HANIF ABDURRAQIB
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His most recent book, Go Ahead In The Rain, a biography of A Tribe Called Quest is a New York Times Best Seller, and the upcoming They Don't Dance No' Mo', is due out in 2020. by Random House. Yes, he would like to talk to you about your favorite bands and your favorite sneakers.

MICHAEL ADNO
Mike is a writer and photographer born in Florida as a first-generation American to Austrian and South African parents. He contributes regularly to The New York Times, The Bitter Southerner, and The Surfer's Journal among others, and writes a monthly column for Void magazine. Over the past few years, he was nominated for the Smithsonian’s Artist Research Fellowship, a recipient of the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation Fellowship, and an artist-in-residence at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. In 2018, he began his first book about a traumatic brain injury's effect on his family and the history of the injury's treatment in America as a fellow at the Key West Literary Seminar in Florida. This year, he was awarded a grant by Florida's Division of Cultural Affairs and a fellowship from the University of Florida. Most recently, he won a James Beard Award in Profile Writing for his feature "The Short & Brilliant Life of Ernest Matthew Mickler." He lives in his hometown, Sarasota, Florida along the Gulf of Mexico.

ELOISA AMEZCUA
Eloisa Amezcua is from Arizona. She earned a BA in English from the University of San Diego, where she was the recipient of the Lindsey J. Cropper Award for Creative Writing in Poetry selected by Ilya Kaminsky. Amezcua\'s debut collection, From the Inside Quietly, is the inaugural winner of the Shelterbelt Poetry Prize selected by Ada Limón, (Shelterbelt Press, 2018). The founding editor-in-chief of The Shallow Ends: A Journal of Poetry, Associate Poetry Editor at Honeysuckle Press, & founder of Costura Creative, Eloisa lives in Columbus, OH.

EVA AMSLER
Eva Amsler, Professor of Flute, previously served on the faculty of the State Conservatory of Music in Feldkirch (Austria) since 1982, teaching flute, pedagogy, and chamber music. She also conducts master classes in Europe, the United States, and Asia. In addition, Ms. Amsler was a member of the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra (Switzerland) for twenty years.

AIFRIC MAC AODHA
Aifric Mac Aodha was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her first collection, Gabháil Syrinx (The Capture of the Syrinx), was published by An Sagart in 2010. She is the Irish language poetry editor of The Stinging Fly. Presented by O, Miami Poetry Festival.

KAVEH AKBAR
Kaveh Akbar is the author of Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James Books, 2017; Penguin UK, 2018). He is also the author of a chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic (Sibling Rivalry, 2017). Kaveh is the recipient of the Levis Reading Prize, Pushcart Prize, Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship, and Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. Kaveh is the founding editor of Divedapper, a home for interviews with major voices in contemporary poetry. With Sarah Kay and Claire Schwartz, he writes a weekly column for the Paris Review called "Poetry RX." Born in Tehran, Iran, he teaches at Purdue University and in the low-residency MFA programs at Randolph College and Warren Wilson. His poems appear in The New Yorker, Poetry, PBS NewsHour, The New Republic, Best American Poetry, The New York Times, and elsewhere. Presented by O, Miami Poetry Festival.

RAYMOND ANTROBUS
Raymond Antrobus was born in London to an English mother and Jamaican father, and is the author of 'To Sweeten Bitter' (Out-Spoken Press) and 'The Perseverance' (Penned In The Margins) which was awarded the UK Poetry Book Society’s ‘Winter Choice’ in 2018 and was named a poetry book of the year by The Guardian and The Sunday Times. His poetry has previously been published in POETRY, The Poetry Review, Poets.org, The Deaf Poets Society, The Guardian among others. He is a founding member of 'Chill Pill' and 'Keats House Poets Forum' and the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem, Complete Works 3 and Jerwood Compton Poetry. He is also one of the world's first recipients of an MA in Spoken Word education from Goldsmiths University. In 2018 he was awarded 'The Geoffrey Dearmer Prize' and in 2019 he was nominated for a Ted Hughes award for innovation in poetry. Presented with the O, Miami Poetry Festival.

DANIEL ASIA
Daniel Asia, b. Seattle, WA 1953, has been an eclectic and unique composer from the start. He has enjoyed the usual grants from Meet the Composer, a UK Fulbright award, Guggenheim Fellowship, MacDowell and Tanglewood fellowships, ASCAP and BMI prizes, Copland Fund grants, and numerous others. He was recently honored with a Music Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. From 1991-1994 he was Meet-the-Composer Composer- in Residence of the Phoenix Symphony, and from 1977-1991 the co-music Director and Conductor of the New York-based contemporary music ensemble Musical Elements. Asia is also a writer and critic and his articles have appeared in Academic Questions, The New Criterion, and the Huffington Post. He is the editor of the book The Future of (High) Culture in America, published by Cambridge Scholars. Presented with the FIU Amernet String Quartet.

JAN BEATTY
Jan Beatty's fifth full-length book, Jackknife: New and Collected Poems, was published in Spring, 2017 from the University of Pittsburgh Press. Her previous book, The Switching/Yard, was named one of ...30 New Books That Will Help You Rediscover Poetry by Library Journal and won the 2014 Paterson Award for Literary Excellence. The Huffington Post named her as one of ten women writers for "required reading." Her poem, "Shooter" was featured in a paper delivered in Paris by scholar Mary Kate Azcuy: "Jan Beatty's 'Shooter,' A Controversy For Feminist & Gender Politics." Other books include Red Sugar, finalist for the 2009 Paterson Poetry Prize; Boneshaker, finalist, Milton Kessler Award; Mad River, Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize - all published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. A limited edition chapbook, Ravage, was published by Lefty Blondie Press in 2012. Another chapbook, Ravenous, won the 1995 State Street Prize.

JILL BIALOSKY
Jill Bialosky’s newest memoir is Poetry Will Save Your Life. She is the author of four acclaimed collections of poetry, most recently The Players; three critically acclaimed novels, most recently, The Prize, and a New York Times bestselling memoir History of a Suicide: My Sister’s Unfinished Life. Her poems and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, O Magazine, The Kenyon Review, Harvard Review, and Paris Review among others. She co-edited with Helen Schulman the anthology, Wanting a Child. She is an Executive Editor and Vice President at W. W. Norton & Company. In 2014 she was honored by the Poetry Society of America for her distinguished contribution to poetry.

