Cynthia Hilts is poet, jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, lyricist, bandleader, painter and teacher. One of her primary values as an artist of any genre, is that blood moves in the body of the art she produces. Her poetry has been published in ITWOW (In The Words of Womyn) Anthology 2016, 50 Haikus, Carbon Culture Review, and Inwood Indiana Press. She has been a featured reader for Women Writers In Bloom and Glitter Pomegranate. Her four CDs of original music and lyrics include “Lyric Fury”, her eight-piece jazz ensemble, released in 2017.

Joël Díaz is a writer and educator based in New York City. His work has been featured in The Feminist Wire, Interviewing the Caribbean, and Africana Heritage. He is a 2017 Callaloo Fellow and 2016 Watering Hole Fellow.