Carol spent the 1996-97 academic year as a senior Fulbright scholar in St. Petersburg, Russia, teaching at Petersburg Jewish University. Awards include The Reuben Rose Award (Jerusalem) and 2nd prize in the Strokestown International Poetry Award (2000). Her collections are Letters from Prague (1991) and It's Time to Talk About..., (1997), published in Russia in a bilingual edition. Carol has been widely published, and most recently won the 2007 T.S. Eliot Prize. Her new book, Into the Arms of Pushkin: Poems of St. Petersburg, was published in September, 2007 by Truman State University Press.

Estrella del Valle: is the winner of the National Velarde poetry prize, among many other distinctions and awards. Twice, she received grants for creative writing from her home state, Veracruz. She is the author of such collections as La cortesana de Dannan and Fabula para cuervos. Translations of her work have been published in Hunger, Beyond Baroque, Pemmican and The Bitter Oleander.

Dyal is a modern mystic, classically trained musician, and a self-taught Southern California artist. He has spiritual visions that are the catalysts for the vast oeuvre of his work that spans nearly three decades and includes more than 6,000 drawings, paintings, and sculptures. His figurative and organic forms are derived from visions he experienced during epileptic seizures and self-induced trances that have aided him in dealing with his condition. Dyal kept his prolific production of art secret for many years until he had his first solo exhibition at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana in 2007. His most recent exhibit is at the Otis College of Art and Design.

Bilingual poet in Spanish and English, Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing and Literature, Rafael Jesus Gonzalez is widely published. His work has appeared in the U.S., Mexico, and abroad.He lives in Berkeley, California, and has thrice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Judith Grogan-Shorb is Volunteer Manager of the San Francisco Long Term Care Ombudsmen. Her diverse interests include social and environmental issues, but she is also dedicated to the study of mythology, history and magical realism. Her work has appeared in Earth's Daughter's, Canadian Woman's Studies, and Tapestries.

Was Playwright in Residence at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. His rock opera, The Survival of St. Joan, developed at the Buffalo Studio Arena, was transferred to Broadway. His screen adaptation of the novel Father Sky was released as TAPS. Poems have appeared in Berkeley Poetry Review, The Centennial Review; Exquisite Corpse; Hanging Loose; Hayden's Ferry Review; The New Laurel Review; New York Quarterly; Ontario Review; Oxford Magazine; Pembroke Magazine; Prairie Schooner; Rag Mag; Snake Nation Review; Sonora Review; Verse; and a number of online publications. 

A San Francisco writer, John's books are Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence, and a novel Little Bird Told Me. John also produces an audio/video poetry podcast/cable access TV show in San Francisco where many poets are interviewed and then read their work. He is presently working on several other books for publication.

Steven P. Schneider currently lives in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas and is a Professor of English at the University of Texas-Pan American. His poems and essays have been published in national and international literary journals, including Critical Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, Tikkun, Judaism, and The Literary Review. He is the author of a forthcoming collection of poems entitled Unexpected Guests (Blue Light Press, 2008) and the poetry collection Prairie Air Show (2000, Hurakan Press).

Anthony Seidman is the author of Where Thirsts Intersect (2006), published by The Bitter Oleander Press. Pudding House Publications has just released a chapbook of his prose poems entitled Black Neon.

Jessamyn Smyth is a writer in all genres. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and recognized in Best American Short Stories 2006, her plays have been produced by Naked Theatre Northampton, Arena Civic Theater, The Shea Theater's Festival of New Work, The Country Players, and others, her essays have aired on Public Radio, and her poetry and short prose have appeared in various electronic and print journals. She is presently at work on three books.

Ioanna Warwick's poems have appeared in Poetry, Best American Poetry 1992, Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, Nimrod, New Letters