Qurrat ul ain Raza is a Pakistani writer whose work explores shame, collective amnesia, and matrilineal histories. A Tin House Fellow and recipient of the Melanie Hook Rice Award in Nonfiction, her current project is a memoir tracing Partitioned women, Sufis, and her intimate connection to Lal.

Ashfia Alam is a storyteller with a passion for capturing extraordinary and ordinary moments in her community and her own life. Her work often reflects on the intersections of past and present, childhood and adulthood, nostalgia and reality.

 She is the editor-in-chief of Children of 1971, a nonprofit organization she helped launch during the pandemic with a focus on preserving stories from the Bangladesh diaspora. Children of 1971 created a space for community-based storytelling and visual archiving, bringing together community through shared experiences.

 She draws inspiration from authors like Edwidge Danticat, animators like Hayao Miyazaki, and screenwriters like Lim Sang-choon.  She enjoys all mediums of storytelling—whether through words, photographs, or videography. She also enjoys traveling, chatting, and journaling to gain perspective and insight.

Born in Miami, Betty Cruz attributes her curiosity and wonder to her immigrant parents. The Cubanidad they instilled brought to life her love of language and culture. Betty finds refuge in nature, joy with her partner and two rescues, freedom on her bike, and peace through writing and meditation.

Sabina Letang is a writer and teacher currently living in Oakland, CA.

 Sabina teaches English composition at Merritt College and serves as the co-coordinator of the Puente Program. She has been a teaching fellow of creative writing at the University of San Francisco, a Rooted and Written fellow at the Writer’s Grotto in San Francisco, and was part of the inaugural cohort of the Muses and Melanin professional development fellowship. Sabina is currently writing a memoir that explores her family history of dementia, as well as the practical realities and random hilarity of elder care.

 When Sabina is not writing or preparing for class, she enjoys listening to music, eating comfort food, and going on long walks with her dog.

Lilliana Mendez-Soto, Pharm.D.(she/her) is a Cuban-American novelist, poet, and essayist currently working on her memoir. She is an alum of the Community of Writers Fiction Workshops, Las Dos Brujas Workshop, and a San Francisco Writer’s Grotto Rooted and Written Fellow. Her work has appeared in Peregrine Journal: The Caregiving Issue 2024, and The Writing Coven Anthology: Women’s Stories of Healing and Resistance Vol 1. She practiced clinical pharmacy for over 30 years, and tries to cultivate compassion and empathy with her writing. She can usually be found outside with her pack of hounds.

Penda Mbaye Z. Smith is a creative writer, educator, and thinker living and breathing in New Orleans. Her work focuses on mother-daughter relationships, coming-of-age narratives, and African diaspora studies. In 2023, she obtained an MFA in Poetry and Creative Writing from Louisiana State University. She has received support from the Cave Canem Foundation, Hedgebrook Writing Residency, Hurston/Wright Writers workshop, and you can find her work at Muzzle Magazine, Root Work Journal, and Obsidian Journal. Aside from writing, she loves hot yoga, roller skating, and twerking her trauma out. She teaches at Loyola University and loves her cat, Prudence.

Keshni Naicker Washington’s (she/her) stories evolve definitions of identity & community. A scatterling of Africa and a lighter of signal fires, she is a Tin House, Roots.Wounds.Words., 3D Space & VONA 2020 alumnus. Publications include Yellow Arrow Journal, Mer Vox Online, Grace & Gravity Journal.