Contributors' Biographies

Phillip K. Arrington teaches English at Eastern Michigan University. He has recently published poems in Penumbraand has authored a book, Rhetoric's Agon,available on Amazon.com (www.amazon.com).

Regina Murray Brault has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her awards include 2007 Euphoria and Skysaje Enterprises Poetry Competitions, and the 2008 Creekwalker prize. Regina’s poetry has appeared in 130 publications.

Sharon Carter immigrated in 1979 for a five-year adventure, but fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. Her visual art and poetry have been published in many anthologies and small presses, as well as online. She received a Hedgebrook residency in 2001 and was a Jack Straw Writer in 2003. For five years she co-edited Literary Salt (www.literarysalt.com).

Frank Cavano is a retired physician who writes for the pleasure he receives in doing so. He also finds it to be a cathartic and healing experience. It is his hope that some of his writings resonate with others, console or provoke thought. His favorite theme is the spiritual.

David Harris Ebenbach’s first book of short stories, Between Camelots,won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, his poetry and writing on writing has appeared in numerous magazines, and he wrote the chapter, “Plot: A Question of Focus,” for Gotham Writers Workshops’ book Writing Fiction. Ebenbach teaches Creative Writing at Earlham College.

Carol Ellis has been around the academic block with her Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa, her latest ZYZZYVA poem, and her new book manuscript of poems. Born in Detroit, she is forced to live in the Central Valley of California, where she teaches at the University of California, Merced.

Carol Folsom is a practicing attorney in Jacksonville, Florida and a writer of fiction and poetry. She is a member of the Chats Noir Writers' Circle and was recently awarded a Lilly Endowment grant to attend a poetry workshop at the Center for Ecumenical and Cultural Studies, Collegeville, Minnesota. Most of her poetry explores spiritual themes.

Yaqoob Ghaznavi discovered poetry writing and long distance running in his 60’s. He has never been happier.  Yaqoob lives in Toronto with his wife and dreams of retirement and the coming fiftieth wedding anniversary in 2016. 

Nancy Gustafson has published poetry, short fiction, and articles in anthologies and journals. She lives with her husband, Jan, in Huntsville, Texas. They have four chidlren, eleven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She may be found in the garden or the kitchen, or at the computer.

Irene D. Hays , formerly of Santa Barbara, Colorado, Seattle, and Hawaii, now resides in Richland, Washington. She has published two poetry chapbooks: The Measure of Loss(Pudding House Publications, 2007), and Witness: Landscape to Inscape (Foothills Publishing 2008), and poems in literary journals and other print and electronic media.  For more than thirty years, she worked as a writer, teacher, and director of school-based and workplace education programs in humanities and science.

Lisa Nichols Hickman is a writer, teacher and Presbyterian pastor.  Her writing appears regularly in "Faith and Leadership" an online magazine of Duke University.  Her book "The Worshiping Life" is an extended reflection on the rhythms of worship both in the sanctuary and in the world.  She serves at New Wilmington Presbyterian Church and teaches part-time at Westminster College.

Bradley Earle Hoge lives in Spring, Texas with his wife and three children.  He teaches natural science at the University of Houston – Downtown.  He has had two chapbooks anthologized by Plain View Press and his poetry appears in over 100 journals and anthologies. His most recent poems appear in Chronogram, Elegant Thorn Review, Tertulia, Wild Goose Review, Tonapah la, Sleet Magazine, and the Write Room.

Paul Hostovsky's latest book of poems is Dear Truth (2009 Main Street Rag). To read more of his work, visit his website at www.PaulHostovsky.com (www.paulhostovsky.com).

Siham Karami owns a technology recycling company and is a mother of five. Her poems have been or will be published in 14 by 14, Sonnetto Poesia, 4 and 20 Magazine, Innisfree Journal, and The Lavender Review.

Kyle Laursen was born and raised in Seattle. He earned an MFA in Writing from Californa College of the Arts. Currently he lives in Bali.

Lyn Lifshin has published over 120 books and edited four anthologies. Her recent books include: The Licorice Daughter: My Year with Ruffian (Texas Review Press), Another Woman Who Looks Like Me (Black Sparrow at Godine), Cold Comfort, Before It’s Light,92 Rapple. Her web site is www.lylifshin.com (www.lynlifshin.com).

Cristina T. Lopez-O’Keefe's poetry and essays have been published extensively online and in print.  Her non-fiction book, Finding Francis was published in 2003 and she is currently working on a poetry chapbook, Bunny was a Horse.