MIKITA BROTTMAN
Mikita Brottman is a British American non-fiction author, scholar, and psychoanalyst. Her writing blends a number genres: autobiography, psychoanalysis, forensics, and literary history. She is the author of many books, both academic and commercial, and her most recent work involves a reconsideration of the true crime genre. Thirteen Girls (Nine-Banded Books, 2012) is a story cycle of fictionalized narratives told by the victims of real crimes. The Maximum Security Book Club (Harper Collins, 2016) recounts her experience running a reading group at a men's maximum security prison. Her new work of true crime, An Unexplained Death (Henry Holt, 2018), was described by Kirkus Reviews as "a compelling, often creepy book." Brottman is a literature professor in the humanities department at the Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore.

CAROLINE CABRERA
Caroline Cabrera is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Saint X, winner of the Hudson Prize from Black Lawrence Press. Her lyric essay collection, (lack begins as a tiny rumble) is forthcoming from Tinderbox Editions. She teaches poetry workshops for children and adults through O, Miami and works as an early literacy specialist. She is founder and editor of Bloom Books and co-host of the arts and advice podcast Now that We’re Friends.

CLAIRE CHASE
Claire Chase is a soloist, collaborative artist, curator and advocate for new and experimental music. Over the past decade she has given the world premieres of hundreds of new works for the flute in performances throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, and she has championed new music throughout the world by building organizations, forming alliances, pioneering commissioning initiatives and supporting educational programs that reach new audiences. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2012, and in 2017 was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize. Photo credit David Michalek.

ROBERT S. COHEN
Robert S. Cohen has written music for chorus, orchestra, chamber ensemble, dance and theatre and has been the recipient of numerous awards and commissions.

DARIUS V. DAUGHTRY
Darius V. Daughtry fell in love with words at the age of six. It was then, that he used to write and draw his own comic books. While the pictures left a little to be desired, being able to paint pictures with words was a passion that soon began to blossom. Darius has been marrying the pen to the paper ever since. An accomplished poet, playwright, director, and educator with over a decade worth of experience in South Florida and beyond, Darius has committed himself to using that arts as a vehicle for change. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of Art Prevails Project, a performing arts organization dedicated to expanding cultural conversation through theatrical performance, arts education, and community engagement. Darius has spearheaded literacy initiatives with NFL Hall-of-Famer Jason Taylor and with poet and actor, Omari Hardwick. Darius has been commissioned to write, perform, and conduct workshops for various organizations: The Poetry Foundation, O, Miami, City of Fort Lauderdale, Miami-Dade Schools, Broward Schools, and more. He has written and directed performances for numerous groups and organizations – ArtServe (RedEye), Broward Cultural Division (Sistrunk Market Place, State of Black Broward), Old Dillard Museum (Juneteenth, Kwanzaa), The World Aids Museum (Saving Grace), and more. Presented with O, Miami.

GEFFREY DAVIS
Geffrey Davis is the author of Night Angler (BOA Editions), winner of the 2018 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and Revising the Storm (BOA Editions), winner of the 2013 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. He also co-authored the chapbook Begotten (URB Books, 2016) with poet F. Douglas Brown. Named a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, Davis has received the Anne Halley Poetry Prize, the Dogwood Prize in Poetry, and the Wabash Prize for Poetry, as well as fellowships from Bread Loaf, Cave Canem, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Whiting Foundation. His work has been published in Crazyhorse, Mississippi Review, New England Review, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Nimrod, PBS NewsHour, Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere. A native of the Pacific Northwest, Davis teaches at the University of Arkansas and with The Rainier Writing Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University’s low-residency MFA program. He also serves as poetry editor for Iron Horse Literary Review.

EDWARD DOYLE-GILLESPIE
Ed Doyle Gillespie, a published poet and Detective with the Baltimore City Police (BCP) His education includes an MFA in writing from Johns Hopkins. He has taught youth extensively, does intergroup relations training using great literature as a major tool and is also a published poet.

MARVIN DUNN
Dr. Marvin Dunn taught in the Department of Psychology at Florida International University for thirty-four years, retiring as chairman of the department in 2006. He earned his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He co-authored The Miami Riot of 1980: Crossing the Bounds, with Bruce Porter and authored Black Miami in the Twentieth Century (1997), The Beast in Florida: A History of Anti-Black Violence (2012) and A History of Florida: Through Black Eyes (2016). He has directe three documentary films: Black Seminoles in the Bahamas: The Red Bays Story; Murder on the Suwannee River: The Willie James Howard Story and Uncovering Rosewood. Dr. Dunn has appeared on numerous national television broadcasts and has been published in major newspapers throughout the country. He is a nationally respected scholar in race and ethnic relations.

DANA DE GREFF
Born in Miami, Dana De Greff holds a Masters in Fine Arts in fiction from the University of Miami and is the Founder & Executive Director of PageSlayers, a 2016 Knight Arts Challenge Winner that provides free creative writing summer camps in Opa-Locka, FL. She is the author of Alterations (winner of the 2018 Rane Arroyo Chapbook Series published by Seven Kitchens Press), recipient of the 2018 Lillian E. Smith Writer-in-Service Award, and the 2017-2018 Literary Artist-in-Residence at the Deering Estate. She has been accepted or awarded scholarships from Tent: Creative Writing, the Tin House Summer Writers’ Workshop, and The Key West Literary Seminar. Her work appears in PANK, Origins Journal, Philadelphia Stories, Hawai’i Pacific Review, Gulf Stream Magazine, The Boston Review, The Miami Herald, The Miami Rail, and the Miami New Times. She is currently at work on her first novel, The Odyssey Hotel. She is represented by Writers House.

CALVIN EARLY
Early is an internationally recognized speaker/spoken word artist with more than 13 years’ experience in youth development and community relations. The strength of his work is the ability to combine humor and real life experiences, with a presence that commands attention and he is probably most well-known for using powerful spoken word poetry as a vehicle to provoke thought, evoke change, and drive a message home to audiences of youth and those who advocate for them. In the fall of 2013, Calvin alongside his wife, Arsimmer, launched the SPOKEN WORD EXCHANGE; a grassroots, creative writing initiative, providing groups of artists and spectators from around the world the opportunity to experience and learn about each other’s culture through the art of poetry.This initiative is the basis of Calvin's work both artistically and professionally. The project is powered by a combination of international travel, performances, photo journaling and workshops designed to help participants develop a process for self exploration while inspiring them to use this craft as a tool for empowerment, and motivation. To-date, the project has been facilitated in five countries, and has directly impacted an estimated 300 participants.

