Contributor Bios
POETS
F. Douglas Brown is an educator currently teaching English at Loyola High School of Los Angeles, an all boys Jesuit school. He has an MA in Literature and Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and is currently in the MFA program at Antioch University of Los Angeles. He is both a Cave Canem and Kundiman fellow, two writing organizations that celebrate and cultivate African American and Asian American poets, respectively. Mr. Brown has two beautiful children, Isaiah and Olivia. When he is not teaching or writing or being a daddy, F. Douglas Brown spends his time DJing around the greater Los Angeles area.
Lauren Camp produces and hosts “Audio Saucepan,” a music and poetry program that airs weekly on Santa Fe Public Radio. Her poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal, Caesura, Rhino and other journals. She has also guest-edited special sections for World Literature Today and Malpaís Review. The author of the poetry collection, This Business of Wisdom (West End Press), Lauren is also an interdisciplinary artist and a part-time educator. She writes for the blog “Which Silk Shirt,” a resource for poetry and other fine writing. (www.laurencamp.com/whichsilkshirt).
John Paul Davis writes poems and, when he is fortunate, other people enjoy them.
Kendra DeColo’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in the 2012 Best of the Net Anthology, Vinyl Poetry, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, CALYX, Split This Rock: Poems of Witness and Provocation, Printer’s Devil Review, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a work-study scholarship from Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, residency awards from the Millay Colony and Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and an Academy of American Poets Prize. Kendra is the founding poetry editor of Nashville Review and lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Bradley Harrison grew up in small town Iowa and is a graduate of Truman State University. Currently a Michener Fellow at the University of Texas in Austin, he studies both poetry and fiction and is an editor for Bat City Review. His work can be found in past, current, or forthcoming issues of Gulf Coast, CutBank, The Los Angeles Review, Hunger Mountain, Nimrod, Columbia Poetry Review, The Offending Adam, Memorious and other journals. His dog not-so-recently ate his glasses.
A 2011 Pushcart Prize Nominee, Saeed Jones received his MFA from Rutgers University – Newark. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including Hayden's Ferry Review, Jubilat, Quarterly West, West Branch & Blackbird. His chapbook When the Only Light is Fire is available from Sibling Rivalry Press. He blogs regularly at saeedjones.com.
Rickey Laurentiis was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation, the Atlantic Center for the Arts as well as a scholarship from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and was a finalist for the 2011 National Poetry Series. Individual poems have appeared or are forthcoming in several journals, including Indiana Review, jubilat, Alaska Quarterly Review and Callaloo. Currently, Rickey is pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing at Washington University in St Louis where he is a Chancellor’s fellow.
Marty McConnell’s work has been published in numerous anthologies and journals including A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry, City of the Big Shoulders: An Anthology of Chicago Poetry, Indiana Review, Crab Orchard, Salt Hill Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Drunken Boat, Muzzle Magazine, Rattle, Rattapallax, Booth Magazine, Fourteen Hills, Thirteenth Moon, Boxcar Poetry Review, Pedestal, 2River View, and Qarrtsiluni. She received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and has been a featured reader at numerous literary festivals including the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, Connecticut Poetry Festival, and the Palm Beach Poetry Festival. After ten years in New York City, during which she co-founded literary nonprofit the louderARTS Project and co-curated its renowned weekly reading series, she returned to Chicago in 2009 to establish its sister organization, Vox Ferus, through which she runs a bi-monthly poetry workshop series.
Michael Mlekoday is an MFA candidate at Indiana University and a National Poetry Slam Champion. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Ninth Letter, Hayden's Ferry Review, Sixth Finch, Anti-, and other journals. He has never seen the ocean.
Emily O'Neill is a proud Jersey girl who tells loud stories in her inside voice because she wants to keep you close. Her poetry and fiction has appeared in The Pedestal, Pank, Umbrella Factory, and Nap, among others. It's also seen stages from Portland to Orlando. She has a degree in the synesthesia of storytelling from Hampshire College and splits her time between Somerville, MA and Providence, RI.
Paige Riehl’s poetry and prose has been published or is forthcoming in Meridian; the Saint Paul Almanac; South Dakota Review; Nimrod; the anthology Poetry City, USA; Blood Orange Review; Literary Bohemian; Word Riot; and more. Paige recently won first place in the 2011 Literal Latte Prize for Poetry. She also was a semi-finalist for the 2011 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry sponsored by Nimrod as well as the 2011 River Styx International Poetry Contest. Paige was also a finalist for the 2011 Loft Mentor Series in Poetry in Minneapolis.
