Discretionary Love

Jonathan Ukah lives in London with his wife, from where he writes poems and prose. His works have been published in literary journals. He studied English and Law and his social media presence is felt on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Geoffrey Aitken writes in Adelaide, on unceded Kaurna land as an awarded emerging poet whose stylized industrial minimalism shares his lived experience with publishers both locally (AUS) and internationally (the UK, US, CAN, Fr & CN). Most recent US, 'Déraciné Magazine' and Wishbone Words', in the UK.

D.J. Pileggi is a father and a writer. He has been paid both to dose antibiotics for septic shock, as well as install cast iron plumbing at Harvard University, in that order. He grew up outside of Chicago, has lived on both coasts, and currently resides in Massachusetts.

Camille Lewis is a writer and avid reader who lives and learns with borderline personality disorder. She can be found indulging in Plath, or crossing off days on a calendar until the next instalment of "A Song of Ice and Fire" series is released. Camille resides in South West England.

JGeorge (she/her) currently writes from Pondicherry. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, West Trestle Review, Lumiere Review, Literary Shanghai, Mookychick and others.

Jody Rae's work appears in The Babel Tower Notice Board, The Avalon Literary Review, The Good Life Review, and Red Fez. Her short story, "Beautiful Mother" was a finalist in the Phoebe Journal 2021 Spring Fiction Contest. She was the first prize winner of the 2019 Winning Writers Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest for her poem, "Failure to Triangulate". She has pieces forthcoming in Sledgehammer Lit, RESURRECTION magazine, and X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine. Her work can be found at www.criminysakesalive.com.

Jay Parr lives with his partner and child in Greensboro, NC, where he's a lecturer in the nontraditional Humanities program at UNCG. He owes thanks to Diya Abdo, Rana Israili, and other readers for helping him check his white-male privilege, to Kaya for inspiring this character, to Greg Minnig for letting a stranger crash too long at his tiny Houston Street apartment, and to Gabriella McField for her brilliant line edits. Parr's work has most recently been published by Dead Skunk Magazine, Anti-Heroin Chic, Streetcake Magazine, and Variant Literature Journal.

M Patrick Riggin is a Pittsburgh born writer, artist and musician.  While attending college for journalism and history, he worked as a musician and painter.  His work has been featured in several publications and he continues to evolve his form and function of artistic expression.  To follow him on his artistic journey, M Patrick Riggin can be reached at mpatrickriggin.com.

Filmmaker and photographer Carla Schwartz's poems have been widely published and anthologized, including in The Practicing Poet (Diane Lockward, Ed),  and in her second collection, Intimacy with the Wind, (Finishing Line, 2017). Her CB99videos youtube channel has 2,400,000+ views. Learn more at  carlapoet.com, wakewiththesun.blogspot.com, or find her on YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram @cb99videos. 

Interested in the arts and storytelling from a young age, Dre Hill sought to combine his passion for literature and cartoons. Hill is an artist and storyteller who was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He graduated from Drury University in 2021 with his B.A. in Animation and Writing. He currently resides in Fort Worth, where he continues to find art in the everyday things and people that surround him daily. When not creating, Dre is likely around town with family and friends, soaking in rich experiences and delicious foods. Or hanging with his puppy Jet. He can be found on all social platforms at @drehillart.

Barratt Fierens writes about the unnoticed, the unthinkable and the real but not realised. Writing from an old stone house on the edge of a woodland in a valley.

Megan Cannella (she/her) is a Midwestern transplant currently living in Nevada. Her debut chapbook, Confrontational Crotch and Other Real Housewives Musings, is out now and available at https://linktr.ee/mcannella. You can find Megan on Twitter at @megancannella.

Dominic Harbinson has a lot of fun trying to catch poems and shaping prose and sifting through a locker full of stuff from time spent living in Australia, Brazil, India, Massachusetts, Tokyo and China. He and his wife run a busy Chinese medicine clinic in Canterbury, England.

Shine Ballard, the addlepatedacediast, currently creates and resides on this plane(t).

