is a poet and professor from South Central Los Angeles. Her debut book of poetry, be/trouble (Writ Large Press), was listed as one of Bookriot’s “9 Poetry Books That Capture the Black Experience” and L.A. Taco Book Guide’s “32 L.A.-Centered Books” in 2020. Her work is, in many respects, a love letter to Los Angeles as even when the city isn’t formally mentioned, it is always present and we are always aware that Los Angeles offers as much grit as it does glamour. bridgette bianca has also performed in many places including the LA Times Festival of Books, House of Blues: Anaheim, The World Stage, Southern California Poetry Festival, LitFest in the Dena, and Beyond Baroque. Recently, she joined forces with poet, artist, and activist GusTavo Guerra Vasquez to form South Central Spits Fire, through which they curate literary events and lead poetry workshops in their community. When she is not sharing her poetry, she hosts two Instagram series, Young, Black, and Tenured, Too where she documents her experiences in higher education and We Be Readin! Wednesdays where she discusses her romance reading obsession!

Find her at bridgettebianca.com | 🎧 Listen to The Poetry Lab Podcast

(she/her) is a Black Dominican poet & teacher who was born and raised in Washington Heights, NYC. She was one of the recipients of the Brooklyn Poets Fall 2023 Fellowship and was awarded a Parent-Writer Fellowship from Martha's Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing in Spring 2024. She has poems forthcoming in The Marbled Sigh and Hot Pot Magazine and writes about creativity, spirituality, & liberation in her monthly newsletter Letters From the Root. She currently lives in Jersey City, NJ with her husband and two children.

Find her on Instagram @yoooomalis | yomalisrosario.com | 📚 Read more by Yomalis

Her poetry has appeared in Fairy Tale Review, New Delta Review, The Journal, Notre Dame Review, and elsewhere. Kristen earned her MFA in poetry from George Mason University. Currently, she runs a BookTok account, @booksby_kb, dedicated to showing poetry is for everyone.

Find her on TikTok @booksby_kb | kristenbrida.com

is a Chicago-based Haitian American writer, producer, and facilitator. Many of her artist programs incorporate creative writing, visual and performance art and facilitated discussions on healing and restorative justice practices for people of color, artists, educators, youth, and adult audiences. souffrant's literary work has been featured in numerous online literary publications at Oberlin College, Hair Trigger Issue 41, Medium, Picture This Post, and Sixty Inches from Center. souffrant holds a BA in African American Studies and English from Oberlin College, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago.

Find her on Instagram @dat_haytian

is an East Coast Canadian native who grew up a stone’s throw from Stephen King’s Maine and graduated with a BA in Psychology and Literature at Mount Allison University. She lives in Texas now with her two lovely human children, three cranky fur babies, and a magical willow tree that calls itself Maddie. She writes fantasy novels and writes and reads poetry from all over the world.

Find her on Instagram @thatpluckygirl

is a poet and disability advocate. Her work has been published in print and online, most recently in the Right to Life anthology, published by Folkways Press. Her literary interests include lyrical and prose poems, ekphrasis and erasure, poetry and tarot, and young adult novels in verse. Allison holds an MFA in Poetry and Poetic Medicine from Dominican University of California and is currently developing her poetry collection, Divining the Silhouette.

Find her on Instagram @the_awakened_poet

is a writer with roots in Ecuador and Mexico. She went to USC and received her BA in Narrative Studies with a minor in Web Applications, and an MA in Literary Editing and Publishing. Professionally, she has worked with several nonprofits and startups. Joanna has several projects she is chipping away at, including a speculative fiction novel, a fairy-tale-esque short story collection, and a poetry chapbook about relationships and animals. Joanna lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their 2 cats (Pumpkin and Hopper) and 2 dogs (Zoey and Levi).

is a Venezuelan American poet, editor and educator. Her debut poetry collection, Study of the Raft, won the 2021 Colorado Prize for Poetry. Her work has appeared in DMQ Review, The Hopper, About Place Journal, River Mouth Review, Verse Daily, and others. She has received support from The Poetry Foundation, VONA, Women Who Submit, and the Vermont Studio Center. Leonora is the Reviews Editor at Ecotheo Review and the Currents Editor at terrain.org.

📚 Read more by Leo

is a writer and poet currently based in Philadelphia, originally from California. She earned her B.S. in Business Administration with a minor in Multicultural Leadership Studies. She was a Get Lit-Words Ignite Fellow in the Summer of 2021 and served as an AmeriCorps member with the Educational Nonprofit City Year Philadelphia (’21-’23). Keimahney is passionate about human expression and social advocacy.

is a Black, queer poet, and workshop facilitator. Her work has been featured in several literary magazines and on the popular Button Poetry YouTube channel. She is also the author of the book Falling in Love with Picking Myself Up. Through her work, Talicha is committed to delving deep into issues such as self-esteem, body image, and mental health.

