Kate Bernadette Benedict is the author of a full-length poetry collection, Here from Away (CustomWords, 2003) and the editor of the online journal Umbrella.

Seni Seneviratne is a writer, singer, photographer and performer. She was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1951 to an English mother and Sri Lankan father. She has been writing poetry since her early teens and

Lawrence Joseph was born and raised in Detroit, the grandson of Lebanese and Syrian Catholic immigrants. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, most recently So Where Are We, published in 2017 by Farrar,

Crystal Belle was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She is a high school English teacher in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn. Belle is an activist and idealist who has been writing poetry since

Binyavanga Wainaina is a Kenyan writer. In 2002 he won the Caine Prize for African Writing. He is the Founding Editor of Kwani? – a leading Kenyan magazine (www.kwani.org). In 2007, he won the Virginia

Edith Chevat is the Senior Editor of Girls, An Anthology. She is the author of a novel, Love Lesson, which received a starred review in Book List. She is one of the original members of

Mahmoud Saeed is a prominent and award-winning Iraqi novelist. He has written more than 20 novels and short story collections, including Port Said and Other Stories, which was published in 1957. The first military-Baathist Iraqi

Catherine Stine writes fiction for teens and adults. Refugees, her historical fiction about the friendship between an Afghan boy and an American girl, received a Booklist featured review and “Story Behind the Story” interview, was

Kate Hunter grew up in Thetford, Vermont and Nashville, Tennessee, among other places. She moved to New York City at eighteen to go to school and has been here ever since, except for periods spent