@xShine14

Barbara Genova (she/her/they) is the pen name of a public woman who went private. Poetry written as Barbara has been published / is forthcoming at The Daily Drunk, surfaces.cx, Anti-Heroin Chic, Sledgehammer Lit, Scissors and Spackle, The Final Girl Bulletin Board., Fahmidan Journal. She can be found on Twitter @CallGenova and on Instagram @thebarbaragenova

Hello. I'm Sophie, and I'm a writer of long tweets, short fiction, and mediocre poetry. My stories have been picked up by Ellipsis Zine, Popshot Quarterly, Mojave Heart Review, Lunate Literary Journal, Spelk Fiction, Moonchild Magazine, New Pop Lit, Elephants Never, two charity anthologies, and other publications. I was nominated for a 2019 Pushcart and was a finalist in the Lumiere Review 2020 short fiction contest.

KG Newman is a sportswriter who covers the Broncos and Rockies for The Denver Post. His first three collections of poems are available on Amazon and he has been published in dozens of literary journals worldwide. The Arizona State University alum is on Twitter @KyleNewmanDP and more info and writing can be found at kgnewman.com. He lives in Hidden Village, Colorado, with his wife and two kids. He is on Twitter @KyleNewmanDP.

Marion Lougheed grew up in Canada, Benin, Belgium, and Germany. She still isn't sure where to call home. She is a winner of the Prime 53 Poem Summer Challenge (Press 53, 2021) and has been published in several print and online outlets. She holds a professional writing diploma and too many degrees in anthropology.

Jasmine Kaur (she/her) is a queer punjabi writer/artist. She likes to surround herself with stories and poetics in any medium, including audio, video, still images and performance. She tends to be weird like other normal abnormal normal people and enjoys pretending that she's very self-aware. Some of her work has been published in Visual Verse, streetcake magazine, Stellium, and Tilt (by Queerabad). She's currently a Masters in Philosophy student at Delhi University. You can find parts of her on the internet at https://sites.google.com/view/jasmine-kaur/ or @trying0000 on Twitter and @jasmineismeltingintosummer on Instagram.

DS Maolalai has been nominated nine times for Best of the Net and five times for the Pushcart Prize. His poetry has been released in two collections, "Love is Breaking Plates in the Garden" (Encircle Press, 2016) and "Sad Havoc Among the Birds" (Turas Press, 2019)

Yash Seyedbagheri is a graduate of Colorado State University's MFA program in fiction. His stories, "Soon,"  "How To Be A Good Episcopalian," and "Tales From A Communion Line," were nominated for Pushcarts. Yash's work  has been published in SmokeLong Quarterly, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Write City Magazine, and Ariel Chart, among others.

Retired, Nancy K Brown lives in the redwoods of California's Central Coast, earned a B.A. in English and a Master's in Education, but the real learning happened in children's classrooms. She's worked with preschool children, taught elementary school and college students, training teachers. Nancy is raising two middle school aged grandchildren who inspire her writing and story-telling. A ten-year member of a writing critique group, Pitch to Publish, SCBWI, Nancy takes writing courses and attends conferences online. Her essays and short stories appear in Brain, Child, Full Grown People, Brevity Blog, Wising Up and an anthology for rural youth, Fishing for Chickens, by Jim Heynen.

Jay Nunnery is a writer, teacher, and musician, who calls many places home: Wisconsin, New York, Louisiana, and California.  Recently, he completed his short story collection, Alms, Louisiana, a collection of twenty-one, interconnected stories.  Currently, he is working on a screenplay called The Circuses when he is not teaching high schoolers or making music. 

Melissa Flores Anderson is a Latinx Californian whose creative pieces have been published by Vois Stories, the Placing Poems project, sPARKLE&bLINK, Rigorous Magazine, and Moss Puppy Magazine. Her work "Not a Gardener" was featured in City Lights Theater Company's The Next Stage and Play on Words San Jose. She has read pieces in the Flash Fiction Forum and Quiet Lightning reading series. She has a poem forthcoming in Pile Press.

Renee Cronley is a poet, writer, and nurse from Brandon, Manitoba.  She studied Psychology and English at Brandon University, and Nursing at Assiniboine Community College.  Her work has appeared in NewMyths.com,  Love Letters to Poe, Black Hare Press, and others.

