Naomi Shihab Nye is author/editor of more than 25 books of poetry and prose, has worked widely as a visiting writer for many years, and lives in old downtown San Antonio with her photographer husband, Michael Nye.

Having never been “discovered,” Monica Teresa Ortiz nevertheless still writes poetry, flash fiction, and novels [simultaneously beginning but never finishing] in her spare time. She holds a BA from UT Austin, an MFA from UTEP and grew up on a line of land somewhere between Amarillo and Lubbock.

Radames Ortiz’s work has appeared in numerous publications. He was awarded a 2003 Archie D. and Bertha Walker fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He was also nominated for a 2003 Pushcart Prize. He currently resides in Houston.

Mary Gomez Parham has published poems in the The Caribbean Writer, The Atlanta Review and other literary magazines and anthologies, as well as the Texas Poetry Calendar. Her scholarly essays on Latin American literature have appeared in many journals and books in the U.S. and Latin America.

Dave Parsons’ first collection of poems, Editing Sky, was the winner of the 1999 Texas Review Poetry Prize and a 2000 Finalist for the Violet Crown Book Awards. His second book, Color of Mourning, was released from Texas Review Press/Texas A&M University Press in 2007.

Emmy Pérez is the author of Solstice (Swan Scythe Press, 2003) and her work appears in The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry (University of Arizona Press, 2007). She has received poetry fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Currently, she teaches in the MFA program at the University of Texas-Pan American.

Donna Perkins is a visual artist who writes in fits and spurts. Her writings include: TimeSlice, Houston Poetry 2005, University of Houston’s New Playwrights Workshop productions 2005 (“Bed”) and 2003 (“Touching Leaves”). Donna is the co-founder and current facilitator of The Archway Readings which recently celebrated it’s 10th anniversary.

Jere Pfister has had several of her plays performed locally and has experimented with writing for musical theatre as well as dance. She has worked as a mentor in the Alley Theatre’s Houston Young Playwright’s Exchange. She performed as a storyteller for some years and is currently working on a memoir.

Robert Phillips is the author of several books of poetry, including Circumstances Beyond Our Control, Spinach Days and Breakdown Lane, which was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review and was also a runner-up for the Poets’ Prize. His honors include the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He teaches at the University of Houston, where he has been director of the Creative Writing Program and now is a John and Rebecca Moores Scholar.

John Poch directs the creative writing program at Texas Tech. His first book, Poems, is published with Orchises Press. He is the editor of 32 Poems Magazine.

Deseree Marie Probasco is a graduate of Princeton University with a degree in Literature, concentrating in avant-garde poetry. She resides in Conroe with her husband Daniel, and daughter Isabel, a crazy dog, and two goats. She is working on her first book length collection of poetry and artwork.

Barbara Ras is the author of Bite Every Sorrow, which won the Walt Whitman Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and One Hidden Stuff. Her poems have appeared in TriQuarterly, Massachusetts Review, The New Yorker, Gulf Coast, Orion, and other anthologies and magazines nationwide. She has taught in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers and directs Trinity University Press in San Antonio.

Robin Reagler writes poems and essays in Houston, where she is the Executive Director of Writers in the Schools (WITS). Her poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, VOLT, American Letters and Commentary, Gulf Coast, and other journals.

Daniel Rice has his degree in English Literature, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Houston and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from its law school. He hosts the popular poetry reading series at The Woodlands Barnes & Noble. Daniel is a published poet, an award winning playwright and writes fiction.

Elizabeth Rice (1948-2005) was born in Austin and grew up in Houston. She attended Duke University and received a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law in 1973. She worked for several law firms before starting her own practice while raising her family. In 1994 she was named an associate judge for the 257th District Court in Harris County, where she worked for four years before her declining health forced her to retire. She found ways to love life as the task of living became harder, including writing essays and poetry.

Born in Galveston in 1941, John E. Rice is a writer of poetry, fiction and non-fiction and an artist working in several media. Rice has worked in medical research, horticulture and international shipping. He is an executive in the international maritime industry and is married with four children and four grandchildren.

Sally Ridgway’s poetry has been published in literary journals such as Gulf Coast, Texas Review and Sulphur River Literary Review. She has led creative writing workshops, taught English at high schools in Galveston and Houston and at Houston Community College, and has an MFA in Writing from Vermont College.

Daniel Rifenburgh’s first book, Advent, was published in 2002 by the Waywiser Press of London and received the Natalie Ornish Award from the Texas Institute of Letters. In 1996 he received the Robert H. Winner Award from the Poetry Society of America. He holds an M.A. from the University of Florida and has lived in Houston since 1988. In 2005 he enjoyed a Dobie Paisano Fellowship from the University of Texas and the Texas Institute of Letters.

Erika Rodriguez Hernandez is a college freshman at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, UT where she is working towards a B.A. in English. She was a juried poet for Houston Poetry Fest 2006 and won the National Scholastic American Voices Award last year. Her hobbies include college.

Iris Rozencwajg grew up in Aruba. Introduced to poetry writing in Inprint workshops, she is enrolled in Vermont College’s MFA program while continuing to teach English at Houston Community College.

Janet Ruffin, poet, painter and arts educator, is artist-in-residence at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Pediatrics. She is currently working on a collection of poems and paintings concerning creativity and death.

Paul Ruffin is Regents Distinguished Professor of English at Sam Houston State University, where he edits The Texas Review and directs Texas Review Press. His published works include two novels, three collections of short stories, five collections of poetry, two books of essays, and eleven other books that he edited or coedited.