Aaron Levy Samuels
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Blavity, a digital community for Black Millennials. Featured on HBO's "Def Poetry Jam" and Forbes' 30 under 30 list. Author of "Yarmulkes & Fitted Caps" (Write Bloody Publishing, 2013).
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Amber Flame
Interdisciplinary creative, activist, and educator. 2016 and 2017 Pushcart Prize nominee. Author of "Ordinary Cruelty" (Write Bloody Press, 2017). Program Director for Hedgebrook. Her work with veterans is featured in the HBO documentary "We Are Not Done Yet."
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Andrea Gibson
Four-time Denver Grand Slam Champion, first-ever Women of the World Poetry Slam winner (2008). Author of "Lord of the Butterflies," "Pansy," "The Madness Vase," and "Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns." Colorado's former Poet Laureate who helped drive a resurgence in spoken word poetry.
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Anis Mojgani
Oregon's 10th Poet Laureate. Two-time National Poetry Slam Individual Champion and World Cup Poetry Slam winner. Author of "In the Pockets of Small Gods" and five other books of poetry. Wrote the libretto for the opera "Sanctuaries." Lives in Portland, OR.
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Annelyse Gelman
Featured in The New Yorker, BOMB Magazine, and American Poetry Review. Author of "Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone" (Write Bloody, 2014). 2016 Fulbright grantee in Berlin. Founder, director, and curator of Midst, a digital platform for poetry.
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Noah Arhm Choi
Kundiman fellow from Ann Arbor, Michigan. MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. Finalist for the Jake Adam York Prize. Published in Barrow Street, The Massachusetts Review, and Split this Rock. NYC teacher and performer at Brave New Voices and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
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Ben Clark
From Nebraska, now living in Minneapolis. Editor for Muzzle Magazine and Thoughtcrime Press. Author of "if you turn around I will turn around" (2015) and "Reasons to Leave the Slaughter" (Write Bloody Publishing, 2011).
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Bree Bailey
Latine poet from Southern Austin, TX. Mental health advocate speaking openly about PTSD, depression, and anxiety. Winner of the 2023 Write Bloody Jack McCarthy National Book Prize. Debut collection "Wailing on Whisper Street" (Spring 2024).
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Brendan Constantine
Author of "Birthday Girl with Possum" (Write Bloody 2011). Received grants from the Getty Museum, James Irvine Foundation, and NEA. Featured on NPR's All Things Considered. Teaches at the Windward School and brings poetry to veterans, hospitals, and the Alzheimer's Poetry Project.
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Brian S. Ellis
Portland-based writer and performer. Published "Yesterday Won't Goodbye" (Write Bloody 2011) and "Uncontrolled Experiments in Freedom" (Write Bloody 2008). Represented Boston Poetry Slam. Two-time Pushcart Prize nominee.
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Bucky Sinister
Poet, self-help author, and comedian. Published four books of poetry and two self-help books, including "Get Up: A 12-Step Guide to Recovery for Misfits, Freaks, and Weirdos." Appeared in Bobcat Goldthwait's film "Willow Creek."
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Caroline Earleywine
Poet and educator from Central Arkansas. Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. 2021 finalist for Nimrod's Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. Chapbook "Lesbian Fashion Struggles" (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2020). MFA from Queens University. Debut full-length "I Now Pronounce You."
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Clint Smith
Staff writer at The Atlantic. Author of #1 NYT bestseller "How the Word Is Passed" and poetry collection "Counting Descent" (2017 Literary Award winner). 2014 National Poetry Slam champion. Published in The New Yorker, NYT Magazine, and more. Host of YouTube series "Crash Course Black American History."
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Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
Born in Philadelphia, 1978. Co-founded NYC-Urbana Poetry Slam. Author of "How to Love the Empty Air" (Write Bloody 2018), "The Year of No Mistakes" (Book of the Year Award winner), and nonfiction book "Words in Your Face." NEA fellowship recipient.