Izzy Searle (she/her) is a freelance writer with a First-Class degree in English and Creative Writing from Warwick University. Her writing is featured on the International Network of Italian Theatre and she has a poetry anthology in the process of publication. In her spare time, Izzy loves to hike and volunteer at Scouts.

John Sweet sends greetings from the rural wastelands of upstate NY. He is a firm believer in writing as catharsis, and in the continuous search for an unattainable and constantly evolving absolute truth. His latest poetry collections include A FLAG ON FIRE IS A SONG OF HOPE (2019 Scars Publications) and A DEAD MAN, EITHER WAY (2020 Kung Fu Treachery Press).

Christian Ward is a UK-based writer who can be currently found in Wild Greens and is forthcoming in Dreich, Uppagus and Spillwords. He was recently shortlisted in the 2021 Canterbury Poet of the Year Competition.

Joe Sonnenblick has been featured in such print and electronic publications as Fleas on The Dog, Impspired, Aji, The Beatnik Cowboy, SCAB Literary Arts Journal, Citizen Brooklyn, The broadkill review, Spectra Poets for their inaugural issue,  In Parentheses. Joe has also been featured in Stella Samuel's 2021 anthology of American poetry through Arzono Press. Joe has been a featured reader up and down the east coast including the Poets House In Tribeca.

Brianne Sommerville writes news releases and speeches by day, poetry and fiction by night. Brianne studied English Literature at Queen's University before entering the world of public relations. She is currently working towards a certificate in creative writing with the University of Toronto. Brianne lives in King with her partner and two littles under four.

john compton (b. 1987) is gay poet who lives in kentucky. he lives in a tiny town, with his husband josh and their 3 dogs and 2 cats. his poetry is a personal journey. he reaches for things close and far, trying to give them life: growing up gay; having mental health issues; a journey into his childhood; the world that surrounds us. he writes to be alive, to learn and to grow. he loves imagery, metaphor, simile, abstract language, sounds, when one word can drift you into another direction. he loves playing with vocabulary, creating texture and emotions. he has published 2 books and 5 chapbooks published and forthcoming: [books]: trainride elsewhere (august 2016) from Pressed Wafer; stranger in the attic of clouds (tba) from dead man's press inc; [chapbooks]: that moan like a saxophone (december 2016) from kindle; ampersand (march 2018) from Plan B Press; a child growing wild inside the mothering womb (june 2020) from ghost city press; i saw god cooking children / paint their bones (oct 2020) from blood pudding press; to wash all the pretty things off my skin (sept 2021) from ethel zine & micro-press. he has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies.

Charmaine Traynor-Ruitenberg (she/her) also known as Charmaine Arjoonlal is a writer and social worker living in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Her writing has appeared in Brown Sugar Literary and will be forthcoming in Maclean's in January 2022.

Christian Garduno's work can be read in over 100 literary magazines. He is the recipient of the 2019 national Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry and a Finalist in the 2020-2021 Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Writing Contest. He lives and writes along the South Texas coast with his wonderful wife Nahemie and young son Dylan. His debut poetry chapbook, "Lightning in Your Room", is available from Guerrilla Genesis Press.

Milton P. Ehrlich Ph.D. is a 90-year-old psychologist and a veteran of the Korean War. He has published many poems in periodicals such as the London Grip, Arc Poetry Magazine, Descant Literary Magazine, Wisconsin Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Christian Science Monitor, and the New York Times.

Dana Storino is an emerging neurodiverse writer, has been published in Wrytimes and has been a guest blogger for ADDitude.com. She also has a short story being featured in the upcoming July issue of Her View From Home. She has two short stories published in separate issues of Gliterary Literary and a poem in an upcoming issue of Poet’s Choice. Dana received her Bachelor of Art degree from Columbia College Chicago. She works full time for Chicago Public Schools as a SECA (special education classroom assistant). Her middle-grade book “The Golden Bee'' is currently represented by Max Dobson of Maximus Literary. You can read some of her personal experiences with ADHD and life in general in her Wordpress blog, “Oh Look, a Squirrel.” She’s a married mother of three humans, a spunky Dalmatian, Dolly and a cool cat, Bean. 

