José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants, and the author of two collections of poems, including, most recently, Promises of Gold—which was long-listed for the 2023 National Book Awards. His debut book of poems, Citizen Illegal, was a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and a winner of the Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize. Along with Felicia Rose Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He lives in Jersey City, NJ.  

Heejung Cho is a mixed media artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Seoul, Korea, her artistic practice centers on constructing evocative spaces and figures, exploring the energetic connections between people and their environment through careful dismantling and abstraction of structure. Expanding her sculptural approach, Cho has developed a distinctive practice in woodblock monoprints through residencies at the Lower East Side Print Shop, the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, and the Women’s Studio Workshop. She earned her BFA in Sculpture from Seoul National University and an MFA in Visual Art from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. Cho has held positions at the Museum of Arts and Design, the Newark Museum, and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. Her other achievements include an AIM Fellowship at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, alongside numerous accomplishments throughout the US and Korea.