Cheryl Clarke is a black lesbian feminist poet and facilitator of things black, queer, and feminist. She is the author of five books of poetry: BY MY PRECISE HAIRCUT (The Word Works, 2016), Narratives: Poems in the Tradition of Black Women (Kitchen Table/Women of Color, 1983), LIVING AS A LESBIAN (A Midsummer Night's Press, 2014), Humid Pitch (Firebrand Books, 1989), and Experimental Love (Firebrand Books, 1993), and of the critical study After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement (Rutgers Press, 2005). Her collected work, The Days of Good Looks: Prose and Poetry 1980-2005 was published in 2006 by Carroll and Graf. She received the David Kessler Award in 2013 from the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies for her service to LGBTQ communities. After 41 years in the administration of Rutgers University, she is now co-organizer of the Festival of Women Writers in Hobart, NY.