Judy Grahn is an internationally known poet, author, mythographer, and cultural theorist. Her works include seven books of nonfiction, two book-length poems, five poetry collections, a reader, and a novel. An early gay activist who walked the first picket of the White House for gay rights in 1965, she later founded Gay Women’s Liberation and the Women’s Press Collective. In 1976, she released Where Would I Be Without You? a poetry LP with her friend and fellow poet Pat Parker on Olivia records. Grahn's work tackles LGBT history and mythology, feminist critiques of current crises, what makes us human, dismantling white supremacy, and how to engage with creature-minds and spirit. She holds a Ph.D. in Integral Studies/Women’s Spirituality from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She has also received numerous honors, including an American Book Award, an American Library Award, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Triangle Publishers established The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Literature in 1996.

Gabrielle Civil is a black feminist performance artist, poet, and writer, originally from Detroit, MI. She has premiered over fifty performance artworks worldwide including Black Weirdo School (Pop Up Critique) (2023), the déjà vu—live (2022) and Jupiter (2021). Her performance memoirs include Swallow the Fish (2017), Experiments in Joy (2019), (ghost gestures) (2021), and the déjà vu (2022.) Her writing has also appeared in New Daughters of Africa, Bone Bouquet, Poem-a-Day, Tripwire, Kitchen Table Translation, Migrating Pedagogies and Experiments in Joy: a Workbook. A 2023 Performance Fellow at the Franconia Sculpture Park, she earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from New York University and teaches at the California Institute of the Arts. The aim of her work is to open up space.