In 1979, Barbara Berman organized one of the first Independent Press Festivals in the country in Washington, DC. Her poetry and prose have appeared in The VillageVoice, The Washington Post, Gargoyle, Lilith, Narrative Northeast and other publications. She is the author of a poetry chapbook, THE GENEROSITY OF STARS, from Finishing Line Press, and CURRENTS, a full-length collection of poetry from Three Mile Harbor Press. She has lived in San Francisco for 34 years, with her husband, Clifford Lee, an environmental lawyer. Her books can be purchased at Small Press Distribution-SPD. For signed copies, contact her directly [email protected]

Claire Blotter writes & performs poetry with movement & body percussion. She represented San Francisco in National Poetry Slams in Boston and Chicago. Her poetry has appeared in Rattle, Spillway, Plant-Human Quarterly, California Fire & Water: A Climate Crisis Anthology, amongother journals and anthologies, & in 3 chapbooks. She was a finalist for the Fischer Prize and judged the 2019 competition. She has taught writing at S.F. State University, John F. Kennedy University, Dominican University & College of Marin. She teaches poetry writing to children and teens through the California Poets in the Schools & Poetry Out Loud Programs.

Linda Michel-Cassidy's writing appears or is upcoming in Rattle, Painted Bride, No Tokens, Catapult, The Tahoma Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She is a senior reviews editor at Tupelo Quarterly, a board member at The Marin Poetry Center, and a contributing editor at Entropy. Michel-Cassidy holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and another, in visual arts, from the California College of the Arts. She is working on two poetrychapbooks and a poetry/image installation to be shown at the Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model. She lives on a houseboat in Sausalito, CA. More at:lmichelcassidy.com