The natural order of the world birthed Rishard D. Lee, but with every word and emotion delivered, he signs the world around him with his lyrical identity, Poetic Lee. From childhood, the Shreveport, LA native used poetry as a means to structure the inner workings of his mind. Poetry is his language to share his thoughts with the world around him. During his teenage years, he developed lyrical strength that began to connect with others, so much so a compilation of his work travelled amongst his peers for their enjoyment.
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Even as life began to change as he matured, the love for poetry was still there, but the drive died out. Numerous life events would reunite him with his language and poetry welcomed Mr. Lee back. Like water, everything began to flow and his heart began to fall into place. Now armed with his life’s experiences in manhood, love, and fatherhood, Mr. Lee desires to impact lives, travel, and gift his passion of poetry with the world around him. His poetry is fluid, equipped to reach a myriad of ears, minds, and hearts he comes in contact with, making this soft spoken poet a power that is hard to forget.

​TRACIE E. CHRISTIAN, Authoress, Narrator, Poet, On-Air Radio Personality & Motivational Speaker was born and raised in Detroit, MI. Educated in Detroit Public Schools (Atkinson Elementary, Farwell Junior High, and Pershing Senior High), Ms. Christian has worked tirelessly in both the arts and education arenas in and throughout metropolitan Detroit. After several years teaching with Detroit & Hamtramck Public Schools, Tracie has served as Children's Fair Coordinator for the Detroit Festival of the Arts, as well as worked with Mosaic Youth Theater and Girl Scouts of Metropolitan Detroit.

In 2007, she released the debut installment of her urban fiction trilogy book series chronicling the experiences of four young women during their first year attending a historically black college, The Black College Sabbatical - FALL Quarter. The second installment, The Black College Sabbatical - WINTER Quarter was released March, 2009. The third and final installment of the series, The Black College Sabbatical - SPRING Quarter was released January, 2014. Books from the series are available in print and e-book on www.amazon.com 

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Christine Pauls, a Delawarean, born and raised in the city of Wilmington is an independent author. Her first two books are in the young adult genre. To Begin Again, based on her own life, was published in April of 2012 and a novella, titled Belinda's Song, a heart-wrenching tale of a six-year-old child's life events into adulthood, after her mother's murder, was released in August of 2015. At this time, she is working on her third novel, One Good Thing which will be her first Women's Contemporary Fiction novel and will focus on the emotional rollercoaster of two families who will become intertwined in a web of secrets that will have to come to the surface in order for a healing to take place. This will be released in 2017. Christine has been in the field of Finance for over thirty-eight years and is currently an Accountant in the Banking industry. She is the youngest of twelve siblings, mother of two daughters, and has three grandchildren. You can find her books on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and E-Book devices. They are also in two branch locations of her hometown's public library, and Mejah Bookstore in Claymont, DE.
Follow her on:
Twitter and Instagram @authorcp
facebook.com/christine.pauls.9
cpauls49.wixsite.com/tobeginagain

​Mo Houston born Morgan Houston was born in Roswell New Mexico on February 20, 1989 and later raised in Mobile, Alabama. Mo began writing at the tender age of 9 years old, entering numerous writing competitions including poetry and music. Mo's passion for writing continued as she struggled with her health, fighting epilepsy. Writing to Mo was her escape from all the pain; she started to read urban poetry and novels such as A Rose that Grew from Concrete by the great Tupac Shakur, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and urban authors such as Sistah Soljah , Wahida Clark, Zane, K'wan and many more. In 2016 Mo signed with Major Ink Publications and released her first novel Sleeping with the Plug's Daughter, earning her first recognition with a nomination for the Top 100 Authors of 2016. Today Mo is an author of 3 novels including her first poetry book Seeking Serenity: Pain Love and Society. Outside writing Mo is a mother of 3 children, enjoys attending live poetry, playing basketball, soccer and tennis. You can add Mo on Facebook and Instagram and get to know her personally and professionally @itsmo2u. Peace Kings and Queens.

​Zinzi was born and raised in Africa. She is an artist and a passionate writer by nature and profession. She mostly writes BWWM romance novels. PRIVATE LOVER is her first ever published novel under After Hours Publishing. She started off writing on Wattpad and still does. You can read some of her other work on Wattpad. She loves reader feedback and engages with her readers. Follow her on Wattpad search for PenameJewel and on twitter@AuthoressZinzi.

​Maurice Gray is the author of three novels (To Whom Much Is Given, All Things Work Together and Like A Brother) and a contributor to four anthologies. He is also a skilled proofreader, copy editor and development editor for several clients, both individual and publishing companies.
Maurice serves on the faculty of the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference, where he teaches workshops on various literary topics and works one-on-one with conferees.
Maurice is a member of Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Delaware, of the Wilmington (DE) Alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and of the Greater Newark Area Toastmasters club. He lives in New Castle, DE.

​Tesa Erven rocks the pen when it comes to writing contemporary romance fiction. Bursting onto the publishing scene in 2015, she has already captured a large reading audience with her three-book series, "The Loose End." Tesa's hectic life as a wife and mother of two children, while holding down a full-time job, is the steam that pushes her to create a private world of her own. This realm of unique, real and dramatic love stories is filled with suspense and riddled with plot twists. Escape into the world of this New Jersey romantic that will keep you intrigued and pondering what the next page will bring. You can visit her website at www.tesaerven.com or connect with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/authortesaerven.

Lakisha Johnson is a native of Memphis and author of ten titles. She was born to write. She’ll tell you that “Writing didn’t find me, it’s was engraved in my spirit before I was even created.” She has been nominated for a few writing awards and features and was most recently nominated for the Memphis Best in Black Awards for Author of the Year 2016 and BWABC’s Literary Festival Author of the year 2016. She has been invited to speak on various panels because she enjoys encouraging others to tap into their God given talents. She is an avid blogger and social media poster. She won’t claim to be the best at writing but writing is her gift and she uses it. Lakisha enjoys meeting new authors and growing readers via social media or by attending book club meetings, festivals and/or writing events.