NAOMI FRYE
Naomi Fry is a New Yorker staff writer who covers such pop culture phenomenons as Ben Affleck's back tattoo and Shia LaBeouf's Uggs. She's also a social media favorite among Manhattan media circles, known for her funny and prolific posts on Instagram and Twitter. Below, Naomi, who lives in Brooklyn with her husband, their daughter and two cats, talks about fame and self-representation in the Internet era, her abiding love for "self-consciously slutty Instagram It girls" and much more.

STEVEN GATHMAN
A native of Chicago, Steven Gathman has worked at Washington National Opera at the JFK Center for the Performing Arts for 21 seasons, the last 18 as Chorus Master and Head of Music Staff. At WNO he has prepared the chorus for 110 productions and has conducted main-stage performances of Tosca, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Clemenza di Tito, Der Fliegende Hollander and Carmen. He has also been an Assistant Conductor at The Metropolitan Opera, Il Festival dei due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, Michigan Opera Theatre, and Opera Pacific, and has served on the faculty of the University of Maryland, College Park, and served as a guest coach at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia in addition to giving master classes at universities around the country. Presented with the Miami Music Festival 2019.

AYELET GUNDAR-GOSHEN
Ayelet Gundar-Goshen is an award-winning novelist and clinical psychologist based in Israel. Her novels have been translated into 14 languages. She is an occasional correspondent for the BBC, TIME magazine and Israeli media. Ayelet Gundar-Goshen was born in Israel in 1982. After completing an MA in psychology at Tel Aviv University, she studied film and screenwriting at the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem.

KIMIKO HAHN
Kimiko Hahn is the author of nine books of poetry, including The Artist's Daughter (2002), The Narrow Road to the Interior (2006), Toxic Flora (2010), and Brain Fever (2014). Reviewing Brain Fever in the Boston Review, Benjamin Landry wrote that Hahn’s “earlier work—wide-ranging in mode and theme—often aspired to the long-form zuihitsu, a diary-like monologue incorporating textbook definitions, email responses, exclamations, recalled speech, loose associations, declarations and reversals. These contemporary zuihitsu evinced an appealing honesty, replicating as they did the mind’s clutter.” Her later work, like that found in Toxic Flora and Brain Fever—both engagements with science articles found in the New York Times—“does away with much of the clutter. Its anchoring form is the short poem in couplets, with the occasional single-line stanza. These poems glow with concentrated energy, and their dense arrangements usefully contain Hahn’s previous meandering tendencies. Consequently, these new poems exhibit the ‘gemlike’ quality Hahn avowedly admires. Her new collection Foreign Bodies is forthcoming in 2020. She teaches in the MFA Program at Queens College, City University of New York. Presented with O, Miami Poetry Festival.

MICHAEL HALSBAND
Michael Halsband was born and raised in NYC. In 1981, after going on the road with James Brown, Halsband was assigned to photograph Keith Richards for the Rolling Stone cover, and then was asked by Mick Jagger to be The Rolling Stones tour photographer. Upon returning to his hometown, Halsband spent the next seven years photographing fashion, portraits for top magazines, and album covers for the likes of Iggy Pop, INXS, Deee-Lite and Shabba Ranks. He also worked on international ad campaigns and helped create the looks for the Gap and J.Crew, and the press kits for designers including Calvin Klein and Adrian Vittadini. His work is included in museum collections: MoMA, New York; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh PA; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida; The Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York; The Watermill Center, New York; Museo Würth La Rioja, Spain; and the Sir Elton John Collection. Michael was the recipient of the Hasselblad Masters Award in 2002. He is currently continuing to make portraits in the studio he has lived and worked in since 1979. He is currently continuing to make portraits in the studio he has lived and worked in since 1979.

ARLO HASKELL
Arlo Haskell is an award-winning writer, historian, literary organizer, and publisher. Much of his work focuses on the literary and social histories of Key West, Florida. He is the author of The Jews of Key West: Smugglers, Cigar Makers, and Revolutionaries (1823-1969), which received the Florida Book Award Gold Medal for Florida Nonfiction. Drawing on years of independent research, this is the first book to chronicle the development of South Florida’s oldest Jewish community and the first major contribution to the history of Key West since the emergence of important documents from digitization projects around the country. Admirers of The Jews of Key West include Bancroft Prize-winning historian Robert D. Richardson, who praises the book’s “fascinating and vivid detail”; and literary critic Phyllis Rose, who admires Haskell’s “dazzling breadth of vision.” Born and raised in the Florida Keys, Haskell continues to live in Key West with his wife, Ashley, and their daughters, Aviva and Zadie.

DAISY HERNÁNDEZ
Daisy Hernández is the author of the award-winning memoir A Cup of Water Under My Bed and coeditor of Colonize This! Young Women of Color on Today\\\'s Feminism. The former editor of ColorLines magazine, she has reported for The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Slate, and she has written for NPR\\\'s All Things Considered and CodeSwitch. Her essays and fiction have appeared in Aster(ix), Bellingham Review, Brevity, Dogwood, Fourth Genre, Gulf Coast, Juked, and Rumpus among other journals. A contributing editor for the Buddhist magazine Tricycle, Daisy is an Assistant Professor in the Creative Writing Program at Miami University in Ohio.

TAMEKA HOBBS
Tameka Bradley Hobbs is Associate Professor of History and Coordinator of the African American Studies Program at Valdosta State University. She earned her undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University, and her doctoral degree in United States History, and Historical Administration and Public History from Florida State University. In addition to her teaching experience, Hobbs has served as a researcher, writer, consultant, and director for a number of public and oral history projects in Florida and Virginia, including the African American Trailblazers in Virginia History Program, a statewide educational program focused on celebrating African American History. Her professional experience includes serving as Director of Projects and Program for the John G. Riley Museum and Center of African American History and Culture, located in Tallahassee, Florida. After relocating to Virginia, between 2006 and 2007, Hobbs worked as the historian and coordinator of the Valentine Richmond History Center’s Richmond History Gallery Project. Between 2011 and 2018, she was Assistant Professor of History and University Historian at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens, Florida. Her book, Democracy Abroad, Lynching at Home: Racial Violence in Florida, was published by the University Press of Florida and has been awarded bronze medal for the 2015 Florida Book Award for Florida Nonfiction., and the 2016 Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Award from the Florida Historical Society.

