Rod Stryker, San Antonio, Texas

"Rod C. Stryker began his writing career at 15. His current book, Exploits of a Sun Poet (Pecan Grove Press, February 2003), was awarded the San Antonio Barnes and Noble/Bookstop Author-of-the-Month, February 2003 and also the San Antonio Current Best Book of 2004. Rod began the Sun Poetic Times literary-visual arts magazine in 1994, founded the Sun Poet's Society in 1995 and co-founded the Sun Arts Foundation in 2004. The Sun Poet's Society is known today around the world. Rod mentors people of all ages, backgrounds and genres and he's currently working on his next collection of poetry and art photography, Lucid Affairs."

Kathleen Romana

Is Austin's mistress of jazz poetry, surreal artistic imagery, and visionary prophesy. Countless chapbooks and canvasses only add to the mystic allure of her inner world. Sight, sound, color, see her, feel her, touch her voice. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Romana's work reflects the concrete imagery of cultural icons such as an old woman's mantilla to the cry of a sea bird rising from the beach. She looks out upon the world scenery through the magnified window of her unique view and paints with words or color on canvass a vision of stark reality in all its ultimate beauty. Often accompanied by strings or drums, the tidal rhythms of her circadian insight will bring the wave ashore or open an oyster.

EPIC, Daniel Ramos

Epic: Gutter Poet of the Concrete Generation, has been writing since as long as he could remember. Picked up poetry in high school, and soon after gradutating, started the Amarillo, TX chapter of poetry slam. Since then, SLAMarillo has sent 3 teams to Nationals, and a youth team to the Brave New Voices competition. Epic has performed in venues from New Mexico to Wisconsin to North Carolina. Now back in his hometown of Midland, TX, he's building a poetry community once again. You can catch him on Concretegeneration.org, myspace.com/danielcramos, or find him on Facebook. His writing is brutally honest, and his performances come through beautifully broken.

Stella Brice

Stella Brice received her degree in English Lit. from Rice University; & has worked, variously, as housecleaner, tarot reader & performance artist. Her writing has appeared in Frank, Fine Madness, Southern Poetry Review & many others. Online, her work can be found at Right Hand Pointing, Radiant Turnstile, FRiGG & Clean Sheets. Her poems have been anthologized in Keeping Death, Women. Period., & The Weight of Addition: An Anthology of Texas Poetry. She is a winner of the John Z. Bennet Prize & is the author of two collections of poetry the latest a book of dark fairy tale poems called Outgrow. Stella lives with her husband David in a 102 year old house in Houston.

Michael Guinn

Michael is a Texas native who holds a Masters Degree in social work. What he witnessed as a caseworker for Child Protective Services "is what inspired him to begin writing poetry." Since then he has become one of the nation's top advocates for social justice using the art of high-powered poetry and spoken word performances for awareness. He has received national acclaim for highly interactive creative writing workshops. In 2007Michael placed 7th at the National Poetry Slam Championships, won the AIPF Slam, and was the runner-up at the Arkansas Grand Slam, Omaha Grand Slam Champion and appeared in the highly successful Poetry and Pose Fashion show with Eva Pigford and Keke Wyatt. He and his teammates consistently rank among the top national and international poets since they began sharing their soul in 2002. The Fort Worth National Poetry Slam Team has been ranked as high as #3in the country. Members of this incredible group of poets have placed or won awards at almost every level of performance poetry competitions. SPECIALIZING IN CREATIVE WRITING AND PERFORMANCE POETRY SINCE 1997 “SAVING LIVES ONE POEM AT A TIME”

Connie Williams

Williams is Director of Forrest Fest. "Her work reflects the complexities of femininity and Texas identity rooted in the peace of ancient spirituality. Her poems are sewn with the hard facts of the day. Williams views the arts as a way to engage community on the important issues for all of us" --  Dr. Chris Ellery,   Williams is author of "my mothers bones," "Word of a Woman," and other chapbooks. Her criticle reviews appear in journals such as Concho River Review and mythopoetry. She holds a masters degree from Angelo State University and is a retired teacher.