A mixed-race child of the ’80s, Martin Wiley grew up confronting and embracing a world as mixed and confused as he was, surrounded by beautiful words one minute and screamed at with hate the next. A longtime activist, spoken-word artist, and slam poet, he earned his MFA from Rutgers University-Camden, where he was a Rutgers University Fellow. He had begun to see himself as a “recovering poet” but his children’s growing love of words dragged him, mostly happily, off the wagon. Martin is the Adult Learning Lead Instructor for Project HOME, a nonprofit focused on ending homelessness and poverty within Philadelphia, and an adjunct professor at Rosemont College. His work has appeared in journals like Apiary, Philadelphia Stories, The Northern Virginia Review, The Northridge Review, Conspire, and others. His first book, a chapbook titled Just/More, was released in January 2022 from Finishing Line Press, and his full-length debut poetry collection, When Did We Stop Being Cute?, was released in 2023 by CavanKerry Press.