About Naomi Shihab Nye:
Introduced by Sonia Saldivar-Hull and moderated by Reggie Scott Young.
Francis Hicks grew up in a dubious neighborhood in Milwaukee where he got to play drums in a rock and roll band. He took up writing as a way to meet women and ended up writing a novel, The Long Ride. Now living in San Antonio, TX, he has been a successful salesman, house flipper and occasional poet.
Vanessa Couto Johnson's "Try the yen relish," a sixteen- page prose poem sequence, was released in a first BoxSet from Oxidant | Engine in early 2018. Softblow, Thrush, Field, Blackbird, Cheat River Review, Cream City Review, and other journals have featured her poetry.
About Helene Segura:
Born and raised in Los Angeles, a former soccer player for Texas A&M, and an avid world traveler, her wide variety of life experiences and exposure to cultures around the world allow her to offer unique insight and assistance to her audiences.
Clay Coppedge has worked in central Texas as a sportswriter, feature writer and reporter. His stories have appeared in Acres USA, Austin American-Statesman, Austin Chronicle, Austin Sun, Edible Austin, Elysian Fields Quarterly, Field & Stream, Houston Chronicle, Progressive Farmer, Texas Fisherman, Texas Golfer, Texas Co-op Power, Texas Highways and others.
About Joy Jones & Jim Nelson:
Joy Jones, native Texan, was born in Nacogdoches and graduated from high school there, then from Stephen F. Austin University. She lived for almost thirty years in Lavaca County where she raised her three children and taught high school English and social studies.