Jon Sands is a Brooklyn based Author known for electrifying readings. His first full collection of poems, The New Clean, was released in 2011 from Write Bloody Publishing. He directs weekly writing workshops at the Positive Health Project (a syringe exchange center in Midtown Manhattan), and is a Youth Mentor with Urban Word-NYC. He starred in the 2011 web-series “Verse: A Murder Mystery” from Rattapallax Films. His work has appeared in The Millions, Word Riot, Kill Author, decomP Magazine, Union Station, Muzzle, and others. He tours extensively, nationally and internationally, but lives in Brooklyn. Say yes to www.jonsands.com.
sam sax is a bay area based writer, educator, and performer. he’s oakland’s first two-time queer grand slam champion. sam curates the new shit show, a reading series in san francisco aimed at producing new poetry. he has toured internationally, performing at universities, slams, basements, alleyways, and amphitheaters. sam is currently leading writing and literacy workshops for queer at risk youth.
Helen Vitoria’s work can be found and is forthcoming in many online and print journals: elimae, MudLuscious Press, PANK, Rougarou, FRIGG Magazine, kill author, Dark Sky Magazine and others. She is the author of six poetry chapbooks and a full-length poetry collection: Corn Exchange forthcoming from Scrambler Books, Spring 2012. Her poems have been nominated for Best New Poets & the Pushcart Prize. She is the Founding Editor & Editor in Chief of THRUSH Poetry Journal & THRUSH Press. Find her here: http://helenvitoria-lexis.blogspot.com/.
Karrie Waarala holds an MFA from the Stonecoast Program at University of Southern Maine. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals such as Iron Horse Literary Review, PANK, The Collagist, Arsenic Lobster, and Radius. Karrie is currently working on finding a home for her wayward manuscript of circus sideshow poems, upon which she based her one-woman show, LONG GONE: A Poetry Sideshow. She really wishes she could tame tigers and swallow swords. She can be found online at: www.poetrysideshow.com.
ARTISTS
Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a 16-year-old internationally award winning photographer and artist who has won first places with National Geographic, The World Photography Organisation, Nature's Best Photography, Papworth Trust, Mencap, The Woodland Trust, and Postal Heritage. Her photography has been published in The Telegraph, The Guardian, BBC News Website and on the cover of books and magazines in the United states and Canada.
Susan Breen is a painter, represented by Woodward Gallery in New York City. She recently contributed to Sony Legacy Recordings’ release “15 MINUTES”, exhibited at the Pollock-Krasner House and Andy Warhol Museum. Susan’s work has also been exhibited in venues including the Islip Art Museum, the Housatonic Museum of Art, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, and the Cahoon Museum of American Art, among others.
Ron Koppelberger is a poet, a short story writer, and an artist. He has written 103 books of poetry over the past several years and 18 novels. He has been published in The Stray Branch, The Fringe, Write On!! (Poetry Magazette), Static Movement, Necrology Shorts, and Record Magazine. He is a member of The Poet’s Society, The Fiction Guild as well as The Isles Poetry Association and The Dark Fiction Guild.
Jacob Oet is a senior at University School in Hunting Valley, Ohio. He is the author of two chapbooks of poetry: Metamorphosis (Kattywompus Press) and Peeling the Apple (NightBallet Press). Jacob's poetry and images appear in Cream City Review, Illuminations, Yemassee, Straylight, and Petrichor Machine, among others. His awards include the 2011 Younkin-Rivera Poetry Prize and the 2011 Ohioana Robert Fox Award.
Erik Richard Parra is a San Francisco based artist, curator, educator, and writer. He received his BFA from the University of Texas at Austin and his MFA from the University of Wisconsin—Madison, on fellowship. Erik has exhibited his work internationally, including Berlin, Brazil, Chicago, London and New York. In the Bay Area, Erik has exhibited at Southern Exposure, The Headlands Center for the Arts, Blankspace Gallery, Root Division, Johansson Projects WE Artspace and, most recently, at Kala Art Institute.
Allison Leigh Peters won an Academy of American Poets Prize in 2010. Her poetry has been published in Michigan Quarterly Review, Dunes Review, Cavalier Literary Couture, Burner Magazine, Avatar Review, and elsewhere. She was awarded a National Emerging Artist Residency from the Grin City Collective in 2011 and is Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of Orange Quarterly. A 2011 graduate of the University of Michigan, Allison currently lives in Traverse City, where she is a reading and writing tutor at an historic elementary school. She volunteers for the National Writers Series and teaches poetry and blogging workshops at Northwestern Michigan College.
Ryan B. Richey lives in Chicago filling up his apartment with paintings. On his off days he can be found playing music with Chris Lin. They are Hannis Pannis. At the end of 2012 their double concept album about the end of life as we know it, “Electronic Age,” will be released. Richey is also a part of the collaborative venture known as ED JR. He is the R.
Cynthia Staples is a writer and photographer. Her muses are many, especially nature and her family. For work and pleasure, she has been lucky enough to travel the world. Those travel experiences as an African American woman continually influence her work today. Her photography has appeared in Alive Now, Creativity Portal, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Orion, and other journals.