POETS
Andrea Blancas Beltran (Death Is On The Other Side) lives in El Paso, TX. Her poems have recently appeared in Pilgrimage, Redactions, Quiddity, Luna Luna, and Word Riot. She's an assistant editor for MIEL.
Robert Campbell (Dream In Which...) is a poet living in Lexington, KY. His poems have appeared in Columbia Poetry Review, Ninth Letter, River Styx, and elsewhere. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He holds an M.S. in Library Science and is currently an M.F.A. candidate at Murray State University. He serves as Reference & Instruction Librarian at Transylvania University and Reviews Editor for DIALOGIST, an online journal of poetry and art.
Maggie Colvett (Border Radio) is a literature M.A. candidate at the University of Georgia. Her poems have appeared in Colorado Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Radar Poetry, Still: The Journal, and Architrave Press’s broadside series, among other places. She edited volume 41 of The Mockingbird, the arts and literature magazine of East Tennessee State University. She lives in Athens, GA and Piney Flats, TN, where her family keeps many dozens of chickens.
Josh Exoo (Crystal Ball) lives in Canton, New York, where he grew up. He gets by with the help of his loving wife, Kathryn, and their three unruly cats. He teaches at St. Lawrence University, where he depresses a whole new group of young minds every semester.
Kate Gaskin's (Pastoral; Homecoming) poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Tar River Poetry, Bellevue Literary Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and online at Rattle, among others. She grew up in Alabama and now lives in the panhandle of Florida with her husband and son.
Originally from Pennsylvania, Alicia Hoffman (How To Open) now lives, writes and teaches in Rochester, New York. Author of Like Stardust in the Peat Moss (Aldrich Press, 2013), her poems have appeared in Tar River Poetry, Redactions, SOFTBLOW, Camroc Press Review, A-Minor Magazine, Word Riot, and elsewhere. Thrice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, she holds an M.F.A. in Poetry from the Rainier Writing Workshop.
Erin Jones (Transformation) is a third year poet at the University of Florida. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Fourteen Hills, Passages North, Subtropics, Boxcar Poetry Review, and elsewhere.
Paula J. Lambert (Flying Kites...), author of The Sudden Seduction of Gravity (Full/Crescent Press, 2012) and The Guilt That Gathers (Pudding House, 2009), earned her B.A. and M.A. in English from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University. She is a Residency Artist for the Ohio Arts Council, was past recipient of an OAC Individual Artist Fellowship, and was a resident fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of literary journals and anthologies.
Rachel Mennies (Revision: First) is the author of The Glad Hand of God Points Backwards, winner of the 2013 Walt McDonald First-Book Prize in Poetry, and the chapbook No Silence in the Fields. Her poetry has appeared recently in Black Warrior Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Drunken Boat, Colorado Review, Crazyhorse, and elsewhere, and has been reprinted at Poetry Daily. Mennies serves as the series editor (2015-) for the Walt McDonald First-Book Prize in Poetry at Texas Tech University Press. She teaches writing at Carnegie Mellon University and is a member of AGNI’s editorial staff.
Jessica Nordell (Supersaturate; Girl, Running) is a writer living in Minneapolis; her poetry and nonfiction articles have appeared FIELD, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and Salon. She recently held the Martha Meier Renk Distinguished Graduate Fellowship in Poetry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Megan Peak (As Girls) holds an M.F.A. from The Ohio State University. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in Blackbird, Cimarron Review, Indiana Review, Linebreak, Muzzle, North American Review, The Pinch, Ploughshares, and Valparaiso Poetry Review. Her manuscript was a finalist in the 2015 Levis Prize in Poetry at Four Way Books. She lives in Fort Worth, TX, where she teaches at Texas Christian University.
Nicole Rollender's (On A Board...) work has appeared in The Adroit Journal, Alaska Quarterly Review, Best New Poets, The Journal, THRUSH Poetry Journal, West Branch, Word Riot, and others. Louder Than Everything You Love is her first full-length poetry collection (ELJ Publications). She’s the author of the poetry chapbooks Arrangement of Desire (Pudding House Publications, 2007), Absence of Stars (dancing girl press & studio, 2015), Bone of My Bone, a winner in Blood Pudding Press’s 2015 Chapbook Contest, and Ghost Tongue (Porkbelly Press, 2016). She has received poetry prizes from CALYX Journal, Ruminate Magazine, and Princemere Journal.
Sarah J. Sloat (Indoor Horses; Pacific Archives) lives in Frankfurt, Germany, a stone’s throw from Schopenhauer’s grave. Her poems and prose have appeared in West Branch, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and Beloit Poetry Journal. Sarah’s chapbook of poems on typefaces and texts, Inksuite, is available from Dancing Girl Press, which will also publish Heiress to a Small Ruin in 2015.
