Michal “MJ” Jones is an emerging poet, musician, parent and earth visitor living in Oakland, CA. A curious interdisciplinary writer, MJ is featured or forthcoming in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Non-binary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity, Foglifter Journal & Press, Everyday Feminism, Black Girl Dangerous, The Body Is Not An Apology, Wear Your Voice Magazine, and other venues. MJ is the recipient of fellowships from the Hurston/Wright Foundation (2019), the Writers Grotto (2019), VONA - Voices of Our Nations (2018), and Kearny Street Workshop's Interdisciplinary Writers Lab (2017 & 2018). In 2019, they were recruited to serve as a panelist for the San Francisco Arts and Berkeley Arts Commissions, reviewing individual grant applications in the literary arts category.

MJ’s words are deeply open and vulnerable, reflect life living at the intersections of Black, queer, non-binary identity, and display a genuine sense of self-awareness. They are currently busy raising a glorious toddler and finishing their first full collection of poetry. MJ is the Community Engagement Fellow in the MFA in Poetry program at Mills College, where they will focus on curating workshops for trans & gender non-conforming writers.