STAFF
Tamiko Beyer, Co-Director
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Tamiko Beyer (she/they) is the author of the poetry collections Last Days (2021) and We Come Elemental (2013), and co-editor Poetry As Spellcasting: Poems, Essays, and Prompts for Manifesting Liberation and Reclaiming Power (2023). Her poetry and articles have been published widely, including by Denver Quarterly, Idaho Review, Black Warrior Review, and Georgia Review. She has received awards from Lambda Literary, PEN America, and the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund, among others. A social justice communications writer and strategist, she spends her days writing truth to power. tamikobeyer.com
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Image description: Tamiko, a biracial Asian femme with dark brown hair, sits smiling at the camera in front of a bright yellow bush of black-eyed Susans. She is wearing a black top and a patterned skirt. Photo credit: Susi Franco.
Franny Choi, Founder, Co-Director
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Franny Choi (they/she) is a queer, Korean American writer, former organizer, and author of three books: The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On (2022), Soft Science (2019), and Floating, Brilliant, Gone (2014). They developed their practice in community with artists and activists in Providence, RI, where they worked on campaigns for police accountability, youth power, and migrant justice. Their poems have been published in the New York Times, the Nation, and the Atlantic. They are Faculty in Literature at Bennington College and the current Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA.
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Image description: Franny, an Asian person with short black hair, sits in front of a messy home office. They are have bright red lipstick, clear glasses, and a shirt with small leopard print.
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Luther Hughes, Book Fair Coordinator​​
Luther Hughes (they/them) is the author of A Shiver in the Leaves (BOA Editions, 2022), listed as best books of 2022 in The New Yorker, and the chapbook, Touched (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2018), recommended by the American Library Association. They are the founder of Shade Literary Arts, an organization for queer writers of color, and cohosts The Poet Salon Podcast with Gabrielle Bates and Dujie Tahat. Recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Rosenberg Fellowship and the 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize, they received their MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. Their writing has been published in The Paris Review, Orion, American Poetry Review, and others. They’ve been featured in The Seattle Times, Forbes, Essence, KUOW Public Radio, and more. Luther lives in Seattle, where they were born and raised.
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Image description: Luther, a Black person with a shaved head, neat mustache, and small goatee, looks directly at the camera. Against a background of brick, sunshine, and shadows they are wearing a green and blue jacket.
Ceci Pineda, Co-Director​
Ceci Pineda (they/them) is a non-binary queer musician, ecosystem caretaker and facilitator. They sow seeds and songs for Tlalli (earth/land/soil), community liberation and relationships-based climate justice worlds. They love to grow medicine and ancestral crops among Queer, Trans* and BIPOC community. For over a decade, Ceci has been collaborating with nonprofits working to build community-based climate justice. Their climate resilience work is rooted in community practices that further land regeneration and reciprocally heal our communities.
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Ceci, a nonbinary Latine person with short curly hair, smiles at the camera while kneeling in a garden. They are wearing a straw hat and a light blue button down shirt, and have a marigold tucked behind one ear.
Jess Yuan, Book Fair Coordinator​
Jess Yuan (she/her) is a poet and architect. She is the author of Slow Render (2024), winner of the Airlie Prize, and Threshold Amnesia (2020), winner of the Yemassee Chapbook Contest. Jess has received fellowships from Kundiman and Miami Writers Institute, and her poems appear in Best New Poets, Tupelo Quarterly Review, jubilat, Beloit Poetry Journal, and elsewhere. She divides her time between Boston (Massachusett, Pawtucket, and Naumkeag land) and Baltimore (Susquehannock and Piscataway land).
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Image description: Jess, an Asian person with long hair and glasses, looks at the camera with a smile. They are standing in front of a tree with ivy climbing up the trunk, and wearing a light blue button down shirt.
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ADVISORY CIRCLE
Aurielle Marie
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Award-winning poet, essayist, and cultural strategist Aurielle Marie is a Black queer storyteller, political organizer, and child of the Deep South by way of Atlanta. Their poetry debut, Gumbo Ya Ya, is the recipient of both the 2020 Cave Canem Prize and the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry, and is out now with the University of Pittsburgh Press.
Lo Kwa Mei-en
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Lo Kwa Mei-en is the author of Yearling (Alice James Books, 2015), The Bees Make Money in the Lion (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2016), and two chapbooks from The Lettered Streets Press and Bloom Books. She lives and works in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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photocredit: Araminta Kellond-Knight
Omkari Williams
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Omkari L. Williams has worked as a political consultant and life coach for 30 years, with an emphasis on supporting activists who identify as introverted or highly sensitive. As a queer Black woman, she shares her own story of challenging injustice to empower others in making a difference in their communities. She leads workshops and trainings and is host of the popular podcast, Stepping into Truth, where she interviews people doing activism in their own unique ways. She was a 2022 Witches & Warriors Fellow.
VOLUNTEERS & MORE
Brew & Forge is largely a community-led effort, the result of the hard work of many volunteers, authors, interns, and friends. Thank you to everyone who's helped us organize the Book Fair, run an event, enter info into our database, and more! If you want to learn how to plug in, email Franny at franny [at] brewandforge.com.
Staff and volunteers of the 2024 Witches & Warriors Retreat
Participants in the 2021 Catalyst Circle, from top left: Andrea Schmid, Franny Choi, MARS Marshall, Justice Ameer, Tamiko Beyer, Jess X. Snow, Candace Wiley.