Shannon Wolf is a British writer and teacher, living in Denver, Colorado. Her debut full-length poetry collection Green Card Girl is forthcoming from Fernwood Press. She received a joint MA-MFA in Poetry at McNeese State University and also has degrees from Lancaster University and the University of Chichester. She is the Co-Curator of the Poets in Pajamas Reading Series. Her poetry, short fiction, and non-fiction (which can also be found under the name Shannon Bushby) have appeared in The Forge, No Contact Mag, and HAD among others. You can find her on social media @helloshanwolf.

Christiana Jasutan (she/her) is a Chinese-Indonesian writer currently pursuing her degree in BA English and Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham. She is the Publication Editor for Writers' Bloc and the Magazine Editor and Social Media Manager for small leaf press. She explores embodiment, identity, childhood, love, emotions, and metaphors in her work. Chat with Christi on her Twitter @ChristiJasutan, or see more of her work on Instagram @cacaolatte.writes.

Emily O'Kane is a writer in New York City. She is neither a morning person nor a night person.

Erich von Hungen currently lives in San Francisco, California under a giant Norfolk pine in a century old house between Golden Gate Park and the Pacific Ocean.

His writing has appeared in The Colorado Quarterly, Cathexis Northwest Press, The Write Launch, The Ravens Perch,  From Whispers To Roars, Punk Noir, Not Deer Magazine, Drunk Monkey, Sledgehammer, Anti-Heroin Chic and others.

He has recently launched  two collections of poems: "Witness: 100 Poems For Change" and "Bleeding Through: 72 Poems Of Man In Nature".

Find him at https://twitter.com/PoetryForce

Originally from rural Wales, Nia (She/Her) has lived in East Yorkshire the past 6 years. A single mother and occasional blogger, her self-published collection 'Walking through the shadows' was published in 2017 and she is working on her next collection. She has featured in The High Wolds Poetry Festival and accompanying collections, The Amphibian Literary Journal, and will feature in Boats Against the Current and Noctivagant Press later this year.

When not writing she can be found walking in woodlands trying to talk to the trees, drinking strong coffee and eating good cake, listening to an eclectic playlist, or occasionally attempting to knit or crochet badly.

C. Cimmone is an author and editor from Texas. She's alive and well on Twitter at @diefunnier.

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality. She was shortlisted in the Theatre Cloud 'War Poetry for Today' competition and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and a Rhysling Award. Her poetry has appeared in many publications including: Apogee, Firewords, Capsule Stories, Gyroscope Review and So It Goes. 

Find Lynn at: https://lynnwhitepoetry.blogspot.com and https://www.facebook.com/Lynn-White-Poetry-1603675983213077/

https://www.maxturneruk.com/

@MaxTurnerWrites on twitter

Duane L. Herrmann, internationally published, award-winning poet and historian, has work translated into several languages, in print and online.  He has a sci fi novel, seven full-length collections of poetry, a history book, and more chapbooks.  His poetry has received the Robert Hayden Poetry Fellowship, inclusion in American Poets of the 1990s, Map of Kansas Literature (website), Kansas Poets Trail and others.  These accomplishments defy his traumatic childhood embellished by dyslexia, ADHD and, now, PTSD.  He spends his time on the prairie with trees in the breeze and writes – and loves the light of the moon!

Cheryl S. Ntumy is a Ghanaian writer based in Botswana. She writes novels and short stories in various genres, including speculative fiction, YA and romance. She is a director of Petlo Literary Arts, a company that promotes Botswana literature and publishes the Petlwana Journal of Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in The Goddess of Mtwara and Other Stories, Will This be a Problem, Molecule: A Tiny Lit Mag, Botswana Women Write, Breathe: Anthology of Science Fiction, We Will Lead Africa Volume 2: Women and Apex Magazine, among others.

Benardo Gunzburger Lopes is a luso-brasileiro currently attending medical school in Lisbon, Portugal. Since the turn of the millenium, he's called many countries and interests his own, presently struggling between fulfilling his Goodreads Reading Challenge and keeping up to date with his classes.

