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Alexa Patrick (she/her) is a vocalist and poet from Connecticut. She is the author of Remedies for Disappearing (Haymarket Books 2023) and holds fellowships from Cave Canem, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and more. In spring 2023, Patrick made her stage production debut as Un/Sung in the opera We Shall Not Be Moved (dir. Bill T. Jones). You may find her work in publications including Adroit, CRWN Magazine, and The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2: Black Girl Magic. Visit for more.

Clint Smith is the author of the narrative nonfiction book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism, the Stowe Prize, and selected by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books of 2021. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling poetry collection Above Ground and the award-winning poetry collection Counting Descent. His writing has been published in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, Poetry Magazine, the Paris Review, and elsewhere. Smith received his BA in English from Davidson College and a PhD in Education from Harvard University. He is a staff writer at the Atlantic.

DJ Franky J is a native Washingtonian. She has been a DJ for almost six years now. She’s had the opportunity to spin at places such as the Kennedy Center, Dirty Goose, Eaton Hotel, Fillmore Silver Spring, and March for Moms, to name a few.

Bronx, New York native, Roya Marsh is a poet, performer, educator, and activist. She is the author of dayliGht, a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry, and SAVINGS TIME (MCDXFSG). Roya works feverishly toward queer liberation and dismantling white supremacy. She is the cofounder of the Bronx Poet Laureate, a PEN America Emerging Voices Mentor, Lambda Literary faculty and the awardee of the Lotos Foundation Prize for Poetry and 2024 Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) Grant from Bronx Council on the Arts. Marsh’s work has been featured widely including Poetry Magazine, Carnegie Hall, and The BreakBeat Poets Vol 2: Black Girl Magic (Haymarket 2018).

Gabriel Ramirez, author of the chapbook IF PIT BULLS HAD A GOD, IT’D BE A PIT BULL (The Head & The Hand Press) and the children’s book We’re Community, is a queer Afro-Caribbean writer, performer, and educator. A 2023 Gregory Djanikian Scholar in Poetry at Adroit Journal and the 2024–2025 CantoMundo Poetry Coalition Fellow. Ramirez has received fellowships from CantoMundo, Miami Book Fair, and The Watering Hole. Ramirez has performed on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre, United Nations, Lincoln Center, the Apollo Theatre, and more. You can find their work in publications like Poetry Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, and The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT (Haymarket Press 2020). Learn more about Gabriel Ramirez @RamirezPoet and .

Sasa Aakil is a multimedia artist and writer living and working in Rockville, Maryland. She is a potter, painter, poet, printmaker, and bassist, and served as the 2021 Montgomery County Youth Poet Laureate. Sasa has been featured in the Bethesda Magazine for her work as Youth Poet Laureate. She has also been featured in the Washington Post, as well as on WTOP for her work on the A Man Was Lynched Yesterday Project in 2020. She has shown sculptural and two-dimensional work at the American Poetry Museum and Black Rock Art Center. Aakil is the founder of If All the Trees Were Pens Open Mic and recently published her first chapbook, the culmination of all my despair and the music that saves me. She received a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Howard University in 2024. More information about Aakil’s visual and written work can be found on her website .

Carlynn Newhouse (she/her) is a poet, host, performer, and educator. Her passion for the pen and performance has made space for her as a National YoungArts Winner, the only three-time Youth Speaks Seattle Grand Slam Champion, and fourth ranked woman poet in the world. Originally from Seattle, she currently practices in Washington, D.C. where she obtained her Bachelors of Science from Howard University. Newhouse is the recipient of fellowships from Adobe, the Watering Hole, the Obsidian Foundation, and the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Her work has been featured on platforms including Microsoft, Button Poetry, The Aspen Institute, the Kennedy Center, and more. Newhouse believes poetry is a form of activism and a tool for raising awareness in hopes of making the world a safer space. To find more information about Carlynn, check out her website ().

Malachi ‘MalPractice’ Byrd is an African American artist, author, and educator from Northeast Washington, D.C. The District’s Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate and the Founder of the Crowning Too Early Scholarship Fund, Byrd has committed his craft and career to guiding students through language and performance. A graduate of Princeton University and now full-time artist, ‘MalPrac’ believes in educating inside and outside of the classroom and using the pen to help people pursue their passions. Having taught in over 100 schools in the DMV, Byrd still maintains aspirations of opening his own performing arts school in the area. He is the self-proclaimed first Senator of Washington D.C. (Vote Byrd 2032), and will use his experiences to tackle problems of inequality and inequity in inner cities.