SAM HEAPS

Sam Heaps is a genderqueer writer, visual artist, and organizer, currently living in Philadelphia where they teach writing at the University of the Arts. They have published essay and fiction in Communion Arts Journal, Expat Lit, Entropy, Taco Bell Quarterly, and many other brave places. They are a 2022 VCCA Fellow. Heaps' debut PROXIMITY is forthcoming from CLASH Books January 2023.

ANAÏS DUPLAN

Anaïs Duplan is a trans* poet, curator, and artist. He is the author of newly released book I NEED MUSIC (Action Books, 2021), and a book of essays, Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture (Black Ocean, 2020). He has taught poetry at The New School, Bennington College, Columbia University, and Sarah Lawrence College, amongst others. As an independent curator, he has facilitated curatorial projects in Chicago, Boston, Santa Fe, and Reykjavík. He was a 2017-2019 joint Public Programs fellow at the Museum of Modern Art and the Studio Museum in Harlem, and in 2021 received a Marian Goodman fellowship from Independent Curators International for his research on Black experimental documentary. In 2016, he founded the Center for Afrofuturist Studies, an artist residency program for artists of color, based at Iowa City’s artist-run organization Public Space One.
Photo credit: Lyndsy Welgos

TUAN BUI

Tuan Bui is a photographic artist. He works mostly with people, sometimes animals. He has been taking photos since he was eight, and has exhibited in LA, Chicago, New York, and been published in Esquire, Forbes, People, and other magazines. He lives life 35mm at a time, can count to three in seven languages, is soft in the midsection, and takes himself extremely seriously.

SHAILEN MISHRA

Shailen Mishra holds a PhD in English Studies from Illinois State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from North Carolina State University. At Illinois State University, his work was recognized with the Tom Kuster Creative Writing Award, and he served on the masthead of the poetry journal Spoon River Poetry Review in different capacities. Currently, he is a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Swarthmore College. His stories have appeared in The Baltimore Review, The Bookends Review, and The Shine Journal.

IAN WOJCIKIEWICZ

A member of the Bum Sophisticate, Ian Eric Wojcikiewicz writes from Chicago. He has a dog. @thebumpm

JOSE HERNANDEZ DIAZ

Jose Hernandez Diaz is a 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. He is the author of The Fire Eater (Texas Review Press, 2020). His work appears in The American Poetry Review, Bat City Review, Cincinnati Review, Georgia Review, Huizache, Iowa Review, The Nation, Poetry, The Progressive, The Southeast Review, and in The Best American Nonrequired Reading. He tweets at @JoseHernandezDz.

EMILY MARTIN

Emily Martin is a writer and teacher from Brooklyn.

ABIGAIL CHABITNOY

Abigail Chabitnoy is the author of How to Dress a Fish (Wesleyan 2019), winner of the 2020 Colorado Book Award for Poetry and shortlisted in the international category of the 2020 Griffin Prize for Poetry. She was a 2016 Peripheral Poets fellow and her poems have appeared in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Boston Review, Tin House, Gulf Coast, LitHub, and Red Ink, among others. She earned her MFA in Poetry at Colorado State University. Most recently, she was the recipient of the Witter Bynner Funded Native Poet Residency at Elsewhere Studios in Paonia, CO. She is a mentor for the Institute of American Indian Arts MFA in Creative Writing and an instructor at Lighthouse Writers Workshop. She is a Koniag descendant and member of the Tangirnaq Native Village in Kodiak.

THEA MATTHEWS

Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Thea Matthews is a Brooklyn-based Black Indigenous Mexican poet and educator. She attained her BA in Sociology at UC Berkeley, where she studied and taught June Jordan’s program Poetry for the People led by Aya de Leon. Her debut poetry collection Unearth [The Flowers] was published June 2020 by Red Light Lit Press and is listed as part of the Best Indie Poetry of 2020 by Kirkus Reviews. She has work in The New Republic, Atlanta Review, The Rumpus, and others. Currently, Thea Matthews is a MFA Poetry candidate at New York University.

MARY KATE CERNEY

Mary Cerney is a poet who dabbles in nonfiction, collage, and trying to keep her houseplants alive. She's finishing up her MFA in Writing at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and she's currently working on her first book, a hybrid-genre project about family trauma, hereditary illness, and evoking the voices of those who've passed.

BENJI HART

Benji Hart is a Chicago-based author, artist, and educator whose work centers Black radicalism, queer liberation, and prison abolition. Their words have appeared in numerous anthologies, and been published at Teen Vogue, Time, The Advocate, and elsewhere. They have led workshops for organizations and at academic institutions internationally, and facilitated convenings for groups like Law For Black Lives, National Bail Out, and Project NIA. Their performances have been featured at such venues as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2021); Den Frie, Copenhagen (2021); Museo del Chopo, Mexico City (2020); and the Amsterdam University of the Arts, Amsterdam (2019). They have been a fellow with the Rauschenberg Foundation, MacDowell, and are a 3Arts awardee in the Teaching Arts.

