Nicola Masciandaro is Professor of English at Brooklyn College, CUNY and a specialist in medieval literature. He is the editor of the journal Glossator (Open Humanities Press) and (co-)author of The Voice of the Hammer (Notre Dame, 2007), Dark Nights of the Universe (NAME, 2013), Sufficient Unto the Day (Schism, 2014), Floating Tomb (Mimesis, 2015), and SACER (Schism, 2017). Find him via The Whim (thewhim.blogspot.com).
Mai Mang (麦芒/Yibing Huang ) was born in Changde, Hunan in 1967. He established himself as a poet in the 1980s and received his BA, MA, and PhD in Chinese literature from Beijing University. He moved to the United States in 1993 and earned a second PhD in comparative literature from UCLA. He is the author of two books of poetry, Stone Turtle: Poems 1987–2000 (2005) and Approaching Blindness (2005), as well as the book Contemporary Chinese Literature: From the Cultural Revolution to the Future (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). He has also published articles on and translations of contemporary Chinese poetry in English language journals such as Amerasia Journal, World Literature Today, and Chinese Literature Today. In 2009 he served as a juror for the 2010 Neustadt International Prize for Literature and nominated Chinese poet Duo Duo, who became the first Chinese author to win the prestigious prize. In 2011 he edited “The China Issue” for the Hong Kong based English language online journal Cha, introducing contemporary Chinese poetry and art. In 2012 he won the 20th Rou Gang Poetry Prize in China. Mai Mang is currently Associate Professor of Chinese, Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Acting Curator of the Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection at Connecticut College.
Tim Caston is a poet/short fiction writer finishing his undergraduate degree in English at Brooklyn College.
Nick Schiff writes poetry and fiction in order to, as he once put it “relieve the horrendous novelties that trouble my mind”. He was born in 1991 on a convenience store floor in Los Angeles. He endures the premonition that he will die there, too. In May 2014, the governor of Rajasthan gifted him an electric floor buffer. For a brief period in 2016, Mr. Schiff lived in a small cabin with two amnesiacs who repeated the words “No, how you doing,” to one another ad infinitum. He has been known to affect alter-egos, pseudonyms, and disguises—especially that of his incognito. He graduated from Bard College with a degree in the written arts.
Loretta Lopez has a degree in the written arts from Bard College. She is a writer and a bilingual case worker who works with young refugees. She’s originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, but now lives in NYC. Her work has appeared in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards publications and the Brooklyn College Review. The best thing a stranger has ever said to her is, “all you need is a good heart and air to breath.”
Nico Vassilakis is a text and visual poet. He manipulates letters to free them of their word scrum. Many of his results can be found online and on his website, Staring Poetics. Nico’s work has been exhibited in visual poetry exhibits around the world. Alphabet Noir, a book of poems/texts about visual poetry, is out from c_L Books. Another book forthcoming is Voir Dire by Dusie Press. Nico was vispo editor for Coldfront Magazine. He has curated online mini-vispo anthologies of Finnish, Turkish, and Chilean vispoets. He co-edited The Last Vispo Anthology (Fantagraphics Books 2012). He lives in New York City with his wife and children.
Mona Kareem is a poet-writer-translator based in New York. She is the author of three poetry collections and two translations.