Yahya Frederickson

Yahya Frederickson’s books include The Last Eelpouts (North Dakota State University, forthcoming), In a Homeland Not Far: New & Selected Poems (Press 53, 2017), The Gold Shop of Ba-‘Ali (Lost Horse, 2014), and five chapbooks, including Khumásiyát: Poems from the Moroccan Desert (Finishing Line, 2025) and The Birds of al-Merjeh Square: Poems from Syria (Finishing Line, 2014). His poems have appeared recently in Beloit Poetry Journal, Flyway, The Georgia Review, The Louisville Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Poem-a-Day, RHINO, and elsewhere. A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Yemen and Fulbright Scholar in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Kyrgyzstan, he’s a professor of English at Minnesota State University Moorhead, on Dakota and Anishinaabe lands.

Kara Olson is a poet living in Minneapolis. A recipient of The Sewanee Review poetry prize, Kara Olson's work has appeared or is forthcoming The Massachusetts Review, Third Coast, and other publications. Her debut manuscript, The Order of Blooming, was a finalist for the 2025 National Poetry Series, and her second collection, The Light Between Us, was a finalist for the 2026 Trio Award with Trio House Press. She is a professor of English at North Hennepin Community College and is humbled daily by working with students from all walks of life and by advocating for educational equity and justice.