ALICE HOFFMAN
Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction. Hoffman’s newest novel, The World That We Knew out in September 2019, is set in Europe during the Holocaust and follows three young women who must act with courage and to survive history’s darkest hour. Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952 and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing. She currently lives in Boston.

ZORA HOWARD
Zora Howard is a Harlem-bred multidisciplinary creator and performer. In 2009, she was named the inaugural New York City Youth Poet Laureate by the Office of the Mayor of New York City. Since then, her work, both as a writer and performer, has been showcased on HBO, TV One, PBS, and NBC. Her first collection of poems, CLUTCH, was published under Penmanship Books in 2010. Forthcoming, her work will be included in Poets Laureate and Social Justice (MSU Press, 2018). She holds a BA from Yale University and MFA from the University of California, San Diego. Presented with O, Miami Poetry Festival.

ISHION HUTCHINSON
Ishion Hutchinson was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica. He is the author of two poetry collections: Far District and House of Lords and Commons. He is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize, the Whiting Writers Award, the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, among others. He is a contributing editor to the literary journals The Common and Tongue: A Journal of Writing & Art and teaches in the graduate writing program at Cornell University. Presented by O, Miami Poetry Festival.

JEN KARETNIK
Miami-based poet and writer Jen Karetnick's most recent poetry collections include The Crossing Over (March 2019), which won the 2018 Split Rock Review Chapbook Competition; The Treasures That Prevail (Whitepoint Press, 2016), finalist for the 2017 Poetry Society of Virginia Book Prize; and American Sentencing (Winter Goose Publications, 2016), long-listed for the 2017 Julie Suk Award and the 2017 Lascaux Prize. Her next book, The Burning Where Breath Used to Be, is forthcoming from David Robert Books in 2020. Jen's poetry, prose, and plays appear widely in publications including Cimarron Review, Crab Orchard Review, december, The McNeese Review, Michigan Quarterly, The Missouri Review, Prairie Schooner, Tampa Review, Waxwing, and Verse Daily. Also a trade book author, Jen has published The 500 Hidden Secrets of Miami (Luster, 2017) and several cookbooks, including Mango (University Press of Florida, 2014) and the forthcoming Ice Cube Tray Recipes: 75 Easy and Creative Kitchen Hacks for Freezing, Cooking, and Baking in Ice Cube Trays (Skyhorse Publishing, June 2019). Her freelance articles, essays, and interviews have appeared internationally in outlets including TheAtlantic.com, Culture Cheese Magazine, GoodHousekeeping.com, Guernica, Miami Herald, Poets & Writers, Redbook.com, Southern Living, USA Today, VinePair.com, and Virgin Atlantic. She works as the dining critic for MIAMI Magazine.

MICHAEL KLEBER-DIGGS
Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet and essayist. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in McSweeney’s, Poetry City, North Dakota Quarterly, Pollen Midwest, Paper Darts, Water~Stone Review and a few anthologies. He enjoys collaboration with visual artists.

KATRINA COOMBS
Katrina Coombs was born in St Andrew, Jamaica. She has a MFA in Creative Practice from Transart Institute via The University of Plymouth. Coombs has a passion for fiber and an understanding of the sensitivity of threads and fabric which has grown beyond design and into sculptural forms. Her practice focuses on the impact of the Other on the “I” and the quintessence of gender politics of the Other. Coombs's work has been featured in exhibitions such as; “Young Talent 2015” at the National Gallery of Jamaica, “Re-Frame Manila”, 2016 London Biennale Pollination art project in the Philippines, the “Jamaica Biennial” in 2014 and 2017 at the National Gallery of Jamaica, and, “Voyaging Towards The Future: Living Sculpture III” ICE 2018, CAG[e] Gallery, Jamaica. Coombs. Presented in partnership with Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator.

MARLON JAMES
Marlon James was born in Jamaica in 1970. His novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, won the 2015 Man Booker Prize, making James the first Jamaican author to take home the U.K.’s most prestigious literary award. The novel also won the American Book award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and the Minnesota Book Award. It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and was a New York Times Notable Book. Professor James is also the author of The Book of Night Women, which won the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize and John Crow’s Devil. His latest novel, Black Leopard, Red Wolf was published in February 2019. Presented in partnership with BooksandBooks.

ASHLEY M. JONES
Ashley M. Jones received an MFA in Poetry from Florida International University. Her debut poetry collection, Magic City Gospel, was published by Hub City Press in January 2017, and it won the silver medal in poetry in the 2017 Independent Publishers Book Awards. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in many journals and anthologies, including the Academy of American Poets, Tupelo Quarterly, Prelude, Steel Toe Review, The Sun, Poets Respond to Race Anthology, and The Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy. She received a 2015 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award and a 2015 B-Metro Magazine Fusion Award. Her second collection, dark / / thing, won the 2018 Lena-Miles Wever Todd Prize for Poetry from Pleiades Press (February 2019.) She currently lives in Birmingham, Alabama, where she is Second Vice President of the Alabama Writers’ Conclave , founding director of the Magic City Poetry Festival, and a faculty member in the Creative Writing Department of the Alabama School of Fine Arts.

SHEILA KATZ
Sheila Katz is the CEO of the National a council of Jewish Womem, leading a network of 90,000 members and supporters across the U.S. who are living out their Jewish values and turning their progressive ideals into action. Sheila most recently served as Hillel International’s vice president for student engagement and leadership and was the youngest-ever VP in the organization’s history. During her 12 years at Hillel, Sheila engaged Jewish students and professionals around the world through programs including “Ask Big Questions,” a national initiative she co-founded and directed, which helps guide students through conversations to help them understand themselves and others. She also spearheaded MitzVote, Hillel’s non-partisan civic engagement campaign that helped almost 19,000 students register to vote or request absentee ballots leading up to the 2018 midterm elections. In 2014, Sheila was appointed by the White House to committees advising President Obama on higher education and women’s rights. She is a longtime advocate for equal pay and mentors young women on the issue. In addition, she is a strong voice for survivors of sexual assault and an activist fighting for inclusion for people with disabilities. Sheila is currently on the executive committee of a national coalition of over 100 Jewish organizations working to promote safety, respect, and equity in Jewish communal spaces. She holds an M.S. in teaching from Pace University and B.A.

