Toi Derricotte has published four books of poems, including the award-winning collection, Tender. Her literary memoir, The Black Notebooks, won the 1998 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Non-Fiction and was selected as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Cornelius Eady, a distinguished poet and playwright whose work is often evocative of blues and jazz, has been honored with fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently Hardheaded Weather.
Derricotte and Eady are co-founders of Cave Canem, a nation organization for African American poetry and poets.