Board President, Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo, is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and the author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016). A former Steinbeck Fellow, Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, and Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grantee, she’s received residencies from Hedgebrook, Ragdale, National Parks Arts Foundation, and Poetry Foundation. She has work published in Acentos Review, CALYX, crazyhorse, [Pank], and American Poetry Review among others. Most recently her poem, “Battlegrounds” featured at The Academy of American Poets, Poem-A-Day. She’s coordinated workshops and panels with artworxLA, Latina Writers Conference, and #dignidadliteraria. Learn more at her website.
Lauren Eggert-Crowe is the author of four poetry chapbooks. Her poetry has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Sixth Finch, Black Warrior Review, and DIAGRAM, among others. Her prose has appeared in Salon, The Rumpus, and Los Angeles Review of Books. She has been awarded residencies at Dorland Mountain Arts and Ragdale Foundation. She has an MFA in Poetry from The University of Arizona.
Luivette Resto is an award-winning poet, a mother of 3 revolutionary humans, a Wonder Woman fan, and a middle school English teacher. She was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico but proudly raised in the Bronx. She is a CantoMundo and Macondo Fellow and a Pushcart Prize nominee. She also sits on the inaugural board of directors for Women Who Submit. Her two books of poetry Unfinished Portrait and Ascension have been published by Tía Chucha Press. Her recent poetry collection Living on Islands Not Found on Map, published by FlowerSong Press, is a finalist for the 2022 Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award at the International Latino Book Awards. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles.
Rachelle Yousuf has worked and volunteered in the Los Angeles literary community for the past decade. She has served as both National President and L.A. Chapter President of the Women’s National Book Association. She has also worked with literary organizations such as YALLWEST, the LA branch of The Freya Project, and Bookswell, coordinating events and programs. Previously, she was the head of membership at PEN Center USA, a literary arts and human rights nonprofit. Rachelle holds a master’s in English Literature from California State University, Northridge, where she currently works in fundraising as the Annual Giving Manager.
Noriko Nakada is a multi-racial Asian American who creates fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art to capture the stories she has been told not to talk about. Her memoir Through Eyes Like Mine, was shortlisted for the 2040 Book Award. Excerpts, essays, and poetry have been published in Hippocampus, Catapult, Linden Ave, and elsewhere. She is an LAUSD teacher and parent as well as a UTLA union organizer. Noriko is represented by Emily Keyes of Keyes Agency.
Sakae Manning, a Choctaw/Nisei two-spirit, centers storytelling on alliances and intersectionality amongst BIWOC. Manning is committed to creating inclusive and intersectional spaces for BIPOC and underrepresented writers. They facilitated strategy and implementation for the most recent Altadena Co-Poet Laureates. For AWP Seattle, they co-produced BIPOC Women/Nonbinary Writers Cultivating Community and Safe Writing Spaces. They co-produced a LAMBDA LIT event amplifying BIPOC LGBTQIA+ writers, and as the Annenberg Community Beach House writer-in-residence, they produced salons featuring BIWOC writers. They are the former social media editor for non-profit Women Who Submit, an AWP Writer-to-Writer Program alum, and an Anaphora fellow. Manning is a board trustee for First Entertainment Credit Union after an extensive career in entertainment global and strategic marketing.