ALEX WELLS SHAPIRO

Alex Wells Shapiro (he/him) is a poet and artist from the Hudson Valley, living in Chicago. He reads submissions for Frontier Poetry, serves as Business and Grants Manager for Another Chicago Magazine, and co-curates Exhibit B: A Reading Series presented by The Guild Literary Complex. His debut poetry collection, Insect Architecture, is forthcoming in Spring 2022 with Unbound Edition Press. More of his work may be found at www.alexwellsshapiro.com.

VASHON JORDAN JR.

Vashon Jordan Jr. is a 22-year-old visual artist born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He uses photography and videography to showcase authentic stories and moments that reflect the people of Chicago. Vashon enjoys engaging with youth across the city to inspire and encourage them to follow their dreams. He received his Associate in Arts from Kennedy-King College, and Bachelor's degree from Columbia College Chicago.

RABHA ASHRY

Rabha Ashry is Egyptian, from Abu Dhabi, and based in Chicago. A New York University Abu Dhabi graduate, she has recently completed an MFA in Writing at the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago. She spends a lot of time scribbling short poems in her notebook on the train. She writes about exile, the diaspora, and living between languages. She speaks to her roommate's cats in Arabic because she knows they speak Arabic too.

CAROLINE COOLIDGE MCCRAW

Caroline Cooledge McCraw studies, her work has appeared, and she is from. <ccmcc.biz>

DANIEL WOODY

Daniel Woody is a creature of the city: born in Los Angeles, raised in Las Vegas, educated in Chicago, and now lives in Shanghai where he teaches in the writing program at New York University, Shanghai. His writing is published or forthcoming in RHINO, The Chicago Review, BOAAT, The Volta and elsewhere.

ELIZABETH MARINO

Elizabeth Marino is a Chicago-based poet and educator. Her work explores issues arising from lived experiences of color, class, and gender, from a mixed-race perspective. She was a 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee for a poem and a prose memoir piece, both appearing in her full-length collection Asylum (Vagabond, 2020). Forthcoming work will appear in the print anthologies Reimagining America (Vagabond, 2022) and Play (Outrider Press/TallGrass Writers Guild series 2021). Recent publications include the 2021 Revolutionary Poets Brigade anthology Building Socialism II: Fighting Fascism, poems in LivesandLegends.com, and a memoir piece in Quiet Lightning/sPARKLE + bLINK #112. Her chapbooks include Debris (Puddin'head Press) and Ceremonies (dancing girl press). She holds an MA in English from UIC's Writers Program.

SEJAKE MATSELA

Sejake Matsela is a writer, film practitioner and photographer from Lesotho, Southern Africa. Working as a writer for screen, an art director and script supervisor, Sejake has contributed in the making of a number of films which have screened on various television stations and film festivals. In 2019 he completed the script editing and translation for a feature film titled: ‘This is not a Burial, it’s a Resurrection’, which premiered in Cannes in 2019, and is currently in the festival circuit around the world. He is currently a candidate in the MA Visual Culture program at Illinois State University.

SKY GOODMAN

Sky Goodman is a new media artist, poet, and educator living in Chicago, IL. Their work has been exhibited locally and internationally and they are the author of Starfish (2018, Lettered Streets Press) and Deep Dream (2021, Sybil Press). Sky has an MFA in poetry from Columbia College.

NAOMI WASHER

Naomi Washer is the editor-in-chief of Ghost Proposal and the author of Trainsongs (Greying Ghost Press), American Girl Doll (Ursus Americanus Press), and Phantoms (dancing girl press). She is also the translator of Sebastián Jiménez Galindo’s Experimental Gardening Manual (toad press). Her work has appeared in Seneca Review, Essay Daily, Asymptote, Entropy Magazine, and other journals. She has received fellowships and residencies from Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, Studio Faire and Chateau Orquevaux in France, and Columbia College Chicago where she earned her MFA in Nonfiction. Her debut novel, Subjects We Left Out, is forthcoming from Veliz Books in March 2021.

JAMES STEWART III

James Stewart III is a Black writer whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in Zone 3, The Forge, 580 Split, Pangyrus, Cleaver, Another Chicago Magazine, and Cowboy Jamboree. He earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MA from North Central College. He also co-curates the text-based performance series “The Guild Complex presents Exhibit B." He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter. www.jamesstewart3.com

JAZZY SMITH

Jazzy still owes money to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for her MFA in Writing. She has a bet that she will be writing as long as she owes SAIC money, which is, guess how long. She works with runaway and homeless young people. Lives in and loves Brooklyn.

J. HOWARD ROSIER

J. Howard Rosier sits on the board of the National Book Critics Circle. His writing has appeared in Bookforum, 4Columns, Art in America, the Nation, and elsewhere. He lives in Chicago, where he edits the journal Critics' Union, teaches in the New Arts Journalism Department of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and co-curates Exhibit B, a multidisciplinary performance series sponsored by the Guild Literary Complex.