Cynthia Manick is the author of No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad-HarperCollins, 2023), which received 5 stars from Roxane Gay, was named among the “Best Poetry of the Last Year” by Ms. Magazine, and was selected as a New York Public Library Best Book of 2023. She is the author of Brown Girl Polaris (a Belladonna chaplet), editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry; and winner of the Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry for her first collection Blue Hallelujahs. Manick has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, MacDowell, Yaddo, and Château de la Napoule among other foundations. For 10 years she curated Soul Sister Revue, a quarterly reading series that featured emerging poets, poet laureates, and Pulitzer Prize winners. Her poem “Things I Carry into the World” was made into a film by Motionpoems and has debuted on Tidal for National Poetry Month. Her work has also featured in VOICES, an audio play by Aja Monet and Eve Ensler’s V-Day. A storyteller and performer at literary festivals, libraries, and museums, Manick’s work can be found in the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus and other outlets. She lives in New York, but travels widely for poetry.