Karisma Price is an assistant professor of English at Tulane University. A poet, screenwriter, and media artist, she is the author of I'm Always So Serious (Sarabande Books, 2023). Her work has appeared in publications including Poetry, Indiana Review, Oxford American, Four Way Review, Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, and elsewhere. She is a Cave Canem Fellow, was a finalist for the 2019 Manchester Poetry Prize, was awarded the 2020 J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize from the Poetry Foundation, and is the 2023 winner of the Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize from the American Poetry Review. A native New Orleanian, she holds an MFA in poetry from New York University, where she was a Writers in the Public Schools Fellow.

Clay Ventre lives and writes in New England.

Victoriano Cárdenas is a trans poet and native of Taos. He graduated with an MFA in 2020 from the University of New Mexico where he served as editor in chief of Blue Mesa Review and executive editor of Skull + Wind Press. His literary work has appeared in Witchcraft Magazine, Terraform by VICE, [PANK], and Quarterly West. Cárdenas co-wrote and appeared in the Audible Original Eminent Domain and currently writes for Lime Salt Productions and Meow Wolf. He lives in Albuquerque with his rescue dog, Sophie.

J.D. Debris was born in Salem, MA. He holds an MFA from New York University, where he was a Goldwater Fellow. In addition to the Donald Justice Prize, his work has received awards from Ploughshares and Narrative. His other releases include the chapbook Sparring and the music albums Black Market Organs, J.D. Debris Murder Club, and Yanquis. Formerly a touring musician and an amateur boxer, he currently works as a teaching artist in the Boston Public Schools.

Jesse Nathan was raised in northern California and rural Kansas. He teaches literature at UC Berkeley, and he was a founding editor of the McSweeney’s Poetry Series. His poems have appeared in The New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, and The New Republic. Eggtooth is his first book. It was also a finalist for the Golden Poppy Award and the Medal Provocateur/Eric Hoffer Award, and was also a long-list finalist for the Nossrat Yassini Poetry Prize. The collection won the 2024 New Writers Award in Poetry.

Originally from the West Side of Chicago, Olatunde Osinaike is a Nigerian American poet and software developer. He is the winner of the Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize, a Frontier Poetry Industry Prize, and honorable mention for the Ploughshares Emerging Writer’s Award in Poetry. His work has appeared in Best New Poets, New Poetry from the Midwest, Kweli Journal, Wildness, Southeast Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Atlanta.

Myles Taylor (they/he) is a transmasculine writer, organizer, host, food service worker, Capricorn-Aquarius cusp, and glitter enthusiast. They hold a BA from Emerson College’s Writing, Literature and Publishing program, where they began their stint as an award-winning poetry slam competitor. They currently live amongst the rats of Boston's Allston-Brighton neighborhood and host the historic Wednesday night poetry show at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge. Their list of publications can be found at myles-taylor.com, and their neuroses can be found on Twitter @mylesdoespoems.

Taylor will be reading at the Nossrat Yassini Poetry Festival on Sunday, April 14. See our Schedule page for more info!

Candace Williams is a poet and interdisciplinary artist. I Am the Most Dangerous Thing (Alice James Books, 2023) is their debut full-length poetry collection. Candace earned their Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) from Claremont McKenna College and Master of Arts in Education from Stanford University. They grew up in the Pacific Northwest and found love and poetry in Brooklyn, New York. Now, Candace lives and makes art in New England.