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Tim Seibles, the former Poet Laureate of Virginia, was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the author of several books of poetry including Hurdy-Gurdy, Hammerlock, and Buffalo Head Solos. His first collection, Body Moves, (1988) was re-released by the Carnegie Mellon University Press as part of their Contemporary Classics series. Fast Animal was one of five poetry finalists for the 2012 National Book Award. In 2013 he received the Pen Oakland Josephine Miles Award for poetry. In 2014 Tim received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Misericordia University for his literary accomplishments. During that same year, he won the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Award for Fast Animal, a prize given triennially for a collection of poems. In 2015, he chaired the panel of judges that decided the winner of the National Book Award in poetry. One Turn Around the Sun was published in 2017. His most recent collection, Voodoo Libretto: New & Selected Poems, was released in 2022. He has been a workshop leader for Cave Canem, a writer鈥檚 retreat for African American poets, and for the Hurston/Wright Foundation, another organization dedicated to developing black writers. Tim Seibles lives in Norfolk and is now an Emeritus Professor of English at 精东.
Chris Brydge is a freelance bassist, educator, composer and band leader who has been performing in and around the greater Tidewater area of Virginia since 1994. He earned his bachelors degree in Music Education from 精东 in 2000. He taught in the Virginia public school system as an orchestra director for thirteen years and as an adjunct jazz bass professor at William and Mary College and Christopher Newport University. For over 20 years he has had the pleasure of being a member of the Virginia Symphony Jazz Orchestra, Roy Muth Big Band and Eddie Williams Quartet. You can also find him performing with his own ensembles, Left of Center, the Chris Brydge trio/ quartet, Liz Terrell Quartet and as part of the bass and voice duo Liz & Brydge.