Finney, Nikkiy Nikky 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.
Giovanni, Nikki: Nikki Giovanni is one of the most famous voices in black poetry. She has written a number of works of poetry and children's books, and has contributed to many other publications. Some of her most prominent works include: Black Feeling, Black Talk/ Black Judgement (William Morrow & Company Inc, 1970); Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-Five Years of Being a Black Poet (1971); Those Who Ride the Night Winds (William Morrow & Company Inc, 1983); Love Poems (William Morrow & Company Inc, 1997); The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 (William Morrow & Company Inc, 2003); Rosa (Henry Holt and Co, 2005); and Acolytes (William Morrow & Company Inc, 2007). Giovanni had received numerous awards throughout her career. Some of the honors and awards she has received include: Seven NAACP Image Awards, the American Book Award, the Langston Hughes Award, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award, a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship, the Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement, and keys to over two dozen cities across America.
Howard, JP: JP Howard is a poet, educator, and curator who is widely anthologized. Her debut poetry collection SAY/MIRROR (2015) was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. She is also the author of bury your love poems here (2015), Praise This Complicated Herstory: Legacy (YEAR), Healing & Revolutionary Poems (Harlequin Creature) and co-editor of Sinister Wisdom Journal Black Lesbians--We Are the Revolution! Howard has been awarded fellowships and grants from the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund, the Brooklyn Arts Council, Cave Canem, and the Lambda Foundation. She currently serves as curator of the Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon, a general Poetry Editor for Women’s Studies Quarterly, and Editor-At-Large of Mom Egg Review.
Montilla, Yesinia: Yesenia Montilla is an Afro-Latina poet & a daughter of immigrants. She received her MFA from Drew University in Poetry & Poetry in translation. She is a CantoMundo graduate fellow and a 2020 NYFA fellow. Her work has been published in Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, Prairie Schooner, Gulf Coast and in Best of American Poetry 2021 and 2022. Her first collection The Pink Box is published by Willow Books & was longlisted for a PEN Open Book award. Her second collection Muse Found in a Colonized Body published by Four Way Books in 2022 was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. She lives in Harlem, NY.
Randall, Dudley: Dudley Randall was a poet and an active member of the Black Arts Movement. He authored seven poetry collections and edited multiple anthologies. His published collections include: Poem Counterpoem, with Margaret Danner (Broadside Press, 1966); Cities Burning (Broadside Press, 1968); Love You (Paul Breman, 1970); More to Remember: Poems of Four Decades (Third World Press, 1971); After the Killing (Third World Press, 1973); Broadside Memories: Poets I have Known (Broadside Press, 1975); and A Litany of Friends: New and Selected Poems (Lotus Press, 1981). He was the founder of Broadside Press. Randall’s poetry has been honored with a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Thompkins Award for Poetry and Fiction (in both 1962 and 1966), the Arts Award in Literature from Michigan Foundation for the Arts, the International Black Writers’ Conference Award, the Creative Artist Award in Literature from Michigan Council of the Arts, and he was also appointed poet Laureate of Detroit.
Samatar, Sofia: Sofia Samatar is a scholar, novelist, poet, and educator who has authored six books spanning numerous genres and forms: the duology A Stranger in Olondria (2013) and The Winged Histories (2016); short story collections Tender (2017) and Monster Portraits (2017); award-winning memoir The White Mosque (2022); Tone (2023), a collaborative study of literary tone; and her most recent science fiction novella, The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain (2024). Samatar’s essays, fiction, and criticism have appeared in Conjunctions, The New Inquiry, The Paris Review Daily, Obsidian, Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Uncanny Magazine, The White Review, North American Review, Research in African Literatures, and elsewhere. Her work has earned her many honors and awards, including the 2014 William L. Crawford Fantasy Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for her debut novel which was also included in Time Magazine’s list “100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time,” as well Esquire’s “50 Best Fantasy Books of All Time.” Samatar also received the 2014 Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Her short stories have been finalists for Hugo and Nebula awards, as well as the Calvino Prize. Her memoir received the Bernard J. Brommel Award for Biography and Memoir and was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Award. Her work has been translated into eleven languages. Samatar currently teaches African and Arabic literature, speculative fiction, and creative writing at James Madison University, where she is Roop Distinguished Professor of English.
Tallie, Mariahadessa Ekere: Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie is the author of Strut (2018), Dear Continuum: Letters to a Poet Crafting Liberation (2015), and Karma’s Footsteps (2011). Tallie is also the author of the award-winning children’s book, Layla’s Happiness (2019). Her work has appeared in anthologies such as Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry, The Golden Shovel Anthology, and Bum Rush The Page: A Def Poetry Jam, among others. Tallie is the recipient of a 2010 grant from the Queens Council on the Arts, and from 2013 to 2017 she served as the poetry editor of African Voices. She is also the subject of the short film, “I Leave My Colors Everywhere.” She is currently pursuing a PhD in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies at Brown University.
Trethewey, Natasha: Natasha Trethewey has served as both U.S. poet laureate and the poet laureate for the state of Mississippi. She is the author of several collections of poetry, including Domestic Work (2000), which was selected by Rita Dove as the winner of the inaugural Cave Canem Poetry Prize,and Native Guard (2006), which received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her other works include Bellocq’s Ophelia (2002), Thrall (2012), and Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir (2020). Trethewey serves as the Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University. She was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and received the Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities. Trethewey has served as Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and was awarded the 2020 Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt Prize for Poetry. She was also the 2022 William B. Hart Poet in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.
