Erika J. Simpson holds an MFA ('21) in creative writing from the University of Kentucky and is the recipient of the 2021 UK MFA Award in Nonfiction. Her essay, “If You Ever Find Yourself,” was published in Roxane Gay’s The Audacity and featured in Best American Essays 2022, edited by Alexander Chee. This Is Your Mother is her debut memoir, and she also writes fiction for the page and screen.

 

Allegra Solomon received her MFA ('22) from the University of Kentucky. Her debut short story collection, There’s Nothing Left for You Here, won the Kimbilio National Fiction prize. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and has appeared in The Georgia Review, TriQuarterly, American Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Lolwe, and more.

 

Alfonso Zapata received his MFA ('23) in poetry at the University of Kentucky. He is the recipient of the Jim Lawless IV Poetry Prize and the 2022 & 2023 UK MFA Poetry Awards. His work has appeared in Sho Poetry Journal, and he is the author of the chapbook, Together Now (Belle Point Press, 2024). His first full-length book, To Pay for Our Next Breath, won the TRP Southern Poetry Breakthrough Prize.