Joyce Ashuntantang (Joyce Ash) is a poet, actress, interdisciplinary scholar, and Professor of English at the University of Hartford, Connecticut. A graduate of universities on three continents, Dr. Ashuntantang received a BA in English with a minor in Theater Arts from the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon, a Master's in Library and Information Science from the University of Aberystwyth, UK, and a Ph.D. in English/African Literature from the City University of New York. She is the author of many scholarly and creative publications, which include Landscaping Postcoloniality: The Dissemination of Cameroon Anglophone Literature (2009), Routledge Handbook of Minority Discourses in African Literature, coedited (2020), and four poetry collections, Their Champagne Party Will End: Poems in Honor of Bate Besong, coedited (2008), A Basket of Flaming Ashes (2010), Beautiful Fire (2018, Arabic trans. 2024) and Bearing Witness, coedited (2020). Beautiful Fire won the prestigious African Literature Association (USA) Book of the Year Award - Creative Writing ([...] has appeared as an invited poet in many countries worldwide, including England, Germany, Nicaragua, Greece, Costa Rica, Colombia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, and the USA. She has also contributed to several international anthologies of poetry, including Peace for Afrin, Peace for Kurdistan (2019), Hiraeth-Erzolirzoli: A Wales - Cameroon Anthology (2018), Poems for the Hazara (2014), Reflections: An Anthology of New Work by African Women Poets (2013) and We Have Crossed Many Rivers: New Poetry from Africa (2012). Her poems have been translated into Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Turkish, Bangla, Arabic and Romanian. Her Awards include the Spirit of Detroit Award for Leadership (1987), Ministry of Culture, Cameroon, Award for Outstanding Performance in Theater (1989, 1994), Belle K. Ribicoff Prize for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship (2012), Kathrak-Bangladesh Literary Award (2018), the Pan-African Ivory Club of Tampa Educator award (2018) and the President's Service award for outstanding volunteer contributions in community service to the United States (2024). Professor Ashuntantang is also a community leader dedicated to empowering women and girls to reach their full potential. She is the vice president of the African Women Summit, Cameroon chapter, and president of the all-female Ex-Saker Students Association in the USA.