John Barr has distinguished himself in literature and commerce. As a poet his books include The Hundred Fathom Curve (1997) and Grace (1999). As an investment banker he founded the nation's largest natural gas marketing company. The current President of the Poetry Foundation, he has also served as president of the Poetry Society of America, and on the boards of Bennington College and the artists' retreat, Yaddo.
Josephine Reed is Media Producer at the National Endowment for the Arts. She was the program director of the book and contemporary theater channel at XM Satellite Radio as well as a long-time producer and host of a literary public radio show heard in the Washington, DC area.
Poet and essayist Mary Jo Salter has written six books of poetry including: Sunday Skaters (1993), Open Shutters (2003), and A Phone Call to the Future (2008). A former staff editor at The Atlantic Monthly, Poetry Editor of The New Republic, and professor at Mount Holyoke College, Salter now teaches in The Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University.
