Tai Allen loves basketball. Sterling Brown. Oscar Brown. Roy Ayers. King Tubby. Kevin McHale. Aretha Franklin. Things Fall Apart (both the book and Roots' LP). Kids. Renaldo. Jeter. 2001 Yankees. 2001 Nets. 2012 Giants. Chef Curry. Gelato not ice cream. Jerk Chicken, made on a drum. Oscar Wilde. Brad Pitt. Octavia Butler. Rakim. Jigga not Shawn Carter. Roti… Veggie and Chicken. Poetry. (Sometimes) Parenting. Blogs on technology or sports or politics. Sitting in the sun, somewhere near a body of water. Tai Allen adores Brooklyn, Yonkers and Black/Brown communities.

Paul Cato is an interdisciplinary scholar who studies how African Americans have used religious concepts, practices, and rhetoric to shape love’s history, theorization, and politics. His current manuscript examines the discussions of love, religion, and politics that emerged during Black American author James Baldwin’s conversations with and canonization by other Black intellectuals past and present. In addition to his scholarly endeavors, Paul is heavily involved in the fights against racism and ableism. He has published work in The Los Angeles Review of Books and The Point.

Antoinette Cooper is a writer exploring embodied storytelling as a tool for collective healing. Her forthcoming book UNRULY examines the intersection of Black women’s bodies, medical history, and trauma. With an MFA from Columbia, she’s facilitated workshops at The Met and founded Black Exhale, a nonprofit addressing collective intergenerational trauma.

A poet and Black Classicist from the Bronx, Stephanie Dinsae is a 2019 Smith College graduate and has received an MFA in Poetry and Literary Translation from Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Stephanie often writes poetry about myth as it relates to Blackness and her own life, friendship, video games, and the flexibility/fallibility of memory. Her favorite things to do are dance around to music and obsess over astrology. In case you were wondering, Stephanie has major Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius placements.

tasha dougé is a Bronx-bred & based, Haitian-infused conceptual visual and performance artist, activist, and cultural vigilante. Her practice leans on experimentation with different mediums that excavate and examine the nuances of the human experience. She has been featured in Sugarcane Magazine, Essence, and The New York Times. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at The Apollo Theater, Harlem, NY; Rush Arts Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; BronxArtSpace, Bronx, NY; The Shed, New York, NY; and RISD Museum, Providence, RI.

Anakwa Dwamena is a graduate student in Anthropology working on research around healing, Black diasporic religions, ethnobotany, and the afterlives of slavery across the Black Atlantic. He has written and reported for publications like Aperture, The Nation, The New Yorker, and New Republic magazines. He was a Fulbright-National Geographic fellow, researching the intersection of climate change and traditional cultural practice in Ghana.

Joel Francois is a Haitian-born, Brooklyn-raised storyteller. He is the 2015 Nuyorican Grand Slam Champion and 2016/2017 Bowery Grand Slam Champion. With an MFA in poetry from Syracuse, Joel’s work, nationally and internationally, as a writer and educator explores how family, culture, race, and country shape our becoming.

Branden Janese is a writer, facilitator, and creator based in New York City. Her curatorial debut, 51 Words: Writers on Language, is set to be released on Thanksgiving Day in 2024.

Craig Knight, an African-American educator and creative, explores culture and pedagogy and their impact on how Black men imagine themselves in a dynamic world. Craig earned his Masters in Teaching at Pace Liberal Studies Masters at the New School. He pursues his EdD at American University.

Achille Tenkiang is a Cameroonian-American writer, cultural strategist, and antidisciplinary artist with a global perspective shaped by time in Nairobi, Dublin, Paris, and Brooklyn. He’s committed to breaking down barriers so underserved communities can engage with, shape, and see themselves reflected in the arts. Achille founded the Baldwin Institute, merging education and the arts to create career pathways for Black and Brown youth in creative fields. As a Senior Program Assistant at the Mellon Foundation, he drives innovative culture and heritage initiatives and manages significant grant portfolios.

Brad Walrond is among the foremost writers and performers of New York City’s 1990s Black Arts Movement. Brad’s debut collection Every Where Alien (2024), the first joint publication between Amistad and Moore Black Press, explores black queer underground movements in New York City. Brad’s M.A. is from Columbia University. Walrond published in The Atlantic and elsewhere.