Danez Smith (they/them) is the author of four poetry collections: [insert] boy, Don’t Call Us Dead, Homie, and, most recently, Bluff. They are also the curator of Blues In Stereo: The Early Works of Langston Hughes. For their work, Danez has won the Forward Prize for Best Collection, the Minnesota Book Award in Poetry, the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and have been a finalist for the NAACP Image Award in Poetry, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the National Book Award, as well as an array of grants, fellowships, and residencies including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the Princeton Arts Fellowship. Danez lives in the Twin Cities with their people and teaches at the Randolph College MFA program and the Black Youth Healing Arts Center in St. Paul, MN.

Antonio Williams (he/him) is the voice of people who can’t advocate for themselves — and a story of hope. Incarcerated for 14 years, Williams found meaning in mentoring other Black men and organizing them to stand up for their rights, including leading a prison strike that got results. Williams triumphed over his circumstances and now empowers formerly incarcerated Black and Brown people to help themselves and others by connecting them to resources and offering personal and leadership development, healing opportunities, and political education to fight for legislation like restoring voting rights. Through his organization TONE UP, Antonio wants to help create a space where people do not have to choose between fighting for their continued liberation and economic viability; he wants to inspire and help people to heal and rebuild their lives. Learn more about TONE UP at toneup.org.

Alice Paige (she/her) is a transgender educator, organizer, and activist from Chicago, Illinois. She teaches creative writing at Hamline University. She writes about the healing power of community, the dangers of assimilation, and the ghosts of what we once were. Her work can be found in American Precariat, Take a Stand: Art Against Hate, A Raven Chronicles Anthology, Coffin Bell, The Rumpus and plenty of other strange places.

Dralandra Larkins (she/her) is an award-winning spoken word poet, teaching artist at COMPAS and recipient of the MN State Arts Boards Creative Individuals grant. She’s performed for the NAACP, Button Poetry, MN Black Authors Expo, MN State Capitol, MN Black Business Ball and the Mill City Museum. She is the co-editor of Cracked Walnut’s anthology Rewilding Hope 2023, and The Nations Underground: Writing With Our Ancestors, 2024. She is a program assistant for the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library where she coordinates author readings for Club Book, Moving Words, and Fireside Reading series. To follow the release of her poetry audiobook “Before I Lie, 2025,” visit: www.dralandrawrites.com.

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 co-op 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 (she/they) 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, Water~Stone Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Rogue Agent, and elsewhere. She can often be found performing around the Twin Cities. You can learn more about her work, including upcoming events, at davigray.com.

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.