Geoffrey Jacques is a poet and critic whose work has been published internationally. His poetry has previously appeared in Callaloo, Hambone, MiPoesias, Black Renaissance Noire, Fence, Miramar, Askew, O-Blek, Tidal Basin Review, and Long News in the Short Century and in several anthologies including Abandon Automobile: Detroit City Poetry 2001 (Wayne State University Press, 2001) and What I Say: Innovative Poetry by Black Writers in America. Tuscaloosa. He has also published three books of poetry, including Just for a Thrill (Wayne State University Press, 2005). His other works include A Change in the Weather: Modernist Imagination, African American Imaginary. A former MacDowell Colony fellow, Jacques is also a teacher and author of works about literature, culture, politics, film, and the visual arts.

Tyrone Williams is the David Gray Chair of Poetry and Letters at SUNY Buffalo. He is the author of several chapbooks and seven books of poetry.