Lucille Clifton

Lucille Clifton’s poetry collections include Good Times (1969), Good News about the Earth: New Poems (1972), and An Ordinary Woman (1974). She was the first author to have two books of poetry as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, 1969-1980 (1987) and Next: New Poems (1987), as well as authoring numerous children’s books. While a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Clifton served as Poet Laureate for the State of Maryland. She received an Emmy, a Lannan Literary Award, two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Shelley Memorial Award, and the YM-YWHA Poetry Center Discovery Award.

Nikki Finney

Nikki Finney is the author of six books and hundreds of poems and essays. Her poetry collections include On Wings Made of Gauze (1985), Rice (1995), Heartwood (1997), and The World Is Round (2013), among others. She edited the collection The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (University of Georgia Press, 2007), an anthology of poets associated with Cave Canem. Finney’s accolades include but are not limited to a PEN American Open Book Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, and the Wallace Stevens Award. In 2011, she also won the National Book Award for her book, Head Off & Split. She is currently the Chair of Creative Writing and Southern Literature at the University of South Carolina.

Harryette Mullen

Harryette Mullen’s poetry collections include S*PeRM**K*T (1992), Sleeping with the Dictionary (2002), Recyclopedia (2006), Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary (2012), and Open Leaves (2023). She has received fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and the Guggenheim Foundation. Among other awards, Mullen has received a PEN Award and the Jackson Poetry Prize. Mullen is currently a professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon

Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon is the author of Open Interval (2009) and Black Swan (2002). Open Interval was a finalist for the National Book Award and the LA Times Book Prize. Van Clief-Stefanon's work has appeared in African American Review, Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, Gulf Coast, and Shenandoah, among other places. She has been awarded fellowships from Cave Canem, the Lannan Foundation, and Civitella Ranieri. Van Clief-Stefanon is currently an associate professor of literature in English at Cornell University. 

Tracy K. Smith

Tracy K. Smith is the author of five poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize winning collection, Life on Mars (2011). Her memoir, Ordinary Light (2015), was a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2017, Smith was named the U.S. poet laureate and has previously received the Stegner fellowship and the Academy of American Poets fellowship. Her other awards include a Cave Canem prize, the James Laughlin Award, and the Essense Literary Award. Smith is currently a professor at Harvard University.

Vivee Francis

Vievee Francis is the author of Blue-Tail Fly (2006), Horse in the Dark (2012), and Forest Primeval (2016). Forest Primeval won the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Her other awards include a Rona Jaffe Award, an Aiken Taylor Award, and fellowships from Cave Canem and the Kresge Foundation. She is currently an associate professor at Dartmouth College and an associate editor for Callaloo.