Contributors

Authors & Artists

Samaa Abdurraqib lives in Wabanaki Territory (Maine), close to the ocean and the mountains. Recently, her work can be found in Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora, Writing the Land: Streamlines, and Cider Press Review. She was a finalist for the 2022 Maine Writers & Publisher’s Alliance Maine Chapbook Series. She is the editor of the collection From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, and Indigenous Poets Write the Northeast (2023).

PHI PHI AN is a Vietnam-based reclusive multidisciplinary artist and director, independent interdisciplinary curator - producer - researcher. Since 2011, she has multifaceted herself with echoes—chambers over the stages, the scenes, the spaces, arts and intercultural forms; locally and internationally. A thoughtful way to resurface after a lengthy hiatus passed through fire.

Shamik Banerjee is a poet from India. He resides in Assam with his parents. His poems have appeared in The Society of Classical Poets, Fevers of the Mind, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Westward Quarterly, Ekstasis, The Hypertexts, among others, and some of his poems are forthcoming in Willow Review and Modern Reformation, to name a few.

Callie S. Blackstone writes both poetry and prose. Her debut chapbook sing eternal is available through Bottlecap Press. Her online home is calliesblackstone.com.

Virginia Brackett, PhD, holds degrees in business, medical technology, and English. She has published 15 books and more than 100 articles, stories and blog entries for all ages. Her 2019 memoir In the Company of Patriots (Sunbury Press) tells the story of her father’s military service, death in Korea and its effect on her family. Her young adult time-travel novel, Wolf Moon Murders, is forthcoming from Vinspire Publishing.

Mary M. Brown lives with her husband Bill in Anderson, Indiana. She taught literature and creative writing at Indiana Wesleyan University for many years. Her work appears on the Poetry Foundation and American Life in Poetry websites and recently in Rockvale Review, Thimble, JJournal, Open: A Journal of Arts and Letters and New Poetry from the Midwest. She is the poetry editor of Flying Island.

Michael Colonnese is the author of Sex and Death, I Suppose, a hard-boiled detective novel with a soft Jungian underbelly, and of two prize-winning poetry collections, Temporary Agency and Double Feature.  He lives in the mountains of western North Carolina, near Asheville.

Rachel Coyne is a writer and painter from Lindstrom, Minnesota.

William C. Crawford is a prolific itinerant photographer based in Winston Salem, NC. He invented Forensic Foraging, a throwback approach that utilizes basic techniques to to uplift mundane subjects to pleasing eye candy. CRAWDADDY has written four books on photography which are available on Amazon.com. See @bcraw44 on Instagram for more of his work.

Rebecca Dietrich is a writer and photographer from New Jersey. Her debut chapbook Scholar of the Arts and Inhumanities was published November 2023 by Finishing Line Press. Rebecca’s poetry has been featured in publications by Plumwood Mountain Journal, Oddball Magazine, and Steam Ticket. She holds a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Holocaust & Genocide Studies from Stockton University. Follow her on Instagram @limericks_and_asphodels.

Deborah H. Doolittle has lived in lots of different places (including the United Kingdom and Japan), but now calls North Carolina home. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she is the author of Floribunda and three chapbooks, No Crazy Notions, That Echo, and Bogbound (Orchard Street Press). When not writing or reading or editing BRILLIG: a micro lit mag, she is training for 5K, 10K, and half marathon road races or practicing yoga. An avid bird-watcher, she shares a house with her husband, four housecats (all rescues), and a backyard full of birds.

Katrina Dybzynska is a nomadic writer in the process of rooting herself in Ireland. Author of Secrets of the Dictator’s Wife (Winner of Aryamati Poetry Prize 2022). Published in Mslexia, Channel, and elsewhere. Student of the Westcountry School of Myth. Check her newest ideas: @DybKat.

Louis Faber’s work has previously appeared in Arena Magazine (Australia), Atlanta Review,  Flora Fiction, Alchemy Spoon (U.K.), Driech (Scotland), Exquisite Corpse, Rattle, Eureka Literary Magazine, Midnight Mind, Pearl, Midstream, European Judaism, The South Carolina Review and Worcester Review, among many others, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Debbie Feit is an accidental mental health advocate, unrelenting Jewish mother and author of The Parent’s Guide to Speech and Language Problems (McGraw-Hill) in addition to texts to her kids that go unanswered. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The New York Times, ONE ART: a journal of poetry, Abandon Journal, Five South, Passengers Journal and on her mother’s bulletin board. She has been a reader for Five Minutes, an advertising copywriter, and a person who used to be able to sleep without pharmaceutical intervention. Read about her thoughts on mental health issues, her life as a writer and her husband’s inability to see crumbs on the kitchen counter on Instagram @debbiefeit or at debbiefeit.com.

