POETS
Lauren Camp (Accidental Singing) is the author of two collections, most recently The Dailiness, winner of the National Federation of Press Women 2014 Poetry Book Prize and a World Literature Today “Editor’s Pick.” Her third book, One Hundred Hungers, was selected by David Wojahn for the Dorset Prize, and is forthcoming from Tupelo Press. She won The Más Tequila Review Margaret Randall Poetry Prize and the 2012 Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Award. Her poems have appeared in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Beloit Poetry Journal, Linebreak, Nimrod, and other journals. She hosts “Audio Saucepan,” a global music/poetry program on Santa Fe Public Radio. Learn more about her work at www.laurencamp.com.
Rachel Ronquillo Gray (Kelly The Killer…) was born and raised in rural Nevada and holds an MFA from Indiana University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Winter Tangerine Review, As/Us, Lantern Review, CURA, and other places. She is the Backline program manager in Bloomington, Indiana, and a Kundiman fellow.
Edward Hirsch (Interview, [Ben Jonson…], [I Did Not Know…]), a MacArthur Fellow, has published nine books of poems, including The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems (2010), which brings together thirty-five years of work, and Gabriel: A Poem (2014), a book-length elegy that The New Yorker called “a masterpiece of sorrow.” He has also written five prose books, among them A Poet’s Glossary (2014), a complete compendium of poetic terms, and How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry (1999), a national bestseller.
Amorak Huey (Self-Portrait…), is the author of the chapbook The Insomniac Circus (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2014) and the forthcoming poetry collection Ha Ha Ha Thump (Sundress Publications, 2015). A former newspaper editor and reporter, he teaches writing at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. His poems appear in The Best American Poetry 2012, The Cincinnati Review, The Southern Review, The Collagist, Menacing Hedge, and many other print and online journals. Follow him on Twitter: @amorak.
Christopher Klingbeil (Untitled Empire) has toured the American West as a government lumberjack and forester. He took MFAs away from Boise State and Colorado State University. Once, he took an Honorable Mention in The Atlantic's Student Writing Contest. Recent poems and stories have appeared in Alice Blue Review, Salt Hill, Smoking Glue Gun, and Vinyl Poetry, among others. His chapbook, evaporatus, won the 2013 Jenny Catlin Competition at ELJ Publications.
Nicole Rollender (Acedia) is the author of the poetry chapbooks Absence of Stars (forthcoming, dancing girl press & studio), Little Deaths (forthcoming, ELJ Publications), and Arrangement of Desire (Pudding House Publications). She’s the recipient of CALYX Journal’s 2014 Lois Cranston Memorial Prize, the 2012 Princemere Journal Poetry Prize, and Ruminate Magazine’s 2012 Janet B. McCabe Poetry Prize for her Pushcart Prize-nominated poem “Necessary Work,” chosen by Li-Young Lee. Her poetry has been published or is forthcoming in The Adroit Journal, Alaska Quarterly Review, H_NGM_N, Harpur Palate, Heron Tree, MiPOesias, Ruminate Magazine, and THRUSH Poetry Journal, among others. She received her MFA from The Pennsylvania State University, and currently serves as media director for Minerva Rising Literary Journal and editor of StitchesMagazine, which recently won a Jesse H. Neal Award from American Business Media. Visit her online at www.nicolerollender.com.
Andrew Ruzkowski (Away And Gone) lives and writes in Chicago. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Columbia Poetry Review, The Bakery, [PANK], Midwestern Gothic, The Seattle Review, Willows Wept Review, Black Tongue Review, The Camel Saloon, Emerge Literary Journal, and Parable Press, among others. He has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, a Best of the Net award, and was a finalist for the 2012 Atlantis Award and the 2012 Kay Murphy Prize for Poetry. His debut chapbook, A Shape & Sound, is available from ELJ Publications. He also serves as the reviews editor for Poets’ Quarterly.
