Bill Tremblay is a poet, novelist, librettist, and reviewer. He directed the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Colorado State University, founded the Colorado Review and served as its chief editor for 15 years. His work has appeared in seven full-length volumes including Crying in the Cheap Seats [UMass Press], The Anarchist Heart [New Rivers Press: 1975]. Home Front [Lynx House Press: 1978]. Second Sun: New & Selected Poems [l”Eperiver Press: 1983]. Duhamel: Ideas of Order in Little Canada [BOA Editions Ltd.1986], Rainstorm Over the Alphabet [Lynx House Press, 1998], Shooting Script: Door of Fire [Eastern Washington University Press, 2003] which won the Colorado Book Award. His most recent book is: Magician’s Hat: Poems on the Life and Art of David Alfaro Siqueiros [Lynx House Press: 2013]. He received the John F. Stern Distinguished Professor Award in 2004.

Yusef Komunyakaa is an American poet who currently teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Komunyakaa received the 2007 Louisiana Writer Award for his enduring contribution to the poetry world. His subject matter ranges from the black general experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights time period and his experience as a soldier.