Jim Harrison (1937–2016) was the author of over three dozen books, including Legends of the Fall and Dalva, and served as the food columnist for the magazines Brick and Esquire. He published fourteen volumes of poetry, the final being Dead Man’s Float (2016). His work has been translated into two dozen languages and produced as four feature-length films. As a young poet he co-edited Sumac magazine with fellow poet Dan Gerber, and earned fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. In 2007, he was elected into the Academy of American Arts and Letters.

Thirteenth United States Poet Laureate (2004–2006) Ted Kooser is a visiting professor at the University of Nebraska, where he teaches poetry and nonfiction writing. His collection Delights & Shadows was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2005. His memoir, Local Wonders: Seasons in the Bohemian Alps, a Barnes & Noble Discover finalist, also won the 2002 Friends of American Writers Award and ForeWord Magazine’s gold medal recognition for autobiographical writing. He is the author of eight full-length collections of poetry, nine chapbooks and special editions. He lives with his wife Kathleen in Nebraska.

Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet, children's book author, essayist, and translator. Born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, Nye grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio. She earned her BA from Trinity University in San Antonio and is the author and/or editor of more than thirty volumes. Nye is the recipient of numerous honors including the Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Book Critics Circle and fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, and Witter Bynner Foundation. She has spent more than 40 years traveling the world to lead writing workshops and is the Poetry Foundation's Young People's Poet Laureate. She currently resides in San Antonio, Texas.