Aracelis Girmay grew up in Southern California and now lives in New York with her family. She is the author of the collage-based book changing, changing, and the poetry collections, the black maria, Kingdom Animalia, and Teeth. She is the editor of How to Carry Water: Selected Poems of Lucille Clifton and is on the editorial board of the African Poetry Book Fund. Girmay taught at Hampshire College for several years, and before that facilitated community and youth writing workshops in New York and California. She is currently the assistant chair of the Writing Program at Pratt. Girmay was a featured poet at Split This Rock Poetry Festival in 2016.