Cole Arthur Riley is writer, poet, and author of the instant New York Times bestsellers This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us (Penguin Random House, 2023) and Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human (Penguin Random House, 2024). Arthur Riley is also the creator of Black Liturgies, a space that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body; and a project of The Center for Dignity and Contemplation where she serves as Curator. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Guernica, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. Arthur Riley lives in Ithaca, NY.