Chris Abani
NYT Bestselling Novelist
Nigerian-born Poet
Samiya Bashir
Acclaimed Poet Executive Director of Lambda Literary
Destiny O. Birdsong
Award-winning Novelist & Poet
Jericho Brown
Pulitzer Prize-winning PoetThe Tradition
Mahogany L. Browne
Poet, Performer & Organizer Black Girl Magic
Kwame Dawes
Ghana-born Jamaican Poet
Novelist and Essayist
Windham Campbell Prize Winner
Natashia Deón
Acclaimed Novelist
Immigration Attorney
LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs
Interdisciplinary Poet and Sound Artist
Whiting Award Winner
Camille Dungy
Award-winning Poet
Acclaimed Essayist & Critic
Anaïs Duplan
Award-winning Poet & Essayist
2022 Whiting Award-winner
Cornelius Eady
Poet, Lyricist, Playwright
Co-Founder of Cave Canem
Aminatta Forna
Award-winning Novelist
Acclaimed Memoirist
Terrance Hayes
MacArthur "Genius" Award
National Book Award
Major Jackson
Acclaimed Author
Host of The Slowdown
Roll Deep
Douglas Kearney
National Book Award Longlist
Race, Culture & Identity
Michael Kleber-Diggs
Award-winning Author
Max Ritvo Poetry Prize
Dawn Lundy Martin
Poet, Critic, Memoirist
Kingsley Tufts Award
Airea D. Matthews
Award-winning Poet
Race, Culture & Identity
Philadelphia Poet Laureate
Jamila Minnicks
Award-winning Fiction Author
John Murillo
Award-winning Poet
Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
Marilyn Nelson
Poet-as-Historian
Frost Poetry Prize
Chigozie Obioma
Award-winning Novelist
NAACP Image Award
Ladan Osman
Somali-born Poet
Gender & Displacement
Patrick Phillips
Poet & Nonfiction Writer
Blood at the Root
Deesha Philyaw
Award-winning Writer
Black Queer Intersectionality
Claudia Rankine
NYT Bestselling Author
NBCCA & Forward Prize
Sapphire
Bestselling Novelist
Performance Poet
Nicole Sealey
Forward Prize
Former Executive Director of Cave Canem (2017-2019)
Tim Seibles
Acclaimed Poet
Nat'l Book Award Finalist
Matthew Shenoda
Award-winning Poet
American Book Award
Aisha Sabatini Sloan
Writer, Curator, Artist
Lambda Literary Award
Danté Stewart
Acclaimed Memoirist
Belonging & Religion
Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
Award-winning Novelist & Critic
Black Queer Feminism
Michael Thomas
Novelist & Memoirist
IMPAC Dublin Award
Nafissa Thompson-Spires
Award-winning Fiction Author
Natasha Trethewey
US Poet Laureate (2012-2014)
Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet
Crystal Valentine
Poet, Educator & Activist
Nat’l Poetry Slam Finalist
Frank B. Wilderson III
Award-winning Author
Poet, Scholar, Activist
Ibi Zoboi
Award-winning YA Novelist
National Book Award Finalist
American Street