

José B. Gonzalez is a Fulbright Scholar and has received national and regional awards for his teaching, for efforts to improve the conditions of Latinos pursuing a college degree or a career in higher education, and for his poetry. He is the author of the poetry collections, Toys Made of Rock (Bilingual Press), and When Love Was Reels (Arte Publico), and is the founder and editor of LatinoStories.Com.

Daniel Donaghy, Professor of English, is the author of five poetry collections, most recently Somerset (NYQ Books, 2018), Start with the Trouble (U of Arkansas Press, 2009), which won the Paterson Prize for Literary Excellence and was a Finalist for the Connecticut Book Award, and Streetfighting (BkMk Press/U Missouri-Kansas City, 2005) which was a Finalist for the Paterson Prize.