Brian Blanchfield is the author of three books of poetry and prose, most recently Proxies: Essays Near Knowing, for which he received a 2016 Whiting Award in Nonfiction. His book of poetry, A Several World, was recipient of the 2014 James Laughlin Award for outstanding second book by an American poet. Both were published by Nightboat Books. He lives in Tucson.

Ely Shipley is the author of Playing Dead, forthcoming from Nightboat Books; Boy with Flowers from Barrow Street; and On Beards: A Memoir of Passing, a letterpress chapbook from speCt! Books. His poems and cross-genre work also appear in Diagram, Gulf Coast, Fugue, the Western Humanities Review, Prairie Schooner, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA from Purdue University and a PhD from the University of Utah. He is an Assistant Professor at Baruch College, CUNY. 

Ariana Reines is a poet and multimedia artist who travels a lot and lives in Queens. Her books include Mercury, Coeur de Lion, The Cow, and forthcoming, A Sand Book.