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James Crews is the author of Turning Toward Grief: Reflections on Life, Loss & Appreciation, Breathing Room: Poems of Rest & Retreat, and editor of several bestselling poetry anthologies, including Love Is for All of Us, a collection of LGBTQ+ love poems co-edited with his husband, Brad Peacock. He has also edited The Wonder of Small Things (winner of the New England Book Award), The Path to Kindness (winner of the Nautilus Award), and How to Love the World, which has sold over 100,000 copies to date. He has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, and in People Magazine, The Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, The Sun Magazine, and The Washington Post. James lives with his husband on forty rocky acres in Vermont that they are restoring to a habitat for pollinators and native species. jamescrews.net

Michael Dumanis is a member of the Literature faculty and the Director of Poetry and Editor of Bennington Review at Bennington College. He is the author of the poetry collections Creature (Four Way Books, 2023, selected as a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award) and My Soviet Union (University of Massachusetts Press), winner of the Juniper Prize for Poetry. He is also coeditor (with poet Cate Marvin) of the younger poets’ anthology Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century (Sarabande) and (with poet Kevin Prufer) of Russell Atkins: On the Life & Work of an American Master (Pleiades). Born in Moscow, in the former Soviet Union, Dumanis emigrated with his family at the age of five and grew up in Western New York. He currently resides with his family in North Bennington. michaeldumanis.com

Jess Bouchard is a quirky poet, former ELA teacher, current school leader and activist whose work is rooted in grief, belonging, and the faithful search for magic. After a decade and a half devoted to teaching and helping young people claim the power of their own voices -- and to leading and growing Queer Connect, a nonprofit dedicated to creating affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ youth -- she is returning to poetry as both a practice of healing and reclamation. She is proud of a recent publication in Love Is for All of Us: Poems of Tenderness and Belonging from the LGBTQ+ Community and Friends, edited by James Crews. She holds an MFA from Rosemont College and currently serves as the DEI Administrator for the SVSU. Jess lives with her two daughters and believes deeply in poetry as a place of refuge and becoming.