Brian Simoneau (Late Night…) is the author of River Bound (C&R Press, 2014), which won the 2013 De Novo Prize. His poems have appeared in Boulevard, Cave Wall, The Collagist, Crab Orchard Review, The Georgia Review, Mid-American Review, Southern Humanities Review, and other journals. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and two daughters.
Katie Umans' (Early) first collection of poems, Flock Book, was published by Black Lawrence Press in 2012, and her writing has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Crazyhorse, Columbia, Indiana Review, Barrow Street, and others. She has received support from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing and the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. She was recently the winner of the 2014 Orlando Short Fiction Prize from A Room Of Her Own Foundation.
Jennifer Whitaker's (Mother's Foxes) poems have appeared or are forthcoming in journals including The Greensboro Review, The Boiler, New England Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Four Way Review. Originally from Midlothian, Virginia, Jennifer received her MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is a contributing editor at Cave Wall and an assistant poetry editor at storySouth. She currently lives in Greensboro, NC where she is Director of the University Writing Center at UNCG. Her first book, The Blue Hour, won the Brittingham Prize in Poetry and is forthcoming in 2016 from the University of Wisconsin Press.
John Sibley Williams (Teething) 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
Erin Case (Haircut Eight, Volley) 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.
A graduate of Parsons School of Design, Sara Dilliplane (Reflecting Two) has exhibited around the country, including at the museum at Mystic Seaport, the Society of Illustrators in New York, and the United Nations headquarters. She currently freelances in Boston, MA., where, in addition to illustration, she paints and designs textiles.
Shannon Estlund (Provocation) is currently an Adjunct Instructor at Minneapolis College of Art and Design and a Visiting Assistant Instructor at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. She holds an MFA in Visual Studies from MCAD and received her BFA from the University of Florida and a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Shannon is a Minnesota State Arts Boards grant recipient for 2014, and upcoming shows include Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis and the Crisp Ellert Art Museum in St. Augustine, FL. Learn more about Shannon's work at shannonestlund.com.
Sarah Jacoby (Nocture) is an illustrator and artist, a writer and all-around creative thinker and maker. In the recent past, she studied literature and film at Haverford College and earned her MFA in at the Illustration Practice Program at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) in Baltimore. Sarah has worked as a sound archivist, a coffee slinger, a digital media specialist, a lifeguard, and a movie theater projectionist. This varied existence aptly portrays Sarah’s constant desire to explore, experiment, and play. For Sarah, illustration is a unique and important forum in which all of these actions combine in a universal way. Learn more about Sarah's work at thesarahjacoby.com.
Seo Kim (Mother's Foxes) is an award-winning freelance illustrator and designer living in Baltimore, Maryland. She was born in Busan, South Korea and grew up in Durham, North Carolina, where she cultivated her love for sweet tea. She received her MFA in Illustration Practice from Maryland Institute College of Art. She currently teaches illustration at MICA. She loves taking natural, organic forms inspired by nature to create, expand, and explore the world of image making. Learn more about Seo's work at www.seokim.com.
Elizabeth Claire Rose (Luminary) was born near the sand prairies of central Illinois, has resided in Montana for nearly 15 years, and is currently exploring artist collectives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has a BA in fine arts from the University of Montana focusing on printmaking and photography with a minor in wilderness studies. Her work was selected for publication in 25 Under 25: Up-and-Coming American Photographers Vol. 2. She has received many awards for drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography, including the Scholastic National Art Silver Award for photography portfolio and the National American Vision Award. She has exhibited her work in various galleries nationally and internationally. She recently completed artist residencies with the Alberta Printmakers' Society in Alberta, Canada, and Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Learn more about Elizabeth's work at www.elizabethclairerose.com.
Andrew Tamlyn (Haircut Eight) is an award winning photographer living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is also the singer/guitarist in the psych/surf/garage band Heaters, which you can hear and follow at: www.facebook.com/heatersss.
Lora Vahlsing's (Landscape) art has most recently appeared in Korean Quarterly and on the cover of a Wisconsin Tourism Guide. She resides in Wisconsin, teaching yoga and art. To learn more, visit her website at www.loravahlsing.com.