Shee Gomes is an artist who lives and works in Brazil. With a degree in Digital Design, Shee began her work in visual arts the same year she graduated from college, in 2009. She has participated in numerous exhibitions and collaborative projects. Her work has been published in international books and magazines, including Chestnut Review, The Uncoiled, Tiny Spoon Literary, Aurum Journal, All Shee Makes, The Four Faced Liar and elsewhere. She is currently working on the cover art for the poetry chapbook: Hemicrania, forthcoming from Chestnut Review (2024), from the author Therese Gleason.

Anyély Gómez-Dickerson is a Cuban-born immigrant who grew up in Miami where she earned her poetry degree at Florida International University and later her bachelor’s from Temple University. Her poem “How to Kill a Mango Tree” was a finalist in the Atlanta Review 2023 Poetry Competition and her work appears in Latino Book Review, Acentos, South Florida Poetry Journal, West Trestle Review, with her chapbook collection We Are the Cultivated Sins on exhibit at NALAC’s ARTE LATINO NOW 2024 showcase. She has been published in other esteemed publications where she is honored to share space with amazing authors. During a decades-long teaching career she empowered students through writing before giving her writing the attention it demanded. She probes issues plaguing marginalized communities, the immigrant experience and Afro-Caribbean diaspora while exploring her own black, European, and Taína ancestry. Learn more at: anyelywrites.wordpress.com.

David Green currently is a clinician working at a community health center in Boston, MA with Spanish-speaking people from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Born in Michigan, he was seven when his family moved to Venezuela. When writing poems, he sometimes composes in either Spanish or English. His writing reflects the duality of his multi-lingual thinking and speaking. His previously published poems have appeared in the Lyric Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Pangyrus, and the Eastern Iowa Review.

Maddy Holden is an MFA candidate in poetry at Queens College. She received her BA from the University of Vermont where she studied English with a concentration in writing. She currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Beth Kephart is the award-winning author of nearly 40 books in multiple genres, an award-winning teacher of memoir, and a paper artist whose work has been showcased in PRINT Magazine (online) and What Women Create, among other places. Her new book is My Life in Paper: Adventures in Ephemera. More at bethkephartbooks.com and bind-arts.com.

Kristina Labaty has lived in the Hudson valley for the past 20 years and enjoys walking, being with those she loves (primarily her husband, close friends, and kids), and creating joyful moments for the elders in her care. She has lived and worked in Camphill Communities both in NY and abroad and has found the act of caring for others a journey of self-development. Her favorite poet is Roethke.

James LaRowe is a 2023 graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars and lives outside of Boston with his children, spouse, and dog. His fiction frequently interrogates privilege and explores life transitions, shifting gender roles, and characters who quietly puncture norms. His work has been published in Dead Darlings and Cleaver Magazine where he was designated a Cleaver 2022 Emerging Artist.

Saundri Luippold is an undergraduate student at Azusa Pacific University (APU), studying English and Spanish. Her poetry has been published in Foreshadow magazine, as well as the West Wind, APU’s literary journal. She writes on a personal blog, which can be found on instagram @newromanticism13.

Torrey Francis Malek is an American poet hailing from Greenville, Delaware. He was the Poet Laureate for the Valley Forge Military Academy in his sophomore year, and was later a featured poet for the Shortlist of the Letter Review Prize for Poetry in 2023. His first published work of poetry, Glory Hill, will be available later this year.

Sean Martinez started his writing journey in high school, when he self-published a novel titled Slaughterhouse Zoo—a project he continues to craft for future publication. He went on to attend Western Oregon University, where he worked as a freelancer and a copyeditor for The Western Howl. After earning his BA in English and Writing in 2021, Sean continues to write new stories. Some of his works have been featured in The Northwest Passage, Half and One, and Allegory Ridge. When he’s not writing or hiking, Sean spends his free time reading or watching new movies with his fiance in Beaverton, Oregon.

H. Lee Messina is an east coast native, self-taught artist, and owner of The Dutch Spork. The bulk of her creative work includes mixed media collage and digital paintings utilizing magazine clippings and a simple drawing table. You can view more of her work here: dutchspork.com.

Felicia Mitchell retired from teaching at Emory & Henry College in 2020 and continues to make her home in the mountains of Virginia, where she enjoys hiking and volunteering for the local Appalachian Trail club. Recent publications include A Mother Speaks, A Daughter Listens: Journeying Together Through Dementia (Wising Up Press) and poems in the anthologies The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume IX: Virginia (Texas Tech Press) and Writing the Land: Virginia (NatureCulture). Website: www.feliciamitchell.net.

Amuri Morris is an artist based in Richmond, VA. She recently graduated from painting/ printmaking and business at Virginia Commonwealth University. Throughout the years she acquired several artistic accolades such as a VMFA Fellowship. She aims to promote diversity in art canon, specifically focusing on the black experience. One of her goals is to promote community engagement in the arts and better the community with her talent. You can find her work at www.murisart.com or on instagram @miss.mur.art.