SALLY KOSLOW
Sally Koslow is the author of the novels Another Side of Paradise; the international bestseller The Late, Lamented Molly Marx; The Widow Waltz; With Friends Like These; and Little Pink Slips. She is also the author of one work of nonfiction, Slouching Toward Adulthood: How to Let Go So Your Kids Can Grow Up. Her books have been published in a dozen countries. Sally is the former editor-in-chief of McCall’s Magazine. She has taught at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College and is on the faculty of the New York Writer’s Workshop. She has contributed essays and articles to The New York Times, O, Real Simple, and many other newspapers and magazines. She has lectured at Yale, Columbia, New York University, Wesleyan University, and University of Chicago, as well as many community and synagogue groups. Sally lives in Manhattan, but hopes the statute of limitations never ends on mentioning that she is from Fargo, North Dakota. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she met her husband. They live in Manhattan, and are the proud parents of two sons. Presented by Miami Beach JCC Literary Series.

STEVE KRONEN
Steve's previous collections are Splendor, (BOA) and Empirical Evidence, (University of Georgia Press). His work has appeared in The New Republic, The American Scholar, Poetry, Agni, APR, The Antioch Review, Little Star, Subtropics, The Southern Review, The Sewanee Review, The Yale Review, Image, New Statesman, Plume, and elsewhere in the US and the UK. Awards include an NEA, three Florida Individual Artist fellowships, the Cecil Hemley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, the James Boatwright Poetry Prize from Shenandoah, and fellowships from Bread Loaf, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conferences. He received an MFA from Warren Wilson College. Steve is a librarian in Miami where he lives with his wife, novelist Ivonne Lamazares.

MOISES KAUFMAN
Moisés Kaufman, (born November 21, 1963, Caracas, Venezuela), Venezuelan-born playwright and director who is best known for perceptive and moving plays often rooted in issues of sexuality. He was a cofounder in 1991 of Tectonic Theater Project, a company dedicated to examining the structure and language of theatre as well as addressing contemporary social issues.

HOLLI LEVITSKY
Holli Levitsky holds a B.A. and an M.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in Comparative Literature and a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from the University of California, Irvine. Founder and director of the Jewish Studies Program and Professor of English at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, she has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United State Holocaust Memorial Museum, a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Literature in Poland, a Schusterman Fellow at the Summer Institute for Israel Studies, and the Florida International University Exile Studies Writer-in-Residence. She works primarily in the areas of Jewish American literature, Holocaust studies and Exile studies, and has published dozens of articles, book chapters, and essays in these areas. Most recently, she is the co-editor of two volumes, The Literature of Exile and Displacement: American Identity in a Time of Crisis (2016) and Summer Haven: The Catskills, the Holocaust and the Literary Imagination (2015). Presented with Jewish American Holocaust Literature Symposium.

MAX LEWKOWICZ
Max Lewkowicz, founder and owner of Dog Green Productions, has written, directed, and produced hundreds of productions for network and public television, museums, and multinational organizations in a career that has spanned over twenty-five years. Mr. Lewkowicz’s documentary works include award-winning films about the mercury pollution afflicting Native American tribes in Northern Canada, the Dance Theater of Harlem, the generational cycles of poverty in America’s inner cities, Nelson Mandela’s struggle against Apartheid in South Africa, as well as Across the Bridge, a documentary about the American Military Doctrine in Germany during the Cold War and Ours to Fight For, which tells the stories of American GIs in World War II. In addition, Mr. Lewkowicz has written, produced and directed museum exhibition films and interactive presentations domestically and internationally. His works in this area include the media for the core exhibits of Normandy American Cemetery Visitor Center (for which he produced eighteen films and interactives) and the Pointe du Hoc Visitor Center, The Museum of Jewish Heritage--A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York, The South Africa Heritage Museum in Cape Town, and the Montreal Memorial Holocaust Center.

PAIGE LEWIS
Paige Lewis is the author of Space Struck (Sarabande Books, 2019). Their poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, The Georgia Review, Best New Poets 2017, and elsewhere. They live and teach in West Lafayette, Indiana. Presented by O, Miami Poetry Festival.

LI LI
Violist Li Li is the daughter and former student of Xueke Li, prominent viola professor of the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in China. Ms. Li was previously a member of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, with whom she appeared as concerto soloist. She performed for the past two seasons with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. A seasoned chamber player, Ms. Li has performed with Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music, Concert:Nova in Cincinnati and on the Ronen Chamber Music Concert Series in Indianapolis. Ms. Li has been adjunct faculty at Syracuse University and was appointed Honorary Guest Professor of Shenyang Conservatory. She has also taught at Anderson University, Indiana. During her student years, Ms. Li won many awards and prizes, among them the American String Teachers Association and the Concerto Competition at Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina. Ms. Li was a participant in the Tanglewood Music Festival for three summers. She completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at Boston Conservatory and Boston University. Her teachers were Manuel Diaz, Patricia McCarty and Steven Ansell. Presented with the Miami Music Festival 2019.

SANDRA MARCH
Sandra March (1974, La Seu d'Urgell - Spain) studied Teaching (1995), Philosophy (2005) and Fine Arts (2010) in Barcelona. She has lived in Miami and currently resides in Paris. She makes interdisciplinary artistic projects, which aim is to generate an experience of transformation, seeking a connection with the viewer either provoking laughter, emotion or reflection. Her themes revolve around the body, the biography and gender. Her works are part of museums and institutions, highlighting the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington DC), The Center of Book Arts (New York), Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (Spain) and in universities such as Miami or Valencia. She has worked as a teacher of Arts in schools and universities. She also conducts workshops in art and education centers such as in the University of Barcelona.

DAWN LUNDY MARTIN
Dawn Lundy Martin is a poet, essayist, and conceptual video artist. She is the author of three books of poems and three chapbooks, including most recently, Life in a Box is a Pretty Life (Nightboat Books 2015). She is currently at work on Good Stock (forthcoming from Coffee House Press) and a hybrid memoir, a tiny bit of which appears as the essay, “The Long Road to Angela Davis’s Library,” published in the The New Yorker in December 2014. Martin is also a co-founder of the Black Took Collective, an experimental performance art/poetry group of three, and a member of HOWDOYOUSAYYAMINAFRICAN?, a global arts collective. She is Associate Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. Presented with O, Miami Poetry Festival and Cave Canem.