After retiring from a long career as a financial manager, Lori returned to her love of writing. Over the past four years, she attended writing conferences, workshops, and retreats to polish her craft, and last year, she began submitting her work. Two of Lori's creative nonfiction pieces have been published.

http://potatosoupjournal.com/tag/lori-lindstrom/

https://biostories.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Piano.pdf

Caroline Misner’s work has appeared in numerous publications in the USA, Canada, India and the UK.  She lives in the beautiful Haliburton Highlands of Northern Ontario where she continues to draw inspiration for her work.  She is the author of the Young Adult fantasy series “The Daughters of Eldox”.  Her latest novel, “The Spoon Asylum” was released in May of 2018 by Thistledown Press and was nominated by the publisher for the Governor General Award. You can view more of her work at her website: carolinemisner.com.

Marianne Connolly is writer and visual artist living in western Massachusetts, and a member of Gallery A3, an artists' cooperative in Amherst, MA. She works with photography, collage and stories. Marianne is working on an urban fantasy novel set in Boston's gay community in 1983, and recently published her first short story in The Future Fire. Marianne was a 2021 finalist for the Writers of the Future award.

www.marianneconnolly.com

 Norman Cristofoli has published several chapbooks of poetry/prose plus two audio compilations of spoken word. He published the "Labour of Love" literary magazine for over 25 years and was co-founder of the "Coffeehouse" artist networking site. His play "The Pub" and new book of poetry "Relinquishing the Past" were both published in 2020.

Website:      https://normancristofoli.com/

Joan McNerney’s poetry is found in many literary magazines such as Seven Circle Press, Dinner with the Muse, Poet Warriors, Blueline, and Halcyon Days.  Four Bright Hills Press Anthologies, several Poppy Road Journals, and numerous Poets' Espresso Reviews have accepted her work.  She has four Best of the Net nominations.  Her latest titles are The Muse in Miniature and Love Poems for Michael and At Work all available on Amazon.com and Cyberwit.net

Reena Kapoor, a techie-turned-writer, grew up all over India as an "army brat". That wandering sensibility is reflected in her debut poetry collection Arrivals & Departures: Journeys in Poems. For over a decade, Reena has been a Citizen Historian with The 1947 Partition Archive collecting oral histories from witnesses of India's Partition. Reena's poetry and fiction has been published in The Bluebird Word, Potato Soup, Ariel Chart, 433 Magazine, Literary Yard, Academy of the Heart & Mind, Tiny Seed, Visible, and India Currents. Four plays by Reena were produced by EnActe Arts in 2021. Reena can be found at https://arrivalsanddepartures.substack.com/

Sharon Waller Knutson is a retired journalist who lives in Arizona. She has published several poetry books including My Grandmother Smokes Chesterfields (Flutter Press 2014,) What the Clairvoyant Doesn’t Say and Trials & Tribulations of Sports Bob (Kelsay Books 2021) and Survivors, Saints and Sinners (Cyberwit 2022.) Her work has also appeared in The Rye Whiskey Review, Black Coffee Review, Terror House Review, Trouvaille Review, ONE ART, Mad Swirl, The Drabble, Gleam, Spillwords, Muddy River Review, Verse-Virtual, Your Daily Poem, Red Eft Review, The Five-Two and The Song Is…

Ace Boggess is author of six books of poetry, including Escape Envy (Brick Road Poetry Press, 2021), I Have Lost the Art of Dreaming It So, and The Prisoners. His writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Notre Dame Review, Harvard Review, Mid-American Review, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, West Virginia, where he writes and tries to stay out of trouble.

Jennifer A Swallow is known more for writing about cybersecurity than imaginary lives, but that doesn't stop her from filling notebook after notebook with ideas. Her creative work has recently appeared in The Courtship of Winds and Adelaide Literary Magazine. She lives the life of a digital nomad and finds inspiration everywhere she goes. When inspiration is lacking, she disappears into the wilderness until it comes back.

jenwriting.com

Devon Bohm’s work has been featured in many publications including Necessary Fiction, Eunoia Review, Spry, Sixfold, Hole In The Head Review, Helix Magazine, and Sunday Mornings at the River’s 365 Days of Covid anthology. Her first book of poetry, Careful Cartography, was published in 2021 by Cornerstone Press. The collection was the recipient of the 2022 First Horizons Book Award and was shortlisted for the 2022 Eric Hoffer Award, receiving the distinction for an outstanding publication by an academic press. Follow her on Instagram or TikTok @devonpoem or visit her website at www.devonbohm.com.

