Carolyn Ferrucci is a poet originally from New York City currently based in Queens. Her poems can be found in Field Notes Journal (UK), Form IV, Wendys Subway's The Quick and The Dead, No Dear, The Felt, and forthcoming from Changes Press and The Brooklyn Rail. Carolyn has an MFA from Bard College Milton Avery School of the Arts in Writing and a BA in Literary Studies from The New School. A teaching artist and educator for several years, she has also been an advocate and paralegal for migrants held in detention centers in Arizona and New York.

Hailing from Fort Worth, Texas, Isabel Lucía Guinn is a writer, dancer, and teaching artist. Isabel is a graduate of The New School, holding a BFA in Literary Studies and Creative Writing, and has experience teaching as a high school English student teacher at Mann UCLA Community School in Los Angeles as well as being a dance educator. Isabel has worked with several NYC literary and educational programs including the "I Have A Dream" Foundation, HOPE Farm Inc., The Academy Project and  Belladonna Collaborative*. She continues to pursue her own dance education writing having previously read her works at The Poetry Project in NYC and dancing at Dallas Black Theater, Joffrey School of Ballet, and Mark Morris Dance Group. Isabel deeply enjoys creative education and is thrilled to be working with the National Book Foundation and BookUp. She is currently based in Brooklyn, NY.

Leah Lakins is the founder and chief creative officer of Fresh Eyes Editorial Services. As an experienced editor and writer, she specializes in creating books and other non-fiction publications. She is a proud native of Baltimore, Maryland and an even prouder alumna of two of its finest institutions, Western Sr. High School and Morgan State University. She also holds a master’s degree in Publishing from The George Washington University. She is passionate about mentoring the next generation of content creators and empowering others to share their stories.

Amanda Nowlin-O’Banion is a prose writer whose work has appeared in Callaloo, Gulf Coast, Vandal, Liars’ League NYC, and The Dallas Morning News, among others. Awards include a Barbara Deming Award for feminist artists and the TEX Emerging Writer Award. Amanda has a MFA in Fiction from New York University and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Houston. She currently teaches creative writing at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas where she is also a reluctant beekeeper. She is completing a collection of essays on beekeeping and motherhood tentatively titled, The Queen.

Jassmine Parks is a Detroit slam poetry champion that has performed internationally. Using language as a catalyst to time travel through storytelling, Jassmine believes thoughtful introspection on past experiences in present time allows one to access our agency, creating a future in which we exist as our best selves. Jassmine has created a safe space program for youth and a literary series for black girls and women in Detroit. Jassmine's work focuses on the intersection of identity and actively identifying, naming and healing trauma and has been published through SlamFind, All Def Poetry and Wusgood? Magazine.

Rajdeep Paulus is an award-winning young adult fiction author. Her first book in her trilogy, Swimming Through Clouds, won several writing contests, and Amazon featured Rajdeep on International Women’s Day in 2017. Raj also has two nonfiction titles published on women in politics and the opioid epidemic. Rajdeep studied English Literature at Northwestern University and has an MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from Stony Brook University. In Raj’s free time, she likes to watch movies, play basketball, and spend time with friends and family. Raj lives in New York with her Sunshine and four daughters.

Viviana Prado-Núñez is an author, theatre-maker, and teaching artist born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in a hospital with a 4.0 Google review rating and a view of the ocean. She has never seen Star Wars, eaten a grasshopper, or written a poem without the letter ‘e,’ though she hopes to do all three of those things in the future. Previous credits include winning the 2017 Burt Award for Caribbean Young Adult Literature, longlisting for the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award, and appearing on the New York Public Library’s recommended reading list for 2020 National Caribbean American Heritage Month for her novel, The Art of White Roses. She has also developed plays with The Center at West Park, Echo Theater Company’s National Young Playwrights in Residence program, Corkscrew Theater Festival, and The Parsnip Ship--and is also an alumnus of CWP's Teaching Artist Project along with having done educational work in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago on behalf of the Jamaica Library Service and the NGC Bocas Lit Fest. She is currently based in NYC. BA: Columbia University, 2020. (www.vivianapradonunez.com)

Susie Wilde is passionate about igniting readers and writers of all ages. For thirty years, she has reviewed books for children 0-young adult in magazines and papers across the country. Currently she listens to audios, reviews and interviews for AudioFile Magazine. A teaching artist for 30 years, Susie has been a writer-in-residence in schools and has published 5 collaborative picture books with children and families. Presently, she teaches adults how to write children’s books, runs critique groups, edits for other children book writers and works on her memoir when she can find time.