Mildred Kiconco Barya, a North Carolina-based writer and poet of East African descent, teaches and lectures globally. She is the author of four poetry books, including The Animals of My Earth School (Terrapin Books), which was listed a Brittle Paper Notable African Book of 2023 and received honorable mention in the 2024 Eric Hoffer Poetry Award. She is the recipient of the 2025 Jacobs/Jones African American Literary Prize for the best essay and the 2020 Linda Flowers Literary Award. She has served as the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the North Carolina Poetry Society and her work has been published in the New England Review, The Cincinnati Review, Shenandoah, Tin House, The Forge, and elsewhere. Hands in Clay is her fifth full-length poetry collection.