Jenny Torniainen teaches English and Drama in Valencia, Spain and graduated in French Literature from the University of London and the Sorbonne in Paris. Published stories include: 'The Note' (Teach. Write), 'Refurb Dreams' (Grande Dame Literary), 'Blood Lines' (The Honest Ulsterman) and 'Lockdown Hero', ('Writers in Lockdown' Anthology).

Camille Castro, 23, is a second-year linguistics student at her local university. Her works have appeared or are forthcoming in tenderness lit, Arteidolia, Academy of the Heart and Mind, and elsewhere.

Chris was born and raised in Sydney Australia. He completed university in Sydney and graduated with a degree in business studies. Chris has devoted his spare time to writing, with recent works published in Quadrant, The Remington Review, The Aurora Journal, Jalmurra, Eunoia Review, Ink Drinkers Poetry, 101 Fiction, and several genre anthologies, among other creative spaces.

Aaron Sandberg has appeared or is forthcoming in Asimov's, No Contact, Alien Magazine, The Shore, The Offing, Sporklet, Right Hand Pointing, Halfway Down the Stairs, Crow & Cross Keys, Burningword Journal, Whale Road Review, and elsewhere. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, you can see him—and his poetry posts—on Instagram @aarondsandberg.

Shannon-Kate Archer is a Melbourne based lawyer. She is de-cluttering her mind after enduring one of the world's longest lockdowns alongwith the rest of her city. Shannon-Kate is determined to reduce her life stories to under 1000 words. So far she is succeeding.

Marchell Dyon is a poetry enthusiast. She enjoys reading poetry wherever she can find it. Once she was nominated for the best of the net prize for her poem As I Stand by My Window Dreaming of Falling. Her most recent publications are Toasted Cheese Lit Journal, Medusa's kitchen, and Agape Review. She has taken many poetry workshops; her education and thirst to improve her craft has constantly developed despite having both schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. She continues to live and write in Chicago IL.

Kate E Lore is a writer of both fiction and nonfiction. With many publications in both genres, Kate has been featured in Orsum magazine, and Longridge Review. Originally from Dayton Ohio, Kate is currently earning a master's degree in creative writing from Miami University. Kate got her bachelor's from The Ohio State University.

A jack-of-all-trades Kate splits her time up between fiction and nonfiction, screenplays, flash prose, full-length novels, painting, and comics.

Kate is openly queer and neurodivergent. She grew up the youngest of four scraping by on low income, raised by a single widowed mother.

P.M. Baird, born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a primarily self taught multi-disciplinary artist, who has been focused on fiction for the last decade. He is currently finalizing his second novel and will have his work featured in the upcoming spring issue of Amarillo Bay Literary Magazine.

Roger Patulny is a Sydney based academic, writer and poet, and is the Chief Editor for Authora Australis. He has published fiction and poetry in numerous outlets including The Suburban Review, Cordite, Poets Corner InDaily, Dwell Time, The Rye Whisky Review, the Mark Literary Review, and Silver Birch Press. Twitter - @rpatulny

Excerpts and links to my published creative works can be found here.

https://rpatulny.com/

Janna Wilson is a Vancouver-based poet, wanderer, and lover of sunshine, beaches, tattoos and music. In the other hours, she works as a program coordinator for the University of Victoria. Recent work has appeared in Paddler Press (2023). Her first chapbook, The Octopus Hunter, was published by Leaf Press in 2010.

Austin Allen James is a Visiting Professor at Texas Southern University.  He has taught at TSU since the Fall of 2012.  Austin was a committee member in 2016 charged with creating a “Professional Writing” concentration that includes five creative writing classes.  He has taught all five courses through the years, with his focus being the Poetry Workshop, Intro to Creative Writing, Workshop in Creative Writing, and Fiction Workshop.

Austin is also a visual artist, sculptor, and furniture designer.  He has been painting since 1996.  Austin’s Master of Fine Arts is from Naropa University in Boulder, CO, class of 1998.  To view his art, furniture, and sculpture, google “Austin Allen James.