Donal Mahoney has worked as an editor for The Chicago Sun-Times, Loyola University Press and Washington University in St. Louis. He has had poems published in The Wisconsin Review, The Kansas Quarterly, The South Carolina Review, Commonweal, The Christian Science Monitor and other publications.

Ryan McLellan is the author of four collections of poetry, a performance poet, singer/songwriter and English teacher from New Hampshire. Since graduating from Plymouth State University in 2006, he has published close to fifty poems in as many journals, most recently appearing in Concise Delight, OVS Magazine, Cosmopolitan Review and Bird's Eye reView, as well as the anthologies Chopin with Cherries and the 2010 Poets' Guide to New Hampshire.  The recipient of the 2009 and 2010 Esther Buffler Poetry-in-Schools Fellowship, he has spent the last year touring and performing at high schools and poetry venues, presenting workshops and slam demonstrations.  He is a member of the 2010 Port Veritas team and will represent Portland, Maine at this year's National Poetry Slam in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Tamara Mikell-Choudhury, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, grew up not only with her Jewish mother and grandmother, but also on a Sufi commune with her Muslim father.  Tamara is a doctoral student in the Second Language Acquisition and Teaching program at the University of Arizona where she focuses on the Middle East and issues related to gender, religion, language, and identity.  She lives in Tucson, Arizona with her husband, Bengali-Lithuanian children, and her Yorkie-Wawa dog, Li’l Guy.  Additionally, Tamara is passionate about three-dimensional art, and when she isn’t reading or writing, she is designing funky fabulous homes and creating hybrid installations.

Sheryl L. Nelms is from Marysville, Kansas. She graduated from South Dakota State University in Family Relations and Child Development. She has had over 5,000 articles, stories and poems published, including fourteen individual collections of her poems. She is the Fiction/Nonfiction Editor of The Pen Woman Magazine, The National League of American Pen Women publication.

Jeff Morgan is a poet living in Florida.

Beth Paulson's poetry has appeared in Terrain, New Mexico Poetry Review and Blueline and is forthcoming in Passager, Innisfree, and The Aurorean. She received Pushcart Prize nominations for 2007 and 2009. Her collection, Wild Raspberries, was published by Plain View Press (Austin, 2009).

Sarah Rehfeldt lives in western Washington with her family.  She is a writer, artist, and photographer.  Her most recent publication credits include:  Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction; The Golden Lantern; DailyHaiga; Sketchbook, and Touchstones of the Sacred. Her photography web pages can be viewed at www.pbase.com (www.pbase.com/candanceski).

M.S. Rooney and her husband, poet Dan Noreen, live in Sonoma, California. Her work appears in journals and anthologies, including Clare, The Cortland Review, The Laurel Review, Lilliput, Main Street Rag, Other Voices, Rockhurst Review and 3 AM Magazine.

Peter R. Selover is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. He has worked in factories, mail rooms, and copy centers, he is currently relishing a lengthy career as a nanny.

Stephanie B. Shafran has resided in Amherst, Massachusetts for the past 26 years, where she has participated in women's writing workshops since 1994. Her poetry and prose have been published in Earth's Daughters, The Artful Mind, Detours II: Fiction of Travel by Land, Air, Sea and Mind, the anthologies Ophelia's Mom: Jewish Women Tell Their Stories and Mothers and Daughters: A Poetry Celebration, and other publications. Stephanie's is a school counselor and Spanish teacher for children ages 5-12. She has taught Spanish at public and private secondary schools, at a community college, through adult education programming, and at her alma mater, Smith College.

Vivek Sharma, a Pushcart nominated poet,writes in both English and Hindi. His poems have appeared in Atlanta Review, The Cortland Review, Mythium, and Bateau, and his book of poems, The Saga of a Crumpled Piece of Paper was published in Calcutta by the Writers Workshop in 2009. Vivek contributes articles and verses in Hindi to the Indian newspapers Divya Himachal, Himachal Mitra, and others. He is also a published scientist and a post-doctoral research associate in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. 

Gary Swaim received his A.B. in English from the University of California at Riverside and his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Philosophy from Claremont Graduate University and the University of Redlands (both in California).  He is currently a faculty member for the Master of Liberal Studies Program for SMU in Dallas and Faculty Advisor for the Creative Writing Concentration in that program.  He is a produced playwright, a widely published poet, and an anthologized writer of short fiction.

Leland Thoburn plays jazz saxophone and flute, and explores old ghost towns and mines in the California desert. He has been writing fiction for three years, during which time he has had thirty-five stories published in a variety of journals and magazines. You can read more at his web site LelandThoburn.com (lelandthoburn.wordpress.com).