Born in 1978 in Santo Domingo, Frank Báez has made a name for himself as one of the Dominican Republic’s most relevant poets and nonfiction writers. He has published six poetry books, a short story collection, and four nonfiction books. He is a founding member of El Hombrecito, the first Dominican Spoken Word band, which has three albums to its credit. His work has appeared in numerous anthologies, and translations of his books of poetry have been published in Arabic, Dutch, German, and Bangla. Two of his books have been translated into English: Last Night I Dreamt I Was a DJ (2014) and The End of the World Came to My Neighborhood (2022).

P. Scott Cunningham is the author of Self-Portrait as the “i” in Florida (Autumn House, 2026), winner of the 2025 Donald Justice Poetry Prize, and Ya Te Veo (University of Arkansas, 2018), selected for the Miller Williams Poetry Series and a finalist for the National Poetry Series. His poems, essays, and translations have appeared in The Nation, American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, POETRY, A Public Space, Harvard Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Monocle, and The Guardian, among others. Born and raised in South Florida, he lives with his family in Illinois.

Sony Ton-Aime is the Executive Director of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures and the author of Konbit (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2026).