Antonino D'Ambrosio, a writer and filmmaker
based in New York, is the author, most recently, of Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer (Nation Books/Avalon Press), selected by PBS as
one of the best non-fiction books of 2005, and the upcoming Politics in the Drums.

The founder of La Lutta NMC (www.LaLutta.org),
D'Ambrosio is producer/director of documentaries, the
most recent of which, In the Land of Bolivar,
is scheduled for release this fall. He is working on a documentary project produced by actor/director Tim Robbins, which is based on his book.

His writing on politics, art, and culture appear in
The Nation, The Progressive, Monthly Review, Colorlines, among other publications. He is currently artist-in-residence at Long Island University (Brooklyn campus).

Suheir Hammad is the author of Born Palestinian, Born Black, Drops of This Story, and her latest, ZaatarDiva. Suheir may be the first Palestinian starring in a Broadway show, as the original writer and performer of TONY award winning Russell Simmons Presents: Def Poetry Jam on Broadway.

Suheir Hammad was born in Amman, Jordan to Palestinian refugee parents on October 25, 1973. Suheir’s family immigrated to Brooklyn when Suheir was five years old, and she was raised there until the age of sixteen. Suheir has been able to travel throughout the world via her poetry. Her work has appeared in award winning anthologies, and in zines stapled together by queer youth collectives.

Smitty, a NYC native, plays original compositions on
National metal-body guitars, bottleneck style. He has written compositions for The Sopranos, Deadwood and for Sam Shepard's Off-Broadway production of Lie the Mind. He has performed with the Spindoctors, Keith Richards, conductor/composer Butch Morris, and the West African troupe Diabate.