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Dan Nester
Author of "Harsh Realm: My 1990s" and "The Incredible Sestina Anthology" (editor). Professor of English at The College of Saint Rose, edits Pine Hills Review. Work appeared in Salon, NY Times, Buzzfeed, The Atlantic, and anthologized in "The Best American Poetry."
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Daniel McGinn
Author of "The Moon, My Lover, My Mother & The Dog" (Moon Tide Press, 2018) and "1000 Black Umbrellas" (Write Bloody, 2011). Southern California native. MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Married to poet and painter Lori McGinn for 41 years.
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Derrick Brown
Novelist, comedian, poet, and storyteller. Winner of 2013 Texas Book of The Year award for Poetry. Former 82nd Airborne paratrooper. Owner and president of Write Bloody Publishing. Author of ten poetry books and four children's books. The New York Times calls his work "a rekindling of faith in the weird, hilarious, shocking, beautiful power of words."
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David Perez
Award-winning poet and English composition professor at Ohlone College. Poet laureate of Santa Clara County, California. Author of "Love in a Time of Robot Apocalypse" (Write Bloody). Arts Council Silicon Valley Fellowship recipient. Regular guest on NPR's Snap Judgment. Voted "Best Author in the Bay" by SF Bay Guardian (2012).
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Franny Choi
Author of "Soft Science" (Alice James Books) and "Floating, Brilliant, Gone" (Write Bloody). Kundiman Fellow, 2019 Ruth Lilly Fellow, Princeton's Holmes National Poetry Prize recipient. Co-hosts podcast "VS" with Danez Smith. Teaches at Williams College as Levitt Artist-in-Residence.
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Eliana M Ellis
Poet, editor, curator, and performing artist. Author of "WRITE ABOUT AN EMPTY BIRDCAGE" (Write Bloody). Lambda Literary Fellow and founding member of Kulshan Academy for Queer Artists. Editor at Copper Canyon Press. Produced "2012: POETRY APOCALYPSE" with Seattle Rock Orchestra.
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Jacqueline Suskin
Author of three books, known for her Poem Store project where she composes improvisational poetry on her manual typewriter. Written for Oprah, Maria Shriver, Drew Barrymore, Cheryl Strayed, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Honored by Michelle Obama at the White House as a Turnaround Artist.
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Hieu Minh Nguyen
Queer Vietnamese American poet from Minneapolis. 2017 NEA fellowship recipient. Kundiman fellow, poetry editor for Muzzle Magazine. Debut collection "This Way to the Sugar" (Write Bloody, 2014) was Lambda Literary Award and MN Book Award finalist. Second collection "Not Here" published by Coffee House Press (2018).
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Janae Johnson
Award-winning poet, performer, and educator. Former National Poetry Slam Champion and Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion. Co-founder of The Root Slam (Oakland) and The House Slam (Boston). Founder of bluapple Poetry Network. Full-length collection "Lessons on Being Tenderheaded" (Write Bloody, Spring 2022).
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Jade Sylvan
Theater creator, songwriter, playwright, essayist, and minister-in-training. Working on queer Bible musical "Beloved King" and pursuing Unitarian Universalist ordination. Author of novelized memoir "Kissing Oscar Wilde" (Write Bloody 2013). Called a "risque queer icon" by the Boston Globe. Creator of "It's in the Book: A Queer Bible Podcast."
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Jeanann Verlee
Poet, editor, and former punk rocker. 2017 NEA Poetry Fellow. Author of "prey" (Black Lawrence Press, 2018), "Said the Manic to the Muse" (Write Bloody, 2015), and "Racing Hummingbirds" (silver medal winner, Independent Publisher Book Awards). Won Third Coast Poetry Prize and Sandy Crimmins National Prize.
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Jason Bayani
Graduate of Saint Mary's MFA program. Kundiman fellow and National Poetry Slam veteran. Founding member of Filipino American Spoken Word troupe Proletariat Bronze. First book "Amulet" (Write Bloody 2013). Artistic director for Kearny Street Workshop.
