Lucille Clifton is a self-taught poet who teaches at Columbia University and at St. Mary's College of Maryland. She has also served as the poet laureate for Maryland. Clifton was born near Buffalo, New York, in 1936. Her first book of poetry, Good Times, was published in 1969. Since then she has published a number of poetry collections, including Quilting: Poems 1987–1990 and The Terrible Stories. Clifton has also written many children's books. They include My Friend Jacob, Three Wishes, and a series of books based on the character Everett Anderson. Clifton's six children have inspired much of her poetry.

Richard Garcia was born in San Francisco, California, in 1941. Besides California, he has lived in Mexico and in Israel. Garcia has served as the director of the Poets in the Schools program in Marin County, California. He writes poetry for both adults and young people. If you like "The City Is So Big," you may want to read his collection Selected Poetry (1973).