JOHN MCAULIFFE
John McAuliffe grew up in County Kerry, Ireland. The Gallery Press has published his four collections: A Better Life (2002), which was shortlisted for a Forward Prize in 2002; Next Door (2007); Of All Places (2011), which was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation; and The Way In (2015), which was joint winner of the Michael Hartnett Award. Presented by O, Miami Poetry Festival.

LUPE MENDEZ
Originally from Galveston, TX, Lupe (Writer/Educator/Activist) is the author WHY I AM LIKE TEQUILA (Willow Books, 2019) and works with Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, Brazilian Arts Foundation and other organizations to promote poetry events, advocate for literacy/literature and organize creative writing workshops that are open to the public. He is the founder of Tintero Projects and works with emerging Latinx writers and other writers of color within the Texas Gulf Coast Region, with Houston as its hub. In addition, Lupe co-hosts INKWELL - a collaborative podcast creation between Tintero Projects and Inprint, placing a monthly spotlight on Regional, National and International Latinx writers and other Writers of Color. Mendez has received fellowships from CantoMundo, Macondo and the Crescendo Literary/Poetry Foundation’s Emerging Poet Incubator. Mendez currently serves as the Literary Outreach Coordinator for Poets & Writers Inc. for Houston.Mendez has close to 20 years of experience as a performance poet - having opened up for such notable writers as Dagoberto Gilb, Esmeralda Santiago and the late Raul Salinas. Presented in partnership with O, Miami.

WINTER MILLER
Winter Miller is an award-winning playwright and founding member of the Obie-winning collective 13 Playwrights. She is best known for her drama “In Darfur” which premiered at The Public Theater, followed by a standing-room-only performance at their 1800-seat Delacorte Theater in Central Park, a first for a play by a woman.

ALEXANDRE MOUTOUZKINE
Mr. Moutouzkine has toured throughout Germany, France, Spain, Russia, Italy, and North and South America, as well as in China and Japan. In recent seasons, he has appeared as soloist with the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Television Orchestra of Spain, Cleveland Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Valencia Philharmonic, the Gran Canaria and Tenerife symphonies in the Canary Islands, the National Symphonic Orchestra of Panama, the National Symphonic Orchestra of Cuba, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra of the Czech Republic. International Pianomagazine hailed his recital in London’s Wigmore Hall as “grandly organic” and “technically dazzling.” His performance of the Chopin Études in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory was recorded live and released on the Classical Music Archives label in Russia. Mr. Moutouzkine claimed top prizes at the Walter W. Naumburg, New Orleans, Cleveland, Montreal, Iturbi (Valencia), and Arthur Rubinstein international competitions, among others, and was a winner of Astral Artists’ 2009 National Auditions. The Philadelphia Inquirer said of his Philadelphia recital debut under Astral’s auspices that his is “a career that will matter.”  Presented with the Miami Music Festival 2019.

RUBY NADAR
Ruby Namdar’s original Hebrew language book, set in New York City, tells the story of two houses: the ancient Temple in Jerusalem, host to the soul of a people, and Andrew P. Cohen, host to the soul of a man. Both houses flourished until outside forces and inner flaws laid siege to their protective walls leaving them lying in ruins. The Ruined House is a NY Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Book.

ANTON NEL
Anton Nel, winner of the first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall enjoys a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Following an auspicious debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s C Major Concerto after only two years of study, the Johannesburg native captured first prizes in all the major South African competitions while still in his teens, toured his native country extensively and became a well-known radio and television personality. A student of Adolph Hallis, he made his European debut in France in 1982, and in the same year graduated with highest distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He came to the United States in 1983, attending the University of Cincinnati, where he pursued his Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees under Bela Siki and Frank Weinstock. In addition to garnering many awards from his alma mater during this three-year period he was a prizewinner at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition in England and won several first prizes at the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in Palm Desert in 1986. His recordings include four solo CDs,  several chamber music recordings (including the complete Beethoven Piano and Cello Sonatas and Variations, and the Brahms Sonatas with Bion Tsang) , and works for piano and orchestra by Franck, Faure, and Saint-Saens. Presented with the Miami Music Festival 2019.

JOSÉ OLIVAREZ
José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants and the author of the book of poems, Citizen Illegal. In 2018, he was awarded the first annual Author and Artist in Justice Award from the Phillips Brooks House Association. He is the co-host of the poetry podcast, The Poetry Gods and a recipient of fellowships from CantoMundo, Poets House, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, & the Conversation Literary Festival. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Chicago Magazine & elsewhere. Presented by O, Miami Poetry Festival.

PAUL ORTIZ
Paul Ortiz is director of the award-winning Samuel Proctor Oral History Program and professor of history at the University of Florida. His book, An African American and Latinx History of the United States is the recipient of the 2018 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence. He is also the author of Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden History of Black Organizing and White Violence in Florida from Reconstruction to the Blood Election of 1920.  He was an interviewer and co-editor of Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South (New Press)Paul received the 2013 César E. Chávez Action and Commitment Award from the Florida Education Association, AFL-CIO for “Outstanding leadership through engaging in activities which dignify workers and by making notable contributions to the labor movement & demonstrating resilience in organizing workers, especially those who have been traditionally disadvantaged".

JACQUELINE OSHEROW
Jacqueline Osherow received her BA from Radcliffe College, Harvard University, and her PhD from Princeton University. She is the author of several collections of poetry, including Hoopoe’s Crown (2005). Her debut collection, Looking for Angels in New York (1988), was chosen for the Contemporary Poetry Series. Osherow’s poetry is both conversational and learned, concerned with the intricacies of faith and the weight of history.

GEOFFREY PHILP
Geoffrey Philp, an author from Jamaica, has written two children\'s books,Marcus and the Amazons, and Grandpa Sydney\'s Anancy Stories; two collections of short stories, Uncle Obadiah and the Alien and Who\'s Your Daddy?; a novel,Benjamin, my son, and five poetry collections, Exodus and Other Poems, Florida Bound, Hurricane Center, Xango Music and Dub Wise. A graduate of the University of Miami, where he earned a Master of Arts in English, Philp teaches creative writing at Miami Dade College.

