Langston Hughes (1902-1967), one of the great poets of the Harlem Renaissance, was born in Joplin, Missouri, and spent much of his childhood in Kansas before moving to Harlem. He wrote poetry, short stories, novels, an autobiography, songs, essays, and plays. Among his numerous awards and honors were a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1935, a Rosenwald Fellowship in 1940, and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Grant in 1947.

Bryan Washington is the author of Palaver, Family Meal, Memorial, and Lot. He's also a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 winner, a New York Public Library Young Lions Award recipient, an Ernest J. Gaines Award recipient, an International Dylan Thomas Prize recipient, a two-time Lambda Literary Award recipient, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Fiction award, the James Tait Black Prize, the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, a PEN/Robert W. Bingham prize finalist, a National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize finalist, the Goodreads Choice Awards, and the recipient of an O. Henry Award, and was named one of Forbes' 30 Under 30. The New York Times referred to his writing as among the 25 Most Influential Works of Postwar Queer Literature, and he was a columnist for the New York Times Magazine.