Guy LeCharles Gonzalez (Publisher and Editor-in-Chief) is a Mets fan from the Bronx, now residing in New Jersey, and has a beautiful wife and two amazing kids. He won some poetry slams, founded a reading series, co-authored a book of poetry, and still writes when the mood hits him and he has the time. He prefers Pumpkin and India Pale Ales or Eagle Rare bourbon, still reads comic books, and hasn't completely let go of his plans for world domination.

Joanna Hoffman is a grad student, non-profit worker and poet from Maryland, now living in Brooklyn, New York.

During the summer of 1999, Bassey Ikpi took a weekend trip to New York City. She was enamored by the very soul of the city. Shortly after, Bassey called New York home.  This Nigerian-born spoken word artist has appeared on HBO’s Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry three times and is currently working on her first collection of poetry and prose entitled, From This Safe Space, and can be found performing at colleges and universities across the country.

Adan Jimenez is a loud, somewhat obnoxious fellow who thinks he's always right. He's a California native who moved to New York in 2000 and instantly fell in love, as the city is nothing and everything like he'd ever read, watched, and consumed. Of course, he instantly got his heart broken as the city is fickle, but his love is an unconditional love, and even though the city curses and abuses him from time to time, Adan can't help but love it all the more. He loves comics too, and thinks Brian K. Vaughn is the most handsome man currently working in comics. Go Jets!

C.L. Jones, 29, is originally from Buffalo, NY. She is a writer and poet, teaches a poetry workshop and hosts her own open mic poetry venue in Cleveland, OH. She has family in the NYC area and when she visits, the experience is always an artistic motivation.

Adam Karas is a Colorado native who moved to NYC in 1999 and has lived in Brooklyn, New Jersey and now Manhattan, and lived in Europe and Asia for five years prior. When not working in technology, he is looking for a fine Belgium beer to enjoy.

Lisa Marie Kelleher grew up on Long Island and later moved to the City to get her BA in journalism from NYU.  Much to her horror, she now lives in Ohio, where she is studying for her Master's of Library and Information Science degree at Kent State.

A recipient of artist fellowships from Cave Canem and Vona (Voices of OurNation), Alan King's fiction and poems have appeared in The Arabesques Review, Warpland, Foliate Oak, Nimble, The Scruffy Dog Review, and Word Catalyst Magazine. His other publications include Adagio Verse Quarterly, Ink Stains, Taboo Haiku, and Whimperbang.

David King is a Queens-born, Brooklyn-raised actor, writer & educator who believes in communalism and the arts. Because the View, a collection of original poems, images & the random, is directly inspired by the only city he truly loves and has ever called home.

Peggy Landsman grew up near New York City and always spent a lot of time there. The first poetry reading she ever took part in was at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery. Her writing has appeared in both online and print publications, including Breathe: 101 Contemporary Odes (C&R Press), Iodine Poetry Journal, The Muse Strikes Back (Story Line Press), and Spindle. Her poetry chapbook, To-wit To-woo, is available from FootHills Publishing. She has also published a contemporary romance novel, Passion's Professor (Midnight Showcase), under the pen name, Samantha Rhodes.

Raina J. León, Cave Canem graduate fellow (2006) and member of the Carolina African American Writers Collective, has been published in Boxcar Poetry Review and Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade among others with forthcoming work in OCHO, African American Review, Black Arts Quarterly and Poem Memoir Story.  She is a graduate of Teachers College Columbia University and a friend to the beautiful artists of the louderARTS Project and Acentos series.

In the seven years Kevin MacDonald has lived in New York, he's worked in varying capacities at several major publishing houses and is completing his masters in creative writing at City College. He lives in Astoria, Queens because Manhattan is like an amusement park and, while it's fun to ride the rides, at some point you need to get away from the people in the funny animal costumes.

Marie-Elizabeth Mali was born and raised in NYC and is married to fellow New Yorker, Taylor Mali. She is a student in the MFA in Poetry program at Sarah Lawrence College and her work has appeared in the online journal 2River View and is forthcoming in Calyx.

Taylor Mali is a former teacher turned full-time poet, the 10th generation in his family to be born and based in New York City. One of the original poets to appear on the HBO series Def Poetry Jam, he is also the only person to have won the National Poetry Slam Championship four times.

Brooklyn resident Marty McConnell received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, co-founded the NYC-based literary nonprofit the louderARTS Project, and is a member of the Piper Jane Project.

Syreeta McFadden is a writer and photographer from the dairy state whose motto is 'forward'. She is lactose intolerant and eco-friendly. She's a proud resident of the Shire (ahem, Brooklyn).

Stephanie R. Myers (Myers Music Experience) is a writer living in Park Slope, Brooklyn. She is also a staff writer for the music magazine The Deli.

Amanda Nazario was born in Greenwich Village in the late '70s and has a BFA in screenwriting from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. She represented team NYC-URBANA at the National Poetry Slam in 1998 and 1999. In September 2007 she earned her MFA in fiction writing from the City College of New York, where she now works as a writing tutor. She is also a dog walker on the Upper West Side.