MARIA PICCININI
Among the world’s leading flute virtuosos, Marina Piccinini is known for her flawless technical command, profound interpretive instincts and charismatic stage presence. Marina Piccinini relishes tradition with a twist. Her wide-ranging background and numerous interests have led her to explore traditional repertoire in new settings, and to delve into collaborations with various artists and disciplines.

PAUL PERRY
Paul Perry is the author of five collections of poetry, including Gunpowder Valentine: New and Selected Poems (Dedalus Press, 2014). Presented by O, Miami Poetry Festival.

DAVID PORTER
David Porter is a violinist with the Utah Symphony and President of the Intermezzo Chamber Music Series. He, with the help of his friends and colleagues in the Utah Symphony, created MOTUS After Dark, a series of concerts in alternative venues designed to make classical music accessible and attractive to new audiences. A native of Northfield Minnesota, David spent the first dozen or so years of his life in a mostly intact Victorian house, infested with musical instruments, newspapers, paper bags, pets, New Yorkers, books, and mice. There was a flutist, a cellist, an oboist, two violinists, and a pianist. Because that was not enough, a viola, a virginal, a mandolin, a moldy clarinet, a dozen wooden flutes, a harpsichord, and a shawm, the last of which was used solely to torture the family dog, were added to the mix. Since then, David has been unable or unwilling to escape the joyful chaos of his early years, and now attempts to balance time with his beloved daughter Divna, Intermezzo, the Utah Symphony, and his dozen or so tortured youth (otherwise known as students), by piling New Yorkers and paper bags indiscriminately about his dwelling. David has been a member of the Utah Symphony since 1996 and last studied at Indiana University with violinists Miriam Fried, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Stanley Ritchie. Presented with the Miami Music Festival 2019.

JESSICA PRESSLER
Jessica Pressler is a staff writer at New York magazine. She is the the former editor of the magazine’s news blog, Daily Intelligencer, and a regular contributor to GQ and Elle. In 2015, Pressler was nominated for the National Magazine Award. Her work has appeared in the 2012, 2013, and 2015 editions of Columbia Journalism School’s anthologies of Best Business Writing. Pressler came to New York from Philadelphia, where she was a staff writer for Philadelphia magazine and the Philadelphia Weekly and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in English. After her 2005 New York Times piece, which referred to the city as “The Sixth Borough,” she was virtually run out of town, and was fortunately granted asylum by New York. She is originally from Marblehead, Massachusetts, and currently resides in Queens.

DANIEL "DITO" RESCHIGNA
Daniel ‘Dito’ Reschigna was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1970. He’s been a musician/songwriter from a young age. He began writing short stories a few years ago, with themes revolving around childhood memories, relationships and failures. A two times finalist of Cuentomanía. He lives in Miami with Lilo, Mateo, Mina & Tobi.

ANGELICA ROSS
Angelica Love Ross is an American businesswoman, actress, and transgender rights advocate. After becoming a self-taught coder in the early years of her career, she went on to become the founder and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises, a firm that empowers and provides education and employment resources for transgender people in the tech industry. As Candy Abundance in FX’s POSE, she is a trailblazer, a take-no-prisoners kind of independent woman. In her latest role on American Horror Story 1984, she becomes the first-ever trans woman to star on two network television shows, inspiring generations to come to be strong, confident, determined, and focused on their dreams. Ross is the 2019 recipient of the UNITY COALITION|COALICIÓN UNIDA’S TRAILBLAZER AWARD in Equality, Business and Fashion.

MICHAEL ROSSI
Michael Rossi is a rising star in the next generation of conductors. He recently made debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa as well as the First Annual PepsiCo National Young Artist Competition with the Charleston Symphony. Last season, he was reengaged by the Philadelphia Orchestra to conduct a performance of Handel's Messiah and will return to the Charleston Symphony this season for performances of Handel's Messiah and 2nd PepsiCo Competition. As an opera conductor he made his international debut conducting Plácido Domingo and the Chinese National Opera Orchestra in Beijing in a live television broadcast and his Washington National Opera Main Stage Debut conducting Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. He also led the WNO Orchestra for a production of Hansel & Gretel, the first National Endowment of the Arts Opera Honors, and the orchestra’s Strathmore Hall Debut concert. In 2011, he made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the premiere of Marcos Galvany’s opera Oh My Son and has recently recorded the album that will be released in late 2014. He returns to WNO this fall to conduct a performance of Puccini's La Boheme. Presented with the Miami Music Festival 2019.

sam sax
sam sax is a queer, jewish writer & educator. The author of Madness winner of The National Poetry Series and ‘Bury It’ winner of the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. He\'s the two time Bay Area Grand Slam Champion with poems published in The New York Times, Poetry Magazine, & Buzzfeed. He’s the poetry editor at BOAAT Press, a 2018 + Ruth Lilly Fellow from The Poetry Foundation & currently a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Presented in partnership with the Academy of American Poets and O, Miami.

DAVID SHAPIRO
Daniel Shapiro continues to gain recognition as a leading interpreter of Schubert, Mozart, Schumann, Brahms, and Beethoven, and as a teacher and coach at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He has given critically acclaimed recitals and concerto appearances across the US, and in Brazil, Europe, Korea, and China.  He has twice performed Beethoven's 32-sonata cycle (live performances of all the sonatas can be found on youtube.com), and his CD of Beethoven’s “Diabelli” Variations and DVDs of Schubert sonatas have received enthusiastic reviews. He was a top prize winner of the William Kapell International Piano Competition, and also won the American Pianists’ Association Beethoven Fellowship Award.   He has given master classes in several of the leading conservatories of Korea, China and Hong Kong, and has also taught at many summer music festivals across the U.S., Canada and Italy. As a chamber musician, Shapiro has performed regularly with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestras.  He has also performed with the Cavani, Mirò and Linden Quartets, and has released chamber music CDs on the Harmonia Mundi and ASV labels. Presented with the Miami Music Festival 2019.

