Xavier Valcárcel de Jesús
Xavier Valcárcel de Jesús was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was raised in Loíza. He is the author of seven poetry books, Palo de lluvia (2010); El deber del pan (2013); Fe de calendario (2016); and Helio (2022). He has been featured as a guest writer in multiple events, fairs, artistic residencies, lectures, and exhibits. In 2009, he and Nicole Delgado created the publishing house Atarraya Cartonera. In 2021, he was named an inaugural Letras Boricuas Fellow.
Willie Perdomo
Willie Perdomo is a Puerto Rican writer and the author of Smoking Lovely: The Remix (2021), The Crazy Bunch (2019), and The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon (2014), and Where a Nickel Costs of Dime (1996). He is a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award. Perdomo has also received a PEN Beyond Margins Award, the Coretta Scott King Honor, the Cy Twombly Award for Poetry, and the New York City Book Award in Poetry. Currently an instructor at Phillips Exeter Academy, Perdomo is a Lucas Arts Literary Fellow and served as the State Poet of New York from 2021-2023.
Yesenia Montilla
Yesenia Montilla is an Afro-Latina poet and the author of two poetry books, Muse Found in a Colonized Body (2022) and The Pink Box (2015). Her work has been published in The Gulf Coast, Prairie Schooner, and the Pittsburgh Poetry Review, among others. Montilla is the recipient of fellowships from CantoMundo and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and her books were longlisted for a PEN Open Book award and nominated for an NAACP Image Award.
Rio Cortez
Rio Cortez was born and raised in Salt Lake City, and now lives in Harlem. She is the author of the poetry collection, Golden Ax (2022), and the children’s picture books, The ABCs of Black History (2020) and The River Is My Sea (2024). She currently works in sales and marketing at HarperCollins. Golden Ax was longlisted for the National Book Award for Poetry and the Pen America Open Book Award. She received fellowships from Cave Canem, Canto Mundo, The Jerome Foundation, and Poet’s House.
Aracelis Girmay
Originally from Southern California, Aracelis Girmay lives in Brooklyn, New York. Girmay’s poetry collections include Teeth (2007), Kingdom Animalia (2011), and The Black Maria (2016). Her work has been published in World Literature Today, Los Angeles Review of Books, and Astra, among others. She currently teaches at Hampshire College. Girmay’s awards include a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Whiting Award for Poetry, and a nomination for a Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
Shyanne Figueroa Bennett
Shyanne Figueroa Bennett is a Brooklyn poet with roots in Panama, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Her work has been published in various journals and magazines, including Green Mountains Review, Oversound, The Acentos Review, and Tribes. As a teaching artist she has previously partnered with KW Writer’s Studio, Girls Write Now, and North Lawndale College Prep, and currently, she is the poetry advisory board member for Literary Legacies. She is a recipient of a 2022 Fulbright Fellowship.
