Ma Yongbo: was born in 1964, Ph.D., translator, editor, and leading scholar of postmodern poetry. He has authored or translated more than 80 published books. His translations from English include works by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, W.C. Williams, John Ashbery, Henry James, Moby Dick, Rosanna Warren, and others.

Vanessa Vie: abandoned a career in medicine in favour of literature, music, and visual art. Her debut book Open Windows, Open Doors was published in Britain by New Departures. It is a volume of diverse poetic writings, plus a substantial selection of visual inventions. The book’s title invokes the opening of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s, Populist Manifesto: For Poets with Love She lives and works in the UK.

Jane Simon: is a former forensic pathologist who transitioned to psychiatry because of poetry. After the experience of finding one of her favorite musicians splayed dead on the autopsy table, a poem she wrote proved to be life–altering; it jolted her into perceiving the gruesome nature of her work. In brief, she considers the art of poetry as a remarkably powerful tool capable of transforming the writer as well as the readers.