JOEL SMIRNOFF
Joel Smirnoff, conductor and violinist, is a native of New York City and faculty member in the violin department at The Juilliard School. He has been a member of the Juilliard String Quartet since 1986, and the ensemble's leader since 1997. The Quartet, founded in 1947, has become a living American legend and won four GRAMMY Awards. Formerly the group's second violinist, Mr. Smirnoff attended the University of Chicago and The Juilliard School and was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for six years. Second Prize-winner in the International American Music Competition in 1983, he made his New York recital debut in 1985 at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall as part of the Emerging Artists series and at Town Hall as part of the Midtown Masters series. Mr. Smirnoff also plays jazz, performing frequently as improvising soloist with Tony Bennett. His solos were featured on the GRAMMY Award-winning CD Tony Bennett Sings Ellington Hot and Cool. He has also been guest soloist with Gunther Schuller and the American Jazz Orchestra, as well as the Billy Taylor Trio. Mr. Smirnoff was born into an eminent New York musical family. His mother sang with the Jack Teagarden Band under the stage name of Judy Marshall and his father, Zelly Smirnoff, played in the NBC Symphony under Toscanini and was second violinist of the Stuyvesant String Quartet. Mr. Smirnoff has been president of CIM since 2008. Presented with the Miami Music Festival.

MERCEDES SMITH
Mercedes Smith is Principal Flutist of the Utah Symphony. A Texas native, she served as Principal Flutist of the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet Orchestras for nearly a decade. She has performed with the San Diego Symphony, Houston Symphony, and served as Principal Flutist of the Pacific Symphony during the 2010-2011 season. Awarded First Prize in the National Flute Association’s 2010 Young Artist Competition, Ms. Smith was also the Second Prize winner of the 2007 Haynes International Flute Competition and top prizewinner of the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition. As First Prizewinner of Artists International, she gave her New York Recital Debut in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2002. Her debut featured solo and chamber works all by American composers including three world premieres. Also as a recitalist, Ms. Smith performed at the Kunming International Arts Festival, China, in a performance that was televised throughout Asia. Most recently she was featured as soloist and chamber musician at the Festival Internacional de Musica de Camara in Zacatecas, Mexico. Ms. Smith performed at the Hot Springs Music Festival for three years and was featured in the nationally televised PBS documentary "Sound of Dreams" highlighting the festival. In previous summers, she has been a fellowship recipient at Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West, and was a member of the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland. Presented with the Miami Music Festival 2019.

MENG SU
Multifaceted guitarist Meng Su is captivating audiences around the world with her stunning virtuosity and refined artistry. New York Concert Review called her performance “seemingly effortless and stunningly polished…. Add to that a beautiful – and fashionable! – stage presence, and she is poised to be in high demand,” while Classical Guitar Magazine wrote that “she has already reached the status of a seasoned artist.” In addition to her busy solo career, Meng Su is an avid chamber musician who tours regularly in the Beijing Guitar Duo and as a soloist with orchestras.

ERIC SUNDQUIST
Dr. Eric J. Sundquist teaches courses in American literature and culture, with special interests in African American literature, Jewish American literature, and the literature of the Holocaust. Before returning to Johns Hopkins, where he received his Ph.D. in 1978, he taught at Berkeley, Vanderbilt, UCLA, and Northwestern, where he was also the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

ALICIA SVIGALS
Alicia Svigals is a classically trained violinist with a degree in ethnomusicology from Brown University. A co-founder of the Grammy-winning band The Klezmatics, she is considered by many to be the world\'s foremost living klezmer fiddler. This residency is carried out in partnership with Yiddishkayt Initiative and Avi Hoffman, with funding from the Miami Beach Department of Cultural Affairs. Presented with Yiddishkayt Initiative.

IKE UDE
Iké Udé currently lives and works in New York City. Udé was the founder and publisher of aRUDE magazine, a quarterly devoted to art, culture, style and fashion, and the author of Style File: The World’s Most Elegantly Dressed, a comprehensive monograph released by Harper Collins. A style icon, he was selected as one of Vanity Fair’s 2009, 2012, and 2015 International Best Dressed Originals. Udé’s work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian National Museum, Washington D.C., The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Museum of Art and Design (MAD), New York, the New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT, the Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE and the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum, Providence, RI.

JILLIAN WEISE
Jillian Weise is a poet, performance artist, and disability rights activist. She is the author of four books: three poetry collections and a novel. Her first book, The Amputee’s Guide to Sex, was recently reissued in a 10th-anniversary edition with a new preface. Her sci-fi novel The Colony features the characters of Charles Darwin, James Watson, and Peter Singer. The Book of Goodbyes won the 2013 Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and the 2013 Gardner Award from BOA Editions. Cyborg Detective is her latest book of poems. Weise has written about being a cyborg for Granta and The NYT. Her web series, "Tips for Writers by Tipsy Tullivan," has been profiled by BOMB, The Common, Electric Lit, and Inside Higher Ed. Her website is www.jillianweise.com.

MIA S. WILLIS
Mia S. Willis is a 23-year-old African American artist and adventurer from Charlotte, North Carolina. Mia is a recipient of the 2018 Foothill Editors’ Prize for their poem “hecatomb,” which was also nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Their work has been showcased by WORDPEACE, Foothill: a Journal of Poetry, Button Poetry and Slamfind. In 2018, Mia ranked fourth out of 96 femme poets at the Women of the World Poetry Slam, placed fifth out of 150 poets at the Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam, and won the Capturing Fire Slam. They were also a member of Tender Bitch, the winning poetry performance team at the 2018 Feminine Empowerment Movement Slam Tournament. Mia's debut poetry collection, “monster house.”, was the 2018 winner of the Cave Canem Foundation's Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize and will be published by Jai-Alai Books in April 2019. Presented by O, Miami Poetry Festival.

NATALIE SCENTERS ZAPICO
Natalie Scenters-Zapico is from the sister cities of El Paso, Texas, U.S.A., and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, México. Her first book The Verging Cities (Center for Literary Publishing 2015) won the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award, Great Lakes Colleges Association's New Writers Award, NACCS Foco Book Prize, Utah Book Award, and was featured in Poets and Writers, LitHub, and the Los Angeles Times. Lima :: Limón, her second collection, is forthcoming (Copper Canyon Press, May 2019). Currently, she holds fellowships from the Lannan Foundation and CantoMundo. She is a Professor of Literature at Bennington College and a recipient of the 2018 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. In Fall 2019, she will be joining the faculty at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. Presented by O, Miami Poetry Festival.

ALAN ZWEIBEL
Alan Zweibel is an original Saturday Night Live writer and has won five Emmy awards for his work in television for The Late Show with David Letterman and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Presented in partnership with Miami Beach JCC.