Hari Ziyad is a screenwriter, the bestselling author of Black Boy Out of Time (Little A, 2021) and the Editor-in-Chief of RaceBaitr. They received their BFA from New York University, where they concentrated in Film and Television and Psychology.
Their work is informed by their passion for storytelling and wrestling with identity as a Black, non-binary child of Muslim and Hindu parents while growing up in Cleveland, and primarily engages with identity, race, gender and sexuality, ally politics and the arts.
Their work has been featured in Gawker, Out, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Ebony, Mic, Paste Magazine, AFROPUNK, in the peer-reviewed academic journal Critical Ethnic Studies, and in the anthology co-edited by Michael Dumas, Ashley Woodson and Carl Grant entitled The Future is Black: Afropessimism, Fugitivity and Radical Hope in Education (upcoming 2020), among other publications.
Previously, they were a script consultant on the drama series David Makes Man (OWN), the former Managing Editor of Black Youth Project and an Assistant Editor of Vinyl Poetry & Prose.
Timothy DuWhite is a writer, poet, playwright, performance artist, and activist. His work is both brave and exhilarating, and directly addresses difficult and controversial issues such as HIV, state sanctioned violence, racism, and queerness.
He has performed at the United Nations/UNICEF, Apollo Theater, Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe, Bowery Poetry Club, Dixon Place, La Mama Theater, Issue Project Room, on the behalf of Adidas and many more. He has delivered keynote speeches and appeared at institutions such as San Diego State University, Indiana University, Columbia University, Oregon State University, John Hopkins University and many more.
His writing and poetry can be found in The Rumpus, The Root, Afropunk, Black Youth Project, The Grio, and elsewhere. He has work in the forthcoming anthology The Future is Black: Afropessimism, Fugitivity and Radical Hope in Education co-edited by Michael Dumas, Ashley Woodson and Carl Grant.
A committed educator, he has facilitated workshops at the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, Housing Works, and Rikers Island.
A great deal of Timothy’s work and activism is around HIV/AIDS and related issues. In 2015, he developed a writing workshop entitled HIV & the State: Coalition Building beyond the Condom, in which he debunks popular narratives surrounding HIV as it relates to black people. Timothy has taught this workshop at major institutions across the country.
Amber Butts is a writer, organizer, grief worker and educator from Oakland, CA who believes that Black folk are already whole. Her work centers Black children, Black mamas and Black elders. It asks big and small questions about how we move towards actualizing spaces that center tenderness, nuance and joy while living in a world reliant on our terror.
Amber comes from a long line of hairdressers, storytellers and loud women from The South. She began her career as a reader, editor and ghostwriter before realizing that she had some stories to tell of her own. Amber’s experience as a grassroots organizer and educator has reminded her over and over again that Black folk are the most imaginative, resourceful people on the planet. Her work has been featured in KPFA Women’s Magazine, NPR’s Strange Fruit, Racebaitr, Black Youth Project, Blaqueerflow, Uwazi Press, 6×8 Press and Undertone Magazine.
Amber holds intergenerational trauma circles for survivors and their family members. The space fosters a non-judgmental space that encourages folks to safely talk about how they were received after their trauma and how that reception has impacted relationships, connection and possibility. And because trauma isn’t linear, it allows a newer space for elders to name the trauma they navigate(d) in their lives and how that trauma has been represented as a worthwhile sacrifice instead of an abhorrent reality.
Amber enjoys eating cheese, preparing for the apocalypse(s), singing louder than she needs to and listening to Black children tell their stories. She is currently at work on an afro-futurist novel and is most comfortable in her grandmama’s kitchen.
Amanzi Arnett is a Memphis, Tennessee born multidisciplinary artist. His words have appeared on platforms such as Mic.com, Cassius Life, UNINTERRUPTED, BBC radio, and Minnesota Public Radio. He has also worked on committees and appeared on panels for the National Black Writers Association, Center for Southern Literary Arts, and CLE Events. George currently serves as the manager of strategic partnerships for the CLTV, a Memphis based non-profit which elevates and grooms Black artists.
Music being the first love and another form of expression for Amanzi, he has performed and toured with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and his compositions have been performed at various venues in the south.
