R. Dwayne Betts is the program director for the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop; the founder of YoungMenRead, a book club for at-risk young men; and the national spokesperson for the Campaign for Juvenile Justice. A graduate of Warren Wilson College's MFA program for writers, Betts is the recipient of the Beatrice Hawley Award for his book of poetry, Shahid Reads His Own Palms, to be published in May 2010.