BIO: Megan Schliesman lives in Madison, Wisconsin. A retired librarian, Megan's professional work and writing concentrated on children's and young adult literature and intellectual freedom in libraries and classrooms. In retirement she’s broadened her writing focus while continuing to often grapple with challenges to democracy and Constitutional rights in our country.

Alida Franco’s academic training was in French/English Literature (BA: Oakland University) and Applied Linguistics/English (MA: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado). At a friends’ request, she recently attended a creative writer’s symposium, which she thoroughly enjoyed, and realized how much she had missed writing. She is now drawn to poetry because of the power of the word and its openness and linguistic flexibility in both structure and language.

BIO: Jess is a Mexican American writer and human rights activist from South Texas. She has been published by the International Human Rights Art Movement, Writers Resist, Missing Perspectives and Dissent Voices. She is nominated for a PEN Robert Dau and Pushcart Short Story Prize. Her work focus on intergenerational trauma, reconciliation through narrative power and Mexican American experience in America.