Caitlin Scarano (Mule) is a poet in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Ph.D. creative writing program. She was a finalist for the 2014 Best of the Net Anthology and the winner of the 2015 Indiana Review Poetry Prize, judged by Eduardo Corral. She has two poetry chapbooks. This winter, she will be an artist in residence at the Hinge Arts Residency program in Fergus Falls and the Artsmith's 2016 Artist Residency on Orcas Island.
Fritz Ward's (Keys To The Jail) poetry appears or is forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, DIAGRAM, The Journal, and Blackbird. His manuscript has been a finalist for the Academy of American Poets Walt Whitman Award, The National Poetry Series Open Competition, the Four Way Books Levis Prize in Poetry, and several other contests. He is the author of the poetry chapbook, Doppelgänged (Blue Hour Press, 2011). He lives just outside of Philadelphia and works at Swarthmore College.
John Sibley Williams (Things Start...) is the author of eight collections, most recently Controlled Hallucinations (FutureCycle Press, 2013). Four-time Pushcart nominee, he is the winner of the HEART Poetry Award and has been a finalist for the Rumi, Best of the Net, and The Pinch Poetry Prizes. John serves as editor of The Inflectionist Review and Board Member of the Friends of William Stafford. A few previous publishing credits include: American Literary Review, Third Coast, Nimrod International Journal, Rio Grande Review, Inkwell, Cider Press Review, Bryant Literary Review, Cream City Review, RHINO, and various anthologies. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
VISUAL ARTISTS
Williamson Brasfield received his MFA from Yale School of Art and his BFA from Penn State University. Working in a variety of media, his work has been included in the Nicaraguan Biennial of Contemporary Art, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud; Come Together: Surviving Sandy, curated by Phong Bui; Jungle Assteria at Beverly’s; and is a member of Jugo Del Cuerpo, with a forthcoming collaborative show at Harbor Gallery. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Learn more about Williamson's work at williamsonbrasfield.com.
Erin Case is an award-winning visual artist based in Midland, Michigan, with a focus in collage. Her work was featured in 42 separate locations across Canada for Art in Transit's International Collage Exhibition. She exhibited for Patchbox Project (Rome) and has had features in the widely-circulated Lola Magazine of Brazil, in Prototype Magazine (UK), and in the prominent Las Vegas-based magazine, Vegas/Rated, among others. Erin is currently in pursuit of dual degrees in fine arts and psychology. She is a die-hard supporter of the arts, regularly organizing and hosting events throughout Michigan. Learn more about Erin's work at erincase.weebly.com.
Julie Farstad is an artist and Associate Professor of Painting at the Kansas City Art Institute. Born and raised in Elmira, New York, Farstad earned a BFA in Painting from the University of Notre Dame and an MFA in Painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has shown her work nationally and is represented by Byron Cohen Gallery in Kansas City and Zg Gallery in Chicago. Learn more about Julie's work at juliefarstad.com.
Diego Enrique Flores is a documentary photographer from South Texas currently based in Mexico City, Mexico. His work focuses on themes regarding ritual, loss, and conflict. He is currently working on a variety of long-term, social-documentary projects in and around Mexico. Learn more about Diego's work at diegoenriqueflores.com.
Tayfun Gülnar is an artist living in Istanbul, where he is pursuing a university degree in the Fine Arts, specializing in painting. He has won awards for his work and has been featured in several exhibitions around Turkey. Learn more about his work at tayfungulnar.com.
Amalia Mayita Mendez was born in El Salvador and has lived in New York most of her life. She received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and has worked as a photojournalist in NYC for publications such as Newsday, The Daily News, and The New York Times. She is in her second year of her current #project365 which she posts a photo day on her Instagram account @iseeyouiloveyou. Aside from photography, she also dedicates herself to her family coffee growing business and works with Irving Farm Coffee Roasters in New York City. Learn more about Amalia's work at mayita.com.
Guedda Hassan Mohamed is a graphic designer who solves problems with a methodical approach. His passion for typography and minimalist vector art allows him to create engaging visual solutions. Guedda lived in France before moving to Minnesota in 2012. His multicultural background gives him a global worldview, which influences many aspects of his designs. Learn more about Guedda's work at guedda.com.
Interdisciplinary artist and designer Shannon Rankin founded the creative studio Selflesh in 1996. Originally from California’s San Joaquin Valley, she currently lives and works in Rangeley, Maine. Rankin works across disciplines, from unique illustrations created with vintage maps and thread, to conceptual fine art collage, and intricately detailed installations. She exhibits her fine art nationally and internationally. Visit shannonrankin.com for more.