Stephen Policoff’s most recent novel, Dangerous Blues, was published by Flexible Press in 2022 (still vey much available!). His 1st novel, Beautiful Somewhere Else, won the James Jones Award and was published by Carroll & Graf in 2004.  His 2nd novel, Come Away, won the Dzanc Award, and was published by Dzanc Books in 2014.  His essays and stories have appeared in New Guard Literary Journal, The Rumpus, Provincetown Arts, and many other publications.  He is Clinical Professor of Writing in Global Liberal Studies at NYU.

Poet and writer Christine Potter lives in a very old house in New York’s Hudson River Valley with her husband, two spoiled cats, and a few ghosts.  Her poetry has appeared in Rattle, One Art, Does It Have Pockets, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, Thimble, Third Wednesday, The Midwest Quarterly, Consequence, and was featured on ABC Radio News. Her time-traveling young adult series, The Bean Books, is published by Evernight Teen, and her most recent collection of poems, Unforgetting, is on Kelsay Books.

Melissa Ren is a Chinese-Canadian writer whose narratives tend to explore the intersection between belonging and becoming. She is a prize recipient of Room Magazine’s Fiction Contest, a grant recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts, and an editor at Tales & Feathers. Her writing has appeared or forthcoming in Factor Four Magazine, Fusion Fragment, DreamForge Magazine, and elsewhere. Find her at linktr.ee/MelissaRen or follow @melisfluous on socials.

Richard Risemberg was born to a mixed and mixed-up family in Argentina, and dragged to LA as a child to escape the fascist regime. He’s spent the next few decades exploring the darker corners of the America Dream and writing stories, poems, and essays based on his experiences. He has published widely in the last few years, as you can see at http://crowtreebooks.com/richard-risemberg-publications/.

Jennifer Rood is living a creative life in Southern Oregon. She is a past President of Oregon Poetry Association (2020-21) and served in Fall 2023 as the Artist-in-Residence at the Oregon Caves National Monument. Her poetry appears in dozens of journals and anthologies, including most recently in The Literary Hatchet and Verseweavers, and is upcoming in Willawaw Journal. She just released her first full-length collection: Present and Speaking Everywhere: A Collection of Found Poetry/Art (Not a Pipe Publishing, 2024), and her hand-stitched chapbook What the Heart Says (2023) is available through oregonbooks.com. Explore some of her work on Instagram @jennrood100.

Eva M. Schlesinger, Literal Latte Food Verse Award recipient and four-time Moth StorySLAM winner, is the author of four poetry chapbooks, including Remembering the Walker & Wheelchair. Her work has appeared in Chicken Soup anthologies, the San Francisco Chronicle, Readersdigest.com, Cerasus Magazine, Parentheses Journal, and elsewhere. Eva is working on a short story collection and YA novel.

Susan Shea, a retired school psychologist, who was born in New York City, and now lives in a forest in Pennsylvania.  In the past year, her work has been accepted by Ekstasis, Across the Margin, Avalon Literary Review, Feminine Collective, Military Experience and the Arts, Triggerfish Critical Review, and others.

Ursula Shepherd is an ecologist and biogeographer. She is the author of a book, Nature Notes: A Notebook Companion for the Seasons, as well as scientific articles, essays, and non-fiction pieces. She recently returned to writing poetry. Her poetry has appeared in, among others, Sheila-Na-Gig, Unbroken, Grim and Gilded, Passionfruit, The Orchards, and Ekphrastic Review.

Shauna Shiff is an English teacher in Virginia, a mother, wife and textiles artist. Her poems and short stories can be found in Stoneboat Literary Journal, Atticus Review, Cold Mountain Review, Rock Salt Journal, Cola and upcoming in others. In 2022, she was nominated for Best of the Net.

Margaret D. Stetz is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Delaware, as well as a widely published poet. Although she has spent many decades in the academic world, she remains haunted by her working-class childhood in New York City and often writes about her memories of it.

Matina Vossou is a self-taught artist living in Athens, Greece. She uses acrylics and a toothpick, a technique she learnt from her father, a naïve painter. She paints faces like perfectly unfinished mosaics of emotions and ideas. The skin is cracked and seemingly illuminated from the inside. She believes that every face is a journey; looking at a face is one of the longest, most adventurous and knowledgeable trips one can have. Aside from painting, she also loves writing; her play “The Nothing of People” (a dystopian comedy) was published in Greek in 2018. You can see more of her artwork at: www.instagram.com/matinavossou and www.linktr.ee/matinavossou.

Cynthia Yatchman is a Seattle based artist and art instructor. A former ceramicist, she received her B.F.A. in painting (UW). She switched from 3D to 2D and has remained there ever since. She works primarily on paintings, prints and collages. Her art is housed in numerous public and private collections. She has exhibited on both coasts, extensively in the Northwest, including shows at Seattle University, SPU, Shoreline Community College, the Tacoma and Seattle Convention Centers and the Pacific Science Center. She is a member of the Seattle Print Art Association and COCA.

Issue 02: Relationships