M.A.S. Frimpong is a music curator; writer; and storyteller, influenced by the intersections of art, technology, identity, and memory. Frimpong’s fiction writing explores the human condition, specifically confusion, loneliness, joy, wonder, and pain; and non-fiction writing focuses on a personal, analytical take on visual culture (movies, film, animation) and books. Frimpong’s writing portfolio includes a self-promoted short story called “Pray for Rain” published on Medium and adapted into a short 3-D comic, “The Talk” which was published in OF ZOOS. Frimpong is based in the DMV area.

Alexis Lawson is a poet, storyteller, daydreamer, and author of the poetry collection The Beauty in my Bare Bones (2019). Alexis received her BA in creative writing from Appalachian State University. She aspires to give readers the key to hundreds of worlds within a lifetime, and to give people who feel forgotten, overlooked, and not included in literature a place to call their own. Alexis intends to break the trauma troupe in literature and reinforce Black joy in narratives. Her work has appeared in Midnight and Indigo, Grown Magazine, and is forthcoming in a McGraw Hill textbook and ColorBloc Magazine. Follow her poetry, short stories, and everyday writer's life at @HerBlackHand.

Shanisha Branch received her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction at Old Dominion University in May 2021. Her poems “Ode to the Afro” and “How to Smile” were accepted into the Poetry on the Pavement contest where they were displayed on sidewalks throughout Norfolk, Virginia during Fall 2021. She resides in Portsmouth, VA where she teaches high school English; and writes a biweekly newsletter called The Honest Virgin where she discusses womanhood, agency, and sexuality. You can find her on Instagram & Twitter @thehonestvirginxo.

Robyn Chiara Fohouo (she/her/hers) is a student at Columbia University and began writing poetry in the turbulent summer of 2020, taking great comfort in attending virtual poetry workshops hosted and attended by incredibly welcoming writers. She writes to understand and make something of herself. If not for poetry, she knows not where her emotions would lie. Robyn has been published in Brown Sugar Literary Magazine.

KB is a Black/queer/transmasculine poet, essayist, cultural worker, and Artivism Fellow with Broadway Advocacy Coalition. They write to tether themselves to the history of folks like them and to validate the experiences/personhood of Black, queer, and trans people. KB has pieces published with Huffington Post, American Poetry Review, Teen Vogue, and other places. They are the author of How To Identify Yourself with a Wound (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2022) and Freedom House (Deep Vellum Publishing, 2023). Follow them online at @earthtokb.

They gotta give us what we want. And they gotta give us what we need.

Mia Brabham is a writer and conversation lover. Her debut book, Note to Self, is a short collection of personal musings that is in the hands of readers all over the world. Mia is also the co-host of Two In The Morning.

Robyn Chiara Fohouo is a student at Columbia University and has been published in Brown Sugar Literary Magazine. She first began writing poetry in the turbulent summer of 2020, taking great comfort in attending virtual poetry workshops hosted and attended by incredibly welcoming writers.

Iris has stories published in: The Best New True Crimes: Small Towns (Mango Publishers, 2020), Storyhouse Weekly Reader, HELD Magazine, The Best New True Crimes: Partners In Crime (Mango Publishers, 2022), and Parenthood Uncensored (Keeping It Under Wraps, 2022). Follow Iris on Twitter: @LeonaCross15

KB is a Black/queer/transmasculine poet, essayist, cultural worker, and Artivism Fellow with Broadway Advocacy Coalition. KB has pieces published with Huffington Post, American Poetry Review, Teen Vogue, and is the author of How To Identify Yourself with a Wound (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2022) and Freedom House (Deep Vellum Publishing, 2023).

Nick Courmon is an international poet, spoken word artist, workshop facilitator, and motivational speaker from Greensboro, NC. Nick has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, NBC's Today, VICE News, and Narratively; and has collaborated with Beats by Dre, USA Today, the Museum of Contemporary Art: North Miami, Missourians Against the Death Penalty, Democracy NC, NC Black Alliance, the Wounded Warrior Project, Palta.