Edythe Rodriguez is an Upper Darby poet and copywriter, hardcore Bustelo drinker and non-violent Beyhive member. She is the first place winner of the 2022 Button Poetry Chapbook Contest, the 2022 Sandy Crimmins Poetry Prize from Philadelphia Stories, and the 2021 Margaret Reid Prize from Winning Writers. Edythe studied creative writing and Africology at Temple University where she developed both an Afrocentric writing praxis and the urge to amplify the full range and personality of Black language. She also went on to graduate from ONE School, an advertising portfolio program for the new generation of Black creatives. Edythe has received fellowships from PEN America, The Hurston/Wright Foundation, The Watering Hole, Brooklyn Poets and elsewhere. Her work is published in Obsidian, The Offing, Torch Literary Arts and elsewhere.

DeShara is a queer, Black poet and visual artist. She co-founded Daughter’s Tongue (an all-women writing collective), worked as the Creative Director of Workshops at Winter Tangerine, and is a former member of the Youth Speaks Collective. She received her MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts and fellowships from Callaloo, the Poetry Incubator, and Pink Door. In 2021, she was nominated for “Best of the Net.” She has published poems in Apogee Lit, Voicemail Poems, Tinderbox Journal, The Texas Review, and elsewhere. She has also been featured on Button Poetry’s YouTube platform and has performed at the likes of Spotify, Yahoo, and Pinterest