August 20, 2009

Robert Lashley grew up in Tacoma and attended Western Washington University in Bellingham. A semifinalist for the PEN/Rosenthal fellowship and a finalist for the Cave Canem fellowship, he often performs at Northwest spoken word venues and has helped Bellingham, where he lives, develop one of the nation's finest poetry scenes. He has published two chapbooks: Songs My City Taught Me and Songs My City Taught Me, II, revised editions of which are soon to appear. Robert also maintains a blog, “The Brother Got to Write.” His essays appear in various journals, including Blogcritics Magazine.

Malcolm Kenyon has published numerous collections of poetry, including The Goat Island Battery and Expeditions to the Golden Triangle. He has been published in Jeopardy 2007, Manzanita Quarterly, and Bicycling Magazine. He served in the United States Navy in Vietnam in minesweepers, aboard the USS Constellation and the USS Haynsworth before attending the University of New Mexico where he received his MA in Latin American history. He has been a professor, a toolmaker, and retired. He currently resides in Bellingham, Washington, where he teaches English as a second language for the Whatcom Literacy Council.