Elizabeth Alexander’s most recent book is Crave Radiance: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010. She is the author of five previous books of poetry, including American Sublime, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and two books of essays, including The Black Interior. Her awards and honors include the Anisfield-Wolf Lifetime Achievement in Poetry award, the Jackson Poetry Prize of Poets & Writers, Inc., and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among others.

Thomas Sayers Ellis was born and raised in Washington, DC. The Maverick Room was awarded the John C. Zacharis First Book Award. Ellis teaches in the Lesley University low-residency MFA program, and he is a faculty member of Cave Canem. A photographer and poet, he currently divides his time between Brooklyn, New York, and Washington, DC. His most recent collection, Skin, Inc.: Identity Repair Poems, was published by Graywolf Press, and he recently accepted the position of Poetry Editor at The Baffler.