Ken Haas lives in San Francisco where he works in healthcare and sponsors a poetry writing workshop at UCSF Children's Hospital. His first book, Borrowed Light, won the 2020 Red Mountain Press Discovery Award, as well as a 2021 prize from the National Federation of Press Women. Ken has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has won the Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award. His poems have appeared in over 50 journals and numerous anthologies.

Sheila E. Murphy. Murphy’s most recent books are Permission to Relax (BlazeVOX Books, 2023) October Sequence: Sections 1-51 (mOnocle-Lash Anti-Press, 2023), and Sostenuto (Luna Bisonte Prods (2023). Murphy is the recipient of the Gertrude Stein Award for her book Letters to Unfinished J. (Green Integer Press, 2003). Murphy's book titled Reporting Live from You Know Where (2018) won the Hay(na)Ku Poetry Book Prize Competition from Meritage Press (U.S.A.) and xPress(ed) (Finland).  Based on a background in music theory and instrumental and vocal performance, her poetry is associated with music. Murphy earns her living as a management consultant and researcher and holds the Ph.D. degree. She has lived in Phoenix, Arizona throughout her adult life.

Her Wikipedia page can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Murphy

Bob McAfee is a retired software consultant who lives with his wife near Boston. His style is eclectic, but his goal is producing poems with both fierceness and a reluctant sense of optimism.

From the South of England, Kate is a writer/poet and blogger.

https://forthosewhoarecurious.com

Dr. Abod is an award-winning director of four documentary films, The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen, The Edge of Each Other’s Battles: The Vision of Audre Lorde. Nice Chinese Girls Don’t: A poetry memoir with Kitty Tsui and Look Us in the Eye: The Old Women’s Project.  She is a former assistant professor of Communications and Women’s Studies. Her current passions include being a jazz singer and writing poetry. Her poems have been published in: One Art Journal, The Metro Washington Weekly, Silver Birch Press, Wild Crone Wisdom, Artemis Journal, Sinister Wisdom and are forthcoming in Spillway Magazine.  Abod has been passionately addressing inequality for five decades. At the height of second wave feminism, she was the singer in the New Haven Women’s Liberation Rock Band,

HK Novielli is a Midwesterner living in Texas. Writing is something she dreamed of in childhood but didn’t pursue until well into adulthood. It turns out, she thoroughly enjoys writing more than anything else, except maybe coffee and reading.

HKNovielli.com

VA lives outside Seattle, WA, with her human and animal family. Her work has appeared in The Lake, 34th Parallel Magazine, Sad Girls Literary Magazine, Ignatian Literary Magazine, OJA & L Magazine, Front Porch Review, and Five on the Fifth. She has work forthcoming in Panoplyzine Magazine as the Editors’ Poem of Choice, Crab Creek Review, and Figwort.

You can find her on Instagram at @vawiswell and www.vawiswell.com.

Bart Edelman’s poetry collections include Crossing the Hackensack (Prometheus Press), Under Damaris’ Dress (Lightning Publications), The Alphabet of Love (Ren Hen Press), The Gentle Man (Ren Hen Press), The Last Mojito (Ren Hen Press), The Geographer’s Wife (Ren Hen Press), Whistling to Trick the Wind (Meadowlark Press), and This Body Is Never at Rest: New and Selected Poems 1993 – 2023 (Meadowlark Press).  He has taught at Glendale College, where he edited Eclipse, a literary journal, and, most recently, in the MFA program at Antioch University, Los Angeles.  His work has been widely anthologized in textbooks published by City Lights Books, Etruscan Press, Fountainhead Press, Harcourt Brace, Longman, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, Simon & Schuster, Thomson/Heinle, the University of Iowa Press, Wadsworth, and others. He lives in Pasadena, California.

Nathalie Guilbeault is a native Montrealer now living in North Hatley, Quebec. She holds an MSc. in Management from Montreal’s École des Hautes Études Commerciales and has been writing full time since 2016. Nathalie acknowledged the need to write and to give it space later in life. Now, writing––the writing world, has become a permanent venue in which she thrives.The second edition of her first novel, Inhaled, was published June 2022 and her next book, When I Became Never, will be published June 2024. In 2022, she became the editor, French section, of the Nelligan Review, a bilingual literary and cultural journal.

nathalieguilbeault.com