Red Emma’s

Danielle Ariano is the author of the memoir, THE REQUIREMENT OF GRIEF (Atmosphere Press, 2024), a meditation on the complexities of the sister bond and the grief that comes when that bond is broken by a sibling’s suicide.

Ariano’s work has been published in Salon, Huff Post, Baltimore City Paper, and Baltimore Fishbowl. She is a former columnist for Baltimore Gay Life, and she has been featured on WYPR’s radio show, The Signal. More info at www.danielleariano.com.   Jeannie Vanasco is the author of the memoirs THINGS WE DIDN’T TALK ABOUT WHEN I WAS A GIRL — which was named a New York Times Editors' Choice and a best book of 2019 by TIME, Esquire, Kirkus, among others — and THE GLASS EYE, which Poets & Writers called one of the five best literary nonfiction debuts of 2017. Her third book, A SILENT TREATMENT, is forthcoming (Tin House, 2025). She lives in Baltimore and is an associate professor of English at Towson University.

Ashley Elizabeth (she/her) is a Pushcart-nominated writer and educator whose work has appeared in SWWIM, Voicemail Poems, Rigorous, and Sage Cigarettes, among others. Ashley’s debut full-length collection, A FAMILY THING, is forthcoming from Redacted Books/ELJ Editions (August 2024). She is also the author of the chapbooks BLACK HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY (Alternating Current, 2023) and YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A FRIEND (Nightingale & Sparrow, 2020). As cofounder of the Estuary Collective, Ashley strives to provide free to low-cost programming for femme-identifying BIPOC. When Ashley isn’t teaching or working as the Chapbook Editor with Sundress Publications, she habitually posts on Twitter and Instagram (@ae_thepoet). She lives in Baltimore, MD with her partner and their three cats. Ashley is Black before she is anything else.

Marion Winik is the author of nine books, including THE BIG BOOK OF THE DEAD (Counterpoint, 2019) and FIRST COMES LOVE (Pantheon, 1996). Her essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Sun, and elsewhere; her column at BaltimoreFishbowl.com has been running since 2011. A professor at the University of Baltimore, she reviews books for The Washington Post, Oprah Daily and People and hosts the NPR podcast The Weekly Reader. She was a commentator on All Things Considered for fifteen years. She is the recipient of the 2023 National Book Critics Circle Service Award.