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Khary Jackson
Poet, playwright, dancer, and musician. 2016 McKnight Artist Fellowship in Writing recipient. Cave Canem alumnus. Author of "Any Psalm You Want" (Write Bloody 2013). Created piece at 2018 Choreographers' Evening at Walker Arts Center.
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Jon Sands
Won 2018 National Poetry Series for "It's Not Magic" (Beacon Press, 2019). Emotional Historians workshop facilitator. Featured in The New York Times and "The Best American Poetry." Teaches at Brooklyn College, Urban Word NYC, and Baily House HIV/AIDS center for over a decade.
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Lino Anunciacion
Texas-based spoken word artist. President of Mic Check Poetry (501c3). Director of Texas Grand Slam Poetry Festival. 2016 Mic Check Slam Champion. Author of "The Way We Move Through Water" (Write Bloody, September 2018).
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Lauren Zuniga
Internationally touring poet and teaching artist. Author of "The Smell of Good Mud" (Write Bloody, 2012), finalist for Oklahoma Book Award. Three-time international poetry slam finalist. Over a million views on YouTube. 2012 Activist-in-Residence at University of Oklahoma, Center for Social Justice.
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Megan Falley
Queer femme author of two full-length collections on Write Bloody. Woman of the World and National Poetry Slam Finalist. Pushcart Prize Nominee. Co-founder of SPEAK LIKE A GIRL and creator of "Poems That Don't Suck" online course. Over one million YouTube views. Fourth collection "Drive Here and Devastate Me" (Write Bloody, 2018).
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Mindy Nettifee
Award-winning writer, performance poet, and storyteller. Author of "Sleepyhead Assassins," "Rise of the Trust Fall," "Open Your Mouth Like a Bell," and "Glitter In The Blood: A Poet's Manifesto" (all Write Bloody). Three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. Powell's Books Indie Press Bestseller.
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Mike McGee
"Stand-up poet" and storyteller from San José. First to win both 2003 National Poetry Slam Individual Championship and 2006 Individual World Poetry Slam Championship. Featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) 2018-2019. Author of "In Search of Midnight" (Write Bloody).
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Miriam Kramer
Queer, Jewish poet from New Jersey. Creative Writing major at Pacific University. Works at an educational nonprofit. Published in Variant Literature, So to Speak Journal, FreezeRay Poetry. Author of three chapbooks prior to debut full-length with Write Bloody.
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Pages D Matam
The "Motion-Picture Poet." Interdisciplinary artist from Cameroon and Washington Metro area, now in LA. DC Commissions Arts and Humanities Fellowship recipient. Callaloo Fellow. Author of award-winning "The Heart of a Comet" (Write Bloody, 2014). National poetry slam champion and Cultural Ambassador.
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Nicole Homer
Associate Professor of English at Central New Jersey community college. Fellow of The Watering Hole and Callaloo. Editor at BlackNerdProblems. Full-length "Pecking Order" (Write Bloody 2017) was Paterson Poetry Prize and Eric Hoffer Awards finalist. 41st Dartmouth Poet-in-Residence at The Frost Place.
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Ryler Dustin
Author of "Heavy Lead Birdsong" (Write Bloody). Represented Seattle at Individual World Poetry Slam finals. Awarded residencies from Jack Kerouac Project and Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Writing Residency. Poems appear in American Life in Poetry, Verse Daily, Gulf Coast. Teaches at Albion College, Michigan.
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Rob "RatpackSlim" Sturma
Performance poet since 2000. Collaborated with diverse artists including DJ Z-Trip and TNA Wrestling. Lives in Oklahoma City, seen every Sunday on Geekweek.com's "USB Boys" video podcast making the world safe for nerds and poets.
