Peter Gizzi is the author of Fierce Elegy; Now It's Dark; Archeophonics (finalist for the National Book Award); and In Defense of Nothing: Selected Poems 1987–2011, among other collections of poetry. His honors include the Lavan Younger Poet Award from the Academy of American Poets and fellowships in poetry from the Fund for Poetry, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. His editing projects include The House That Jack Built: The Collected Lectures of Jack Spicer and My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer. He is a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Frank Leslie Hampton is a graduate of Herbert H. Lehman College, City University of New York. He won the Puffin Foundation individual artist award for his solo exhibition Black History Art Show in Binghampton, New York, in 1998. In addition to his permanent commission, Hampton also designed a poster for Arts & Design in 2002.