Louise Waakaa’igan (she/her) is an enrolled member at Odaawaa-Zaaga’iganiing in northern Wisconsin. Her first chapbook, This Is Where (Aquarius Press), was published in 2020. She is also the first-place winner of the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop’s Broadside Competition (2016). Louise’s work has been previously published in PEN America, 21 Mythologies, The Moon Magazine, Night Colors, 27th Letter, Words in Gray Scale, and Doors Adjacent. She is ready to publish her second collection and recently has moved back to her beloved Minneapolis.

Marlin M. Jenkins (they/he) was born and raised in Detroit. The author of the poetry chapbook Capable Monsters (Bull City Press, 2020) and a graduate of University of Michigan’s MFA program, their poems, stories, and essays have found lots of good homes online and in print. When they’re not writing or mentoring young people, they’re playing video games and watching cartoons. They currently live and teach in Minnesota.

Rachel Moritz (she/her) is a poet and essayist based in Minneapolis. She’s the author of Borrowed Wave (Kore Press, 2015), a finalist for the National Poetry Series and the Minnesota Book Award in poetry. Her second book of poetry, Sweet Velocity, won the 2016 Besmilr Brigham Women Writer’s Award from Lost Roads Press. Rachel’s writing has recently appeared in Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, Concision Poetry Journal, DIAGRAM, Tupelo Quarterly, VOLT, Under the Gum Tree, and Water~Stone Review. She works with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop as a Program Associate. Visit her at rachelmoritz.com.

Ty Chapman (he/they) is an award-winning author and poet based in Minnesota. He is the author of many children’s books, and the poetry collection, Tartarus. Additionally, he co-edited the poetry anthology, All Power to the People, with his friend and collaborator, Ari Tison. He has published poems through The Academy of American Poets, Water~Stone Review, and more. Ty has received fellowships from Cave Canem, The Center for Arts + Social Justice, and The Loft Literary Center. He holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults through Vermont College of Fine Arts. When he isn’t writing his next poetry collection or middle grade fantasy novel, he spends his time playing basketball and reading in the sun.

Erin Sharkey (she/they) is a writer, arts and abolition organizer, cultural worker, and film producer based in Minneapolis. She is the editor of A Darker Wilderness: Black Nature Writing from Soil to Stars (Milkweed Editions ’23). Erin is a founding coop member of the Fields at Rootsprings, a retreat and respite space in central MN, and co-founder, with Junauda Petrus, of an experimental arts collective called Free Black Dirt. She is the producer of film projects, including Small Business Revolution, which explored challenges and opportunities for Black-owned businesses in the Twin Cities in the summer of 2021. Sharkey has received fellowships and residencies from the Loft Mentor Series, VONA/Voices, the Givens Foundation, Penumbra Theatre, Coffee House Press, the Bell Museum of Natural History, Black Visions, Headwaters Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation. She has an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University and teaches with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop.

Davi Gray (they/she) is a queer, trans, nonbinary poet, writer, storyteller, artist, activist, and abolitionist. They live in North Minneapolis (Bde Óta Othúŋwe), within Mni Sóta Makoce, unceded lands of the Dakota and Ojibwe. Gray has won prizes in PEN America Prison Writing Contests, and her work has been published in Poetry, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Rogue Agent, NonBinary Review, and elsewhere. They can often be found performing around the Twin Cities. You can learn more about her work, including upcoming events, at davigray.com.