Preston Allen was born on the island of Roatan in Honduras. He is the recipient of a State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature, and a winner of the Books and Books Poetry Prize. His short works have been published in numerous literary journals, including Seattle Review, Crab Orchard Review, Gulfstream, Asili: the Journal of Multicultural Heartspeak, Gulfstream, and have been anthologized in Having a Wonderful Time: an Anthology of South Florida Writers, and Miami Noir. A versatile writer of short prose, Allen has also published his short erotic works in Brown Sugar: A Collection of Erotic Black Fiction (an L.A. Times Bestseller) and Brown Sugar 2: Hot One Night Stands. His story "Southernmost Triangle" was a finalist for a Nerve.com Henry Miller Award and was published in Wanderlust (Plume Penguin, 2005). His first novel, Hoochie Mama, is a mystery/thriller set in Opa-Locka, Florida, the Baghdad of the South, where he grew up. He has written two other novels as well: Bounce (2003) and Come With Me, Sheba (2004), winner of the Miami New Times Best Novel by a Local Writer. He teaches at Miami-Dade College in Miami, Florida. §

Walter Brown is a professor emeritus and former dean of the School of Education at North Carolina Central University. His study of calligraphy began in Washington, DC, where he was a member of the Washington Calligraphers' Guild. A member of the Carolina Lettering Arts Society and the Triangle Calligraphers' Guild, he has taught calligraphy at NCCU, Durham Technical Community College, the Durham Arts Council, Butner Correctional Institution, the Chapel Hill Museum, and the Duke Institute for Learning In Retirement. Brown holds a B.S. and Ph.D. from North Carolina College at Durham (now NCCU) and an M.A. from New York University. He also served in the U.S. Army. §

Pamela George is a professor of educational psychology, recently retired from North Carolina Central University. She is also a painter and owner of the P'Gale Fine Art Studio in Durham. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Beyond her work as a painter, George has illustrated a dozen books, produced seven documentary films and has exhibited her art in numerous group and solo exhibitions. She is a member of the artist guilds of Durham and Orange counties and the Allied Artists of Winston-Salem. She recently completed an assignment as a Fulbright Professor, with her husband David Austin, teaching in the Maldives off the coast of Sri Lanka. §

Jaki Shelton Green is a writer and activist. She received the North Carolina Award for Poetry in 2003 for her fine poetry and "inveterate championing of the underdog." Her poetry has appeared in such publications as Ms., The Crucible, The African-American Review, Obsidian, and Essence. She has published four books of poetry through Carolina Wren Press: Dead on Arrival (1977, and reprinted in 1983 and 1996), Conjure Blues (1996), singing a tree into dance (2003), and Breath of the Song: New and Selected Poems (2005). Her works have been choreographed and performed by the Duke University Dance Department, Choreo Dance Company, Danca Nova Dance Company, The Naropa Dance Institute, The Miami Ballet Company, as well as The African-American Dance Ensemble, led by Chuck Davis, at the Kennedy Center. Her poem, "Bring Me Your Breasts" was performed throughout 2002 by Two Near The Edge Dance Company, in commemoration of breast cancer survivors. Green was born in Efland, NC, in 1953. She attended Greater Hartford Community College, majoring in Early Childhood Education, and Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She holds an M.A. in Community Economic Development from the Development Training Institute of Maryland. She is a lifelong human services advocate; she has worked with Legal Services, and on issues such as domestic violence. She is an advocate for women, children and the mentally ill. Additionally, she has used poetry and art as a healing and empowerment tool for disenfranchized populations such as the homeless, the newly literate, and incarcerated women. Currently, she is the spokesperson for the 2005-6 North Carolina Women's Health Report Card through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for Women's Health Research. She lives in Mebane, NC. §

Linda Pennisi is the recipient of an Individual Artist Grant from the Saltonstall Foundation for the arts. Her work has appeared in several small magazines, such as Hunger Mountain, Cimmaron Review, Lyric Review, Runes, Bellevue Literary Review, and Faultline. Her first book of poetry, Seamless, was the winner of the Perugia Press Intro Prize, and was published in 2003. A former psychiatric nurse, she returned to finish her B.A. when her children were young. Since then, she has completed an MFA in Writing from Vermont College. Currently, she teaches Creative Writing at LeMoyne College in NY. Her chapbook, Suddenly, Fruit, is forthcoming from Carolina Wren Press in September, 2006. §

William Pitt Root has published more than 10 books of poetry, several of which have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize or National Book Awards. His most recent book, Sometimes Life is Good, was published in 2005. Individually, his poems have been published in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Poetry, Harpers, and The Nation, as well as numerous anthologies. He has received Guggenheim and Rockefeller grants, several Pushcart Prizes and an NEA grant. He taught at Hunter College from 1986 until 2004. Currently, he resides in Bayfield, Colorado, and travels to teach workshops all over the nation. His short collection, White Boots, is forthcoming from Carolina Wren Press in September, 2006. §

Andrea Selch has an MFA from UNC-Greensboro, and a PhD from Duke University, where she taught creative writing from 1999 until 2003. Her poems have been published in Calyx, Equinox, The Greensboro Review, Oyster Boy Review, Luna, The MacGuffin, and Prairie Schooner. Her full-length collection of poetry, Startling, was runner-up in the 2003 Turning Point competition and was published by Turning Point Press in October, 2004, and is available at www.turningpointbooks.com or by special order through Carolina Wren Press. §

Evie Shockley's poems, reviews, and critical essays appear or are forthcoming in journals and anthologies such as African American Review, Asheville Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Blue Fifth Review, Brilliant Corners, Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, From the Fishouse: An Audio Archive of Emerging Poets, Hambone, HOW2, MiPOesias, nocturnes (re)view, Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry, Poetry Daily: Poems from the World's Most Popular Poetry Website, Rainbow Darkness: An Anthology of African American Poetry, and Talisman. She is a Cave Canem fellow and was awarded a residency at the Hedgebrook women writers' retreat center. Shockley earned her Ph.D. from Duke University and is currently an assistant professor of English at Rutgers University, where she teaches African American literature and creative writing. Her current scholarly project is a study of the relationships between race and innovation in African American poetry. Her full-length collection of poetry, a half-red sea, is forthcoming from Carolina Wren Press in Fall, 2006. She will judge the 2007 Carolina Wren Press Poetry Series contest. §

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