Don Bogen is the author of four poetry collections, most recently An Algebra (U of Chicago, 2009) and Luster (Wesleyan, 2003). H has received National Endowment for the Arts and Ingram Merrill Foundation Grants, and he has been a Fulbright Lecturer in Madrid and a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Belfast. He teaches at the University of Cincinnati.

Dana Levin is the author of three poetry collections: Sky Burial (Copper Canyon, 2011), Wedding Day (2005), and In the Surgical Theatre: Poems (American Poetry Review, 1999). For her work she has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, and a Witter Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress, among numerous prestigious awards. She teaches at Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

Debra Brenegan is the author of the historical novel Shame the Devil (SUNY, 2011), and her stories have appeared in numerous magazines, including Tampa Review, New Letters, and Pleiades. She teaches at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

Bayard Godsave is the author of the short story collection Lesser Apocalypses (Queen’s Ferry, 2012), and his stories have appeared in Cimarron Review, Confrontation, Another Chicago Magazine, and elsewhere. He teaches at Cameron University in Oklahoma.

Jennifer Kronovet is the author of the poetry collection, Awayward (BOA, 2009), which was selected by Jean valentine for the A. Poulin Poetry Prize. She co-founded the journal Circumference: Poetry in Translation, and is currently Writer-in-Residence at Washington University in St. Louis.

Mary Troy is the author of three short story collections and, most recently, the novel Beauties (BkMk, 2010). She directs the MFA program at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, and is a senior editor of the literary journal Natural Bridge.

Originally from Topeka, Kansas, Gary Jackson is the author of the poetry collection Missing You, Metropolis (Graywolf, 2010), which was selected by Yusef Komunyakaa for the Cave Canem Poetry Prize.

Katy Didden is the author of Avalanche (Pleiades Press, 2013), her first collection, which won the Lena-Miles Wever Todd Poetry Prize. While completing her PhD at the University of Missouri, she served as Poetry Editor of The Missouri Review. She is now a postdoctoral fellow at St. Louis University.

Jaswinder Bolina is the author of two books of poetry: Carrier Wave (Center for Literary Publishing, 2007), which won the Colorado Prize for Poetry, and Phantom Camera (New Issues, 2013), which won the Green Rose Prize. He teaches at Ohio University.

Originally from England, and having lived all over the world, Garry Craig Powell is the author of the novel-in-stories Stoning the Devil (Skylight, 2012). His work has appeared in McSweeney’s, New Orleans Review, Best American Mystery Stories, and elsewhere. He teaches at the University of Central Arkansas.

Each year, the English Department at the University of Central Missouri holds the David Baker Writing Awards in fiction and poetry. The winners read their work to students, faculty, and members of the community at this celebratory reading.