Host
Maisy Card is the author of the novel These Ghosts Are Family, which won an American Book Award, the 2021 OCM Bocas Prize in fiction, and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.
Readers
Kem Joy Ukwu‘s short story collection, Locked Gray / Linked Blue: Stories was published by the Kindred Books Imprint of Brain Mill Press and won a 2018 Foreword INDIES Award (Bronze Winner in Literary). Her fiction has appeared in Auburn Avenue, PANK, Jabberwock Review, Carve, and Blue Lake Review, among other literary publications.
K. Desireé Milwood is a Brooklyn-born, Panamanian American poet, author, and performer celebrated for her distinctively witty, incisive, and unconventional approach to haiku and poetry. Her published works include Poems for My Namesake (2016) and her poetry has been featured in A Womb of Violet: An Anthology (2019), A Womb of Violet, Volume II: Blackness, Resistance, and Being (2021) and Whisper Whisper Shout (2025), each offering thought-provoking reflections on identity, resilience, and cultural memory. Active in Newark’s vibrant poetry scene since 2004, K. Desireé was the first host of the city’s longest running open mic, The People’s Open Mic. Desire has performed in Def Poetry Jam’s An Evening of Healing, Power & Poetry, Newark Symphony Hall’s Symphony of Survival (2019) Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival (2024) and the North to Shore Festival (2025).With a voice and vision that continues to resonate across mediums, K. Desireé’s work remains a dynamic force, bridging poetry, music, and community engagement.
Meryl Branch-McTiernan is a novelist, essayist, and screenwriter. She
cowrote and produced the comedy feature, Katie’s Mom, which won the Audience Award for Fusion Features at the 2023 Dances with Films festival. Her short fiction has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, The Southampton Review and Beyond. Her debut novel will be released by Akashic Books in June of 2026. She received her BS in Television, Radio, and Film from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and her MFA in Creative Writing and Literature from Stony Brook University. She lives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