Find her at talichajpoetry.com

is a first-generation, queer, Chinese-American. Her poetry has been featured in Emerson Review, Sine Theta Magazine, Honey Literary, The Wave, and elsewhere. She is a Breadloaf Writers’ Conference Contributor in 2022 and a Roots. Wounds. Words Poetry Fellow in 2023. In her free time, she hosts the Mx. Asian American podcast and Tucked in Bed podcast. 

Find more at karenzheng.com

is a community college professor in Cleveland Ohio. Her work has appeared in Rattle (Poets Respond), Book of Matches, Shelia-Na-Gig, Whiskey Island and Split this Rock, where she won First Place in the Abortion Rights Poetry Contest in 2012. She has two children—Winifred (9) and Henrietta (5), a dog (Josie), and a cat (Jenny). She has worked as a barista, bartender, abortion clinic patient advocate, union organizer, and fair housing tester.

Find her on Instagram @bridgetakriner | 📚 Read more by Bridget

As a poet and novelist, Annie explores the ways in which we populate our inner and outer landscapes with ghosts of our own making. She often utilizes tarot and other spiritual practices as part of her creative process: Spirituality serves as a lens through which she processes her emotions and experience. Annie is a lover of mythology, exotic houseplants, and dinosaur fossils.

Find her on Instagram @onewingedflaw | 📚 Read more by Annie

is a second generation Filipino-American poet and teaching artist who goes by the moniker, "Soul Stuf." Raised with a background in theatre, improv, and hip-hop, he has been honing his poetic craft for the past five years and has been blessed with the opportunity to work with some amazing artistic institutions such as Spoken Literature Art Movement, Get Lit! Words Ignite, and The Poetry Brothel, among others. His debut collection of poetry has just been released via World Stage Press, alongside his first ever poetry album produced by Fictitious Professor. Christian loves good quality boba and is often distracted by small to medium-sized dogs. Christian uses he/him pronouns.

@soulstuf | christianperfas.com

is a freelance writer and digital marketer. She writes personal essays, memoir, and poetry in Tulsa, where she lives with her husband and cat, Joan Didion.

Find her on Instagram @lorithewriter | 🎧 Listen to The Poetry Lab Podcast

is a queer, neurodivergent poet based in Santa Ana, California, who draws inspiration from travel, bodies of water, bodies in general, and poetry as a way to support mental health. She’s happiest when sitting on a warm, sandy beach sticking poems into notebooks, tending her garden, or cruising down the road — any road, really — with her loved ones. Rebecca uses she/her and they/them pronouns.

Read more by Rebecca ➡

is a budding poet, writer, and former Editorial Fellow for The Poetry Lab. Her stories have appeared in ¡Pa'lante!, The Plentitudes, Press Pause Press, and elsewhere. She has been a Harriet Williams Emerging Writer awardee by Literary Women Long Beach. Marilyn is the Fiction Editor for The Plentitudes and is currently working on a collection of short stories that contemplate womanhood, the body, Mexican Catholicism, and the power of blended language. Marilyn uses she/her pronouns.

@marilyniramirez

is a Philadelphia-based poet and writer whose work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Button Poetry, Midway Journal, Kissing Dynamite, The Broadkill Review, and other journals. She is the author of Self-Portrait as a Sinking Ship, is a Best of the Net nominee, and volunteers for Button Poetry, Write or Die Magazine, and Variant Literature. Erica uses she/her pronouns. Follow her on Instagram @poetry_erica & on Twitter @erica_abbott and visit her website.

Twitter | @poetry_erica | erica-abbott.com

is a writer, poet, mother with works published by Beyond The Veil Press, Nightingale & Sparrow and Sampaguita Press. You can find her @jessjunewrites. Jess uses she/her pronouns.

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While her writing usually dabbles in sci fi/fantasy and abstract prose poems, this Llama will occasionally explore sociopolitical identity poetry in honor of April’s Arab American Heritage Month. Nadia has previously published Yalla, Habibi: Poems in 3arabeezi; Awakening, a selection from the now cobwebbed project Everhart’s Notebook; and an occasional light dusting of pieces in collections including Shuruq 4.5, Qua and A Teenager’s Guide to Feminism. Nadia has otherwise focused on creation of community-centric arts projects and workshops in Flint, Michigan prior to posting up in Long Beach. Nadia uses they/them and she/her pronouns.

nadiathellama.myportfolio.com | @nadiaathellama