The Team

STAFF

TYLER TSAY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Tyler Tsay is the former co-founder of The Blueshift Journal. His work, both past and upcoming, has been or will be published in The Offing, The Margins: Asian American Writers Workshop, DIAGRAM, Vinyl Poetry and others. He is the recipient of the Bullock Poetry Prize, awarded by the Academy of American Poets and judged by Camille Rankine, and has formerly worked at BEOTIS Creative and BOAAT Press.

ELIZA HARRIS, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Eliza Harris grew up in North Carolina and is now based in Seattle, WA. Along with her work for The Speakeasy Project, she is a poetry editor and the social media editor for DIAGRAM, an online journal of text and schematics. Eliza’s own work combines poetry and infographics and can be found on Instagram and Twitter @elizaeharris

AE HEE LEE, DIRECTOR OF WORKSHOPS & COMMUNITY

Born in South Korea and raised in Peru, Ae Hee Lee is the author of two poetry chapbooks: Dear bear, (Platypus Press, 2021) and Bedtime || Riverbed (Compound Press, 2017). She holds an MFA from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has received scholarships and awards from the Academy of American Poets, AWP, the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, and Bread Loaf, among others. Most recently, her work Connotary was selected as the winner for the 2021 Frost Place Chapbook Competition by Tiana Clark. More about Ae Hee here.

ARIANA VAN DYCK, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Ariana van Dyck grew up in Minnesota on unceded Wahpekute and Oceti Sakowin lands. Her writing can be found in Perhappened Mag.

JULIA BLIKE, OUTREACH MANAGER

julia blike (she/her) graduated from Williams College in 2019. she is a poet and fiber artist currently living on unceded Abenaki and Wabanaki Confederacy lands.

ASHLEY TAYLOR, OUTREACH MANAGER

Ashley Taylor is a Filipina American poet with a vested interest in disruption and hybrid forms. A novice explorer of the unknown, her work strives to interpret how to navigate the world as both spectator and spectacle and what it means to live within that mixed identity. Ashley currently resides in New Jersey as an MFA candidate at Rutgers University. She is often found researching old dictionaries, recipes, and textbooks for her next obsession or newest form.

ALDRIC ULEP, CONTRACTS & LOGISTICS MANAGER

Aldric Ulep lives and writes near Honolulu, Hawai‘i, where he works as legislative staff. He earned his B.A. Public Policy from Stanford University ('14) and is pursuing an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University ('22). His work can be found or is forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal, Witty Partition, Tinfish Journal, Bamboo Ridge and others.

CURRENT MENTORS

GEORGE ABRAHAM, REPRESENTED ARTIST

George Abraham (he/they) is a Palestinian American poet and writer from Jacksonville, FL. He is the author of the poetry collection, Birthright (Button Poetry, 2020), winner of the 2021 Arab American Book Award in Poetry and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Bisexual Poetry. He is a board member for the Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI), a recipient of grants and fellowships from Kundiman, The Boston Foundation, and the Poetry Foundation, and winner of the 2018 Cosmonauts Avenue Poetry Prize selected by Tommy Pico.

A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard University, and affiliated faculty member at Emerson College, Abraham is currently based in Chicago, IL, where he is a Litowitz MFA+MA Candidate in poetry at Northwestern University.

ROSEBUD BEN-ONI, REPRESENTED ARTIST

Born to a Mexican mother and Jewish father, Rosebud Ben-Oni is the winner of 2019 Alice James Award for If This Is the Age We End Discovery (March 2021), which received a Starred Review in Booklist and was a Finalist for the 2021 National Jewish Book Award in Poetry. She is also the author of turn around, BRXGHT XYXS (Get Fresh Books, 2019) and the chapbook 20 Atomic Sonnets (Black Warrior Review, 2020) in honor of the Periodic Table’s 150th Birthday.

She has received fellowships and grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, City Artists Corps, CantoMundo and Queens Council on the Arts. Her work appears in POETRY, The American Poetry Review, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, Poetry Society of America (PSA), The Poetry Review (UK), Poetry Wales, Tin House, Guernica, Electric Literature, among others. Her poem "Poet Wrestling with Angels in the Dark" was commissioned by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in NYC, and published by The Kenyon Review Online, and her poem “Dancing with Kiko on the Moon” was featured in Tracy K. Smith’s The Slowdown. In May 2022, Paramount commissioned her video essay “My Judaism is a Wild Unplace" for a campaign for Jewish Heritage Month, which appears on Paramount Network, MTV Networks, The Smithsonian Channel, VH1 and many others.

LUTHER HUGHES, REPRESENTED ARTIST

Luther Hughes is the author of the debut poetry collection, A Shiver in the Leaves, forthcoming from BOA Editions in September 2022, and the chapbook Touched (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2018). He is the founder of Shade Literary Arts, a literary organization for queer writers of color, and co-hosts The Poet Salon podcast with Gabrielle Bates and Dujie Tahat. Recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship and 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize. Luther was born and raised in Seattle, where he currently lives.

RAINA J. LEÓN, REPRESENTED ARTIST

Dr. Raina J. León is an Afro-Latina writer and author of Areyto to Atabey: Essays on the Mother(ing) Self (Alley Cat Books, 2019) as well as four other poetry books. She is a full professor of English Education at Saint Mary’s College of California and founding editor of The Acentos Review, an online journal of Latinx arts. Her fourth book of poetry, black god mother this body, is forthcoming from Black Freighter Press in 2022. She is currently working on a hybrid manuscript that explores black feminism, mothering, and resistance in and to the academy.

