Sun Yung Shin was born in Seoul, Korea and was raised in the Chicago area. She is a poet, writer, and cultural worker. Shin is the author of the poetry collections The Wet Hex (2022); Unbearable Splendor (finalist for the 2017 PEN USA Literary Award for Poetry, winner of the 2016 Minnesota Book Award for poetry); Rough, and Savage; and Skirt Full of Black (winner of the 2007 Asian American Literary Award for poetry), and the memoir Heart Eater forthcoming with Black Lawrence Press. She is co-editor of Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption, and author of bilingual illustrated book for children Cooper’s Lesson. She is the editor of What We Hunger For: Refugee and Immigrant Stories on Food and Family (2021) and of A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota. She lives in Minneapolis where she co-directs the community organization Poetry Asylum with poet Su Hwang.

Muna Abdulahi is a first-generation Somali-American, Black, Muslim, International Spoken Word Poet based in Minneapolis MN. In 2018, Muna ranked 8th in the Women of the World Poetry Slam Competition and is a three-time MN Grand Slam Poetry Champion. She’s performed in many U.S. states and international countries. Her work has been published/featured in Poetry Foundation, Minnesota History Center, Button Poetry, and more. In her work, Muna explores themes of belonging and identity, telling the stories that are erased, silenced, devalued, or buried, the stories that are difficult, the stories that bring together communities, youth, and discussions.

Carissa Natalia Baconguis is a writer and educator from Laguna, Philippines. Graduating from Ateneo de Manila University and St. Cloud State University, she is the winner of the 2024 Nine Syllables Press Chapbook Contest Award as well as the 2019 Loyola Schools Award for the Arts. Her poems can be found in in Pa-Liwanag: Writings by Filipinas in Translation (Gantala Press/Tilted Axis Press, 2020), 聲韻詩刊 Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine Hong Kong, and Young Star Philippines. Her debut book, “Sacred and Perishable,” is slated to be published in Fall 2025 by Nine Syllables Press.

Rae Rowe is a queer, non-binary, gender-fluid, Viet-Am, child of a boat person-refugee, writer, movement worker, creator, and future ghost who uses hir work to explore inherited trauma, liminal spaces, auntie whispers, and connect with community. Rae is a 2025 Periplus fiction fellow and a 2025-2026 Loft Mentorship Series fellow for creative nonfiction. Rae is also the co-founder of The Paper Lantern Project: An AAPI Gender & Reproductive Justice Mutual Aid Fund and Arts Movement which centers care and creating new narratives around these topics while working towards forming new futures of true liberation. Rae currently lives on unceded, ancestral lands of the Dakota people in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Thuba Nguyễn is an educator, author and community advocate. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE) with a focus on Special Needs and Leadership. Her children’s book initiative is a grassroots movement that helped sell and distribute 1000 copies nationally and internationally.

As a published children’s book author, she works to promote early literacy development in young children within historically underrepresented communities and families. Thuba believes children’s books are becoming a cornerstone for social justice work among young students- and simply put, representation matters. She has traveled across the nation to visit schools and scholars from diverse backgrounds and language abilities, observing and learning more about their social justice models in education. Notably, Nguyen toured schools on the East Coast in Philadelphia, Rhode Island, and Boston, presenting on the importance of writing and reading instruction for early and youth students, with a focus on cultural stories and storytelling. She also assisted the San Francisco Public Library in relaunching their family story time program. Her work education and philosophy approach centers on culturally responsive teaching, abolitionist teaching, Black feminism, and anti-bias and anti-racist pedagogy. Thuba lives in Coon Rapids with her partner and two dogs.

Chavonn Williams Shen (she/they) is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was a 2022 McKnight Writing fellow and a first runner-up for The Los Angeles Review Flash Fiction Contest. She was also a Best of the Net Award finalist, a Pushcart Prize nominee, a winner of the Loft Literary Center’s Mentor Series, a fellow with the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, a fellow with Sweeter the Juice, and an instructor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. A Bread Loaf, Tin House, VONA, and Hurston/Wright workshop alum, her writing has appeared in: Diode, Anomaly, Booth, AGNI, and others. Her debut book, Still Life with Rope and River, is out now.

War Bonnet reverentially explores and reinterprets the darker, more recessed ancestral music created by North America’s indigenous people.

Growing up on the Bois Forte Indian Reservation in Nett Lake, MN.
Founding member, Chaz Wagner grew up around the songs, sounds, and stories of his Anishinaabe people. He began playing guitar and music at a young age-
“I was somewhat disappointed by the Native American bands sounding like something they’re not. They were usually very conventional, kind of blues and country type stuff, or new age music. I felt I was destined to create native music that was more aggressive, spookier, and more kinetic.”

Eventually, Chaz met co-founder Tony Parson (Leech Lake). Years later formed and pioneered the “Indigenous Fusion” sound – blending traditional pow wow with modern instruments and singing about serious topics affecting Indian country.
Chaz links the outfit to his Native American Culture & Heritage.