Ray McManusis the author of five books of poetry: The Last Saturday in America, Punch, Red Dirt Jesus, Left Behind, and Driving through the Country before You Are Born, as well as the coeditor of the anthology Found Anew. Ray’s poems have been published in numerous journals, including Los Angeles Review, Prairie Schooner, POETRY, Birmingham Poetry Review, and Salvation South. In 2023, Ray received the South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts, the state’s highest honor in the arts. Ray will be moderating the panel