Raina received her BA in Journalism from Pennsylvania State University (2003), MA in Teaching of English from Teachers College Columbia University (2004), MA in Educational Leadership from Framingham State University (2014) and PhD in Education under the Culture, Curriculum and Change strand at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (2010). She recently completed her MFA in Poetry at Saint Mary’s College of California (2016).

TORRIN A. GREATHOUSE, REPRESENTED ARTIST

torrin a. greathouse is a transgender, cripple-punk, MFA candidate at the University of Minnesota. Her work is published in POETRY, New England Review, Ploughshares, and The Kenyon Review. They have received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Effing Foundation, Zoeglossia, and the University of Arizona Poetry Center. She is the author of Wound from the Mouth of a Wound (Milkweed Editions, 2020), winner of the Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry, selected by Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

CYNTHIA DEWI OKA, REPRESENTED ARTIST

Cynthia Dewi Oka is the author of Fire Is Not a Country (2021) and Salvage (2017) from Northwestern University Press, and Nomad of Salt and Hard Water (2016) from Thread Makes Blanket Press. A recipient of the Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Prize and the Leeway Transformation Award, her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, POETRY, Academy of American Poets, The Rumpus, PANK, Guernica, ESPNW, and elsewhere. In collaboration with Philadelphia Contemporary, Friends of the Rail Park, and Asian Arts Initiative, her experimental poem, Future Revisions, was exhibited at the Rail Park billboard in Philadelphia from July to August 2021. She has taught creative writing at Bryn Mawr College and is a 2021-2022 Poet in Residence at the Amy Clampitt House in Lenox, MA. She is originally from Bali, Indonesia.

JULIAN RANDALL, CURRENT WORKSHOP MENTOR

Julian Randall is a Living Queer Black poet from Chicago. A recipient of multiple fellowships, Julian is the winner of a Pushcart Prize. He holds an MFA in Poetry from Ole Miss. His writing has appeared in New York Times Magazine, POETRY, and The Atlantic. Julian is the author of Refuse (Pitt, 2018), winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and a finalist for an NAACP Image Award, The Pilar Ramirez Duology (Holt Books for Young Readers) and The Dead Don’t Need Reminding: Essays (Bold Type Books, 2023). He can be found at @JulianThePoet and on his website JulianDavidRandall.com

ANGEL NAFIS, CURRENT WORKSHOP MENTOR

Angel Nafis is the author of BlackGirl Mansion (Red Beard Press, 2012). She earned her BA at Hunter College and her MFA in poetry at Warren Wilson College. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed Reader, them, Poetry Magazine, The BreakBeat Poets anthologies series, and elsewhere. Nafis is the recipient of fellowships from Cave Canem, Millay Colony, the Poetry Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Founder and curator of the Greenlight Bookstore Poetry Salon, she is also half of the ODES FOR YOU Tour with poet, musician, and visual artist Shira Erlichman, and with poet Morgan Parker, she runs The Other Black Girl Collective. Reading poems and facilitating workshops across the country she lives and works in Brooklyn.

KEITH S WILSON, REPRESENTED ARTIST

Keith S. Wilson is currently a Stegner Fellow of poetry at Stanford. He is a multi-disciplinary artist, working in game design, photography, and new media, and is an Affrilachian Poet and a Cave Canem fellow as well as a recipient of an NEA Fellowship, an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant, and an Illinois Arts Council Agency Award. Keith was a Gregory Djanikian Scholar, and his poetry has won the Rumi Prize and been anthologized in Best New Poets and Best of the Net. His book, Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love (Copper Canyon), was recognized by the New York Times as a best new book of poetry.

JAKE SKEETS, REPRESENTED ARTIST

Jake Skeets is Tsi’naajínii born for Tábąąhá; his maternal grandparents are the Táchii’nii and his paternal grandparents are the Tódík’ózhí. Skeets is from Vanderwagen, New Mexico. He is the author of Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers, winner of the National Poetry Series, American Book Award, and Kate Tufts Discovery Award. He holds an M.F.A. in poetry from the Institute of American Indian Arts. His honors include a 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize, Mellon Projecting All Voices Fellowship, and Whiting Award. Skeets is an Assistant Professor and teaches at Diné College in Tsaile, Arizona.

ARIANA BROWN, REPRESENTED ARTIST

Ariana Brown is a queer Black Mexican American poet from the Southside of San Antonio, Texas, now based in Houston, Texas. She is the author of the poetry collections We Are Owed. (Grieveland, 2021) and Sana Sana (Game Over Books, 2020). Ariana's work investigates queer Black personhood in Mexican American spaces, Black relationality and girlhood, loneliness, and care. Her debut poetry EP, LET US BE ENOUGH, is available on Bandcamp.

She holds a B.A. in African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American Studies from UT Austin, an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh, and is pursuing an M.L.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of North Texas. Ariana is a 2014 national collegiate poetry slam champion and owes much of her practice to Black performance communities led by Black women poets from the South. She has been writing, performing, and teaching poetry for over ten years. Follow Ariana on Twitter and Instagram @ArianaThePoet.