LGBTQ+ Speakers

Faylita Hicks (she/they) is a queer Afro-Latinx writer, spoken word artist, and cultural strategist. With an appreciation for powerful narratives that lead to cultural shifts and community safety, Hicks works with justice-focused nonprofits, arts and literary organizations, and performance venues throughout the US to actively engage in anti-carceral liberation efforts through dynamic storytelling. An award-winning writer, performance artist, editor, and consultant with over twenty years of experience in event production, grant writing, publishing, PR, and nonprofit strategy, Hicks is also the author of the critically-acclaimed debut poetry collection HoodWitch (Acre Books, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry, the 2019 Julie Suk Award, and the 2019 Balcones Poetry Prize. Currently, they are working on a second poetry collection, A Map of My Want (Haymarket Books, July 2024).

Hafizah Augustus Geter is a Nigerian-American poet, writer, and literary agent born in Zaria, Nigeria, and raised in Akron, Ohio, and Columbia, South Carolina. Her debut memoir, The Black Period: On Personhood, Race & Origin, won the 2023 PEN Open Book Award and the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction. Hafizah is also the author of the debut poetry collection Un-American, nominated for a 2021 NAACP Image Award, a finalist for the 2021 PEN Open Book Award, and longlisted for the 2021 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize.

Anthony R. Keith, Jr., Ph.D. (Tony) is a Black, gay spoken word artist, poet, and Hip-Hop educator. His debut, How the Boogeyman Became a Poet, is a powerful YA memoir in verse, tracing his journey from being a closeted gay Black teen battling poverty, racism, and homophobia to becoming an openly gay first-generation college student who finds freedom in poetry.

Kristen Arnett is the author of With Teeth: A Novel (Riverhead Books, 2021) and the NYT bestselling debut novel Mostly Dead Things (Tin House, 2019) which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction. She is a queer fiction and essay writer.

Omkari L. Williams has worked as an actor, political consultant, and coach. Though she has an affinity for supporting activists who identify as introverted or highly sensitive, as she does, she welcomes all people into the world of micro activism, a sustainable path to changemaking. As a queer Black woman, she shares her own story of challenging injustice to empower others in making a difference in their communities.

Douglas Boin is a historian, teacher, and author. His books include Coming Out Christian in the Roman World, A Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity, and Alaric the Goth: An Outsider’s History of the Fall of Rome, which was named by The Economist one of the best books of 2020. In his talks, Doug focuses on how growing up gay in a Catholic family shaped his work as a writer and as a historian.