Joel Peckham is a poet, essayist, and literary scholar. He has published three other collections of poetry: The Heat of What Comes and Nightwalking from Pecan Grove Press and Movers and Shakers from Pudding House. His poems have appeared in many literary journals, including The Beloit Poetry Journal, Black Warrior Review, Prairie Schooner, Rattle and The Southern Review. In 2012, his memoir, Resisting Elegy, appeared from Academy Chicago Publishers. Dean Monti is the author of several plays and short stories, and has had his work staged in Chicago and Norfolk, Virginia. As a journalist for a large trade magazine, he has written many feature articles, and has read his work on WBEZ, National Public Radio, in Chicago.