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Sarah Kay
Poet from NYC performing since age 14. Featured on HBO's "Def Poetry Jam." 2011 TED talk garnered over 3 million views. First book "B" was #1 Bestselling Poetry Book on Amazon. Founder and co-director of Project VOICE. Featured in CNN, The Huffington Post, and more.
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Seema Reza
Author of "When the World Breaks Open" (Red Hen Press) and "A Constellation of Half-Lives" (Write Bloody). Coordinates multi-hospital arts program for veterans. Featured in 2018 HBO documentary "We Are Not Done Yet." USO Col John Gioia Patriot Award recipient. Chair of Community Building Art Works.
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Shanny Jean Maney
Performance poet and teacher. Published "I Love Science!" (Write Bloody, 2012). Co-founded The Encyclopedia Show with Robbie Q. Telfer, now running in venues globally. Won 2009 Orgie Theatre Award for "Best Creation/Curators." Continues co-curating original Chicago show.
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Sheleen McElhinney
Poet from Philadelphia with three children. Work appeared in Whiskey Island Magazine, Dogzplot Flash Fiction, Abandon Journal, Poetica Review, West Trade Review. Debut book "Every Little Vanishing" won Write Bloody Publishing book award.
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Sierra DeMulder
Internationally touring poet and educator. Two-time National Poetry Slam champion. Director of bluapple Poetry Network. Co-founder of Slam Camp and Button Poetry. Four-time published author including "Today Means Amen" (Andrews McMeel, 2016). Co-host of relationship podcast "Just Break Up."
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Tara Hardy
Working-class, Queer, Femme, chronically ill writer. Founder of Bent, a writing institute for LGBTQ people in Seattle. Latest book "My, My, My, My, My" won 2017 Washington State Book Award. Former Hugo House Writer in Residence, Seattle Poet Populist, Hedgebrook alumna.
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Lexi Pelle
Poet from New Jersey with two dogs. Winner of 2022 Jack McCarthy Book Prize. Published in Rattle, FreezeRay Poetry, Mixtape, Abandon Journal, 3Elements Review. Debut poetry collection forthcoming with Write Bloody (Spring 2024).
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Kimberly Nguyen
Vietnamese-American poet from Omaha, now in NYC. Graduate of Vassar College (English and Russian Studies). Beatrice Daw Brown Prize recipient, two-time Best of the Net nominee. 2021 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow and 2022-2023 Poetry Coalition Fellow. Author of "ghosts in the stalks" and "Here I Am Burn Me."
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John-Francis Quiñonez
Desert Flower from Providence, RI. Queer writer & multimedia artist. Maker of ice creams & tamales. House Manager of the Columbus Theatre. Current resident of the Queer.Archive.Work. project.
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Jeffrey McDaniel
Author of six poetry books, most recently "Holiday in the Islands of Grief" (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020). Featured in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, The New York Times, and Best American Poetry (1994, 2010, 2019). NEA fellowship recipient. Teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.
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Taylor Mali
Author of "The Whetting Stone" (Rattle 2017), "Bouquet of Red Flags" (Write Bloody 2014), "What Teachers Make" (Putnam 2012). Former president of Poetry Slam, Inc. Created one-person show "Teacher! Teacher!" Performed/taught in over 50 countries and every US state except Wyoming.
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Tim Stafford
Poet and educator from Lyons, IL. Editor of "Learn Then Burn" anthology series (Write Bloody). Author of "The Patron Saint of Making Curfew" (Haymarket Books). Former Chicago Poetry Slam Champion. Featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. Teaches at restorative justice-based alternative high school.
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Ashia Ajani
Eco-griot and abolitionist from Denver, CO, now in the Bay Area. Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. 2021 finalist for Nimrod's Pablo Neruda Prize. Debut collection "Heirloom" (Write Bloody, Spring 2023).
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Courtney LeBlanc
Winner of Jack McCarthy Book Prize. Author of "Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart" (Riot in Your Throat, 2021) and "Beautiful & Full of Monsters" (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, 2020). Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. MFA from Queens University of Charlotte.
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