Khaty Xiong

twitter: @khatyxiong

A lover of persimmons and loquats. She is a second-generation Hmong American from Fresno, Ca. Born to Hmong refugees from Laos, she is the seventh daughter among her fifteen brothers and sisters. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Montana, and was awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for FY 2016. She is the author of debut collection, Poor Anima, which is the first full-length collection of poetry published by a Hmong American woman in the US. Her work has been featured or forthcoming in The New York Times, Oxidant|Engine, Twelfth House, Four Way Review, and elsewhere. She can’t decide which fruit she loves more.

website: khatyxiong.com

Kaveh Akbar

twitter: @kavehakbar

The founding editor of Divedapper, a home for dialogues with the most vital voices in contemporary poetry. His debut full-length collection, Calling a Wolf a Wolf will be published by Alice James Books in September 2017. He was the recipient of a 2016 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation and a Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. His work has been published at New England Review, Thrush, Adroit Journal, and others. Along with Gabrielle Calvocoressi, francine j, harris, and Jonathan Farmer, he starred on All Up in Your Ears, a monthly poetry podcast. Born in Tehran, Iran, he currently lives and teaches in Florida.

instagram: kavehhhhhhhh

website: kavehakbar.com

Meghan Barrett

twitter: @Abiogenesister

A Biology PhD student at Drexel University, studying social insect/spider neuroanatomy and more. Her work is often inspired by the ecology of the upstate NY area. She is a member of the Neuwrite Philly science-writing collaboration and a founder of NeuWrite/Edu at SUNY Geneseo. She has had her ecofeminist poetry published in Crab Fat, Gandy Dancer, Mind Murals, The Slag Review, UnLost, and more. She likes sushi, hazelnut coffee, Megachilidae, and complicating her poetry with feminism and ecological science whenever she can. She is also the author of the high-fantasy RPG ‘The Burning Trees of Ormen Mau‘ made in collaboration with Liber Primus games.

facebook: Abiogenesister

soundcloud: meghan-barrett