A Baltimore native, Steven Xavier Lee is the author of ‘The Story of Mr. Thomas Carney - A Maryland Patriot of the American Revolutionary War’, the first book written on a heroic Maryland African American soldier of the War for Independence. It is an allegory for adults, in the format of a storybook for youths. The breadth of his writing includes spoken word, poetry, diverse articles in history, art, and environmental conservation.
Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman, Ed.D served as the second Poet Laureate of Prince George's County, MD from 2023-2025. She is a cultural curator with over 20 years of applied experience transforming places into arts and educational spaces. She is award-winning performance artist Khadijah Moon, and a multi-genre writer who is a producing playwright and filmmaker. Her plays, songs and poetry has been staged, workshopped and read on dozens of stages, including the John F.
Recently accepted into the renowned Tin House Summer Workshop, Stephani E. D. McDow’s writing has been published in Day Eight's Diaspora Cafe: DC, Bourgeon, Still Point Arts Quarterly, Genre: Urban Arts No. 7, and Femme Literati: Mixtape Anthology.
Niamh Corcoran, a Maryland-based writer and artist, lives in a small town on the water, where the main roads wind up at sunset. Born to a family of English teachers, she graduated from Yale University (BA English) and American University (MFA Creative Writing). The recipient of a Pushcart Prize nomination and a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Poetry, her writing appears widely in journals, including The Los Angeles Review, Puerto del Sol, River Styx, Third Coast, and elsewhere. Scribe Dog Studio is her art practice, her heart-work.
Baltimore native Lenett Partlow-Myrick aka Mama Nef is a visual artist, poet-writer, educator, spirARTtual activist, grandmother, and principal artist for Partlow Art. She makes artifacts of her living experiences as an African-descendant female residing in the United States. Her visual art has been featured at the Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery, in group shows at Hamilton Gallery, the Dos-à-Dos book art exhibit, and most recently on the cover of Passager. Her writings appear in several anthologies, including A Community of . . .