Val Margolius is a researcher and a fan of black licorice. Their work can be found in Last Leaves Magazine and Willows Wept Review.

F. S. Blake is a Bronze Star decorated U.S. Army Veteran and Pushcart Prize nominated poet. He is a published photographer, traveler, advanced SCUBA diver, philanthropist, entrepreneur, and proud husband and father. He has poems published or forthcoming in O-Dark-Thirty, As you Were: The Military Review, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, and Line of Advance. His first chapbook, Terminal Leave, is available from Finishing Line Press. His poetry career began during his sister’s wedding.

Mackenzie (Mac) Gellner completed her Bachelor of Communication in journalism at Mount Royal University. Her poetry has been published in literary magazines, such as You Might Need To Hear This, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, WA Magazine, Eunoia Review and The Word's Faire, along with a short story in Humans of the World. Mac also enjoys photography, with work published in Kelp Journal and WA Magazine.

Agneya Singh is a writer and filmmaker from the Global South whose work explores themes of resistance, memory, ecological collapse, and political grief. His debut feature film M Cream received multiple international awards, and his recent poetry engages with lived experiences of war, occupation, and environmental devastation. Based between India and Malta, he is currently completing a novel set in Kashmir.

Michele M Miller holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Arizona. Honors for her poetry include an Arizona Commission on the Arts fellowship, and designation as runner-up for the National Poetry Series and the Kore Press First Book Prize. Her chapbook "The Pocket Museum of Natural History" is forthcoming as a finalist in the New Women’s Voices Series from Finishing Line Press. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and been shortlisted for several national competitions. Michele writes and photographs in her heartland, the Sonoran Desert of Tucson, Arizona. 

James Goddard lives in England in the year 2025, so spends much of his time thinking of other places and other times. He studied classics and philosophy, and tells the stories of people history forgot, or never knew, to give voices back to those erased. Most of the time, he tells these stories to his daughter. He writes at: https://meditationsonpermafrost.substack.com/

Jade Mash is a British writer, educator, and care leaver whose work blurs the line between memoir, poetry, and archival testimony. Autistic and multiply neurodivergent, her voice reclaims what institutions erased: the right to feel, to speak, and to survive out loud. Jade’s writing has been recognized for its lyric intensity, experimental form, and unflinching honesty. She is the founder of The Aftercare Project, supporting care-experienced youth through creative workshops, lived-experience mentoring, and artistic reclamation. She holds an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction and is currently preparing a PhD proposal exploring narrative disruption, voice, and postcolonial neurodivergence. She is a mother, a foster panel member, and a believer in storytelling as resistance and repair.

Fiona Hartmann is a writer living in Toronto, Canada. She is interested in creating thought-provoking fiction that creates emotional connections that transcend through the digital landscape of modernity. Find her published and forthcoming work in Kelp Journal, Shot Glass Journal, Neologism Poetry Journal and elsewhere.

Claire Warner is a Connecticut poet and writer. She is a past editor of Connecticut River Review, a poetry journal, and FltBrief, an aviation newsletter with a national readership. her poems have been included in venues such as Blue Unicorn, Connecticut River Review, and Orphic Lute.

Elliot Smith is a British journalist and writer based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Much of his fiction is set in and around his hometown of Skegness, on the east coast of England, and explores themes of class, socio-economic inequality, masculinity and community.

Vincent Casaregola teaches American literature and film, creative writing, and rhetorical studies at Saint Louis University. He has published poetry in a number of journals, as well as creative nonfiction, short fiction, and flash fiction. His poetry collection, Vital Signs (dealing with illness, loss, trauma, and grieving), is now available from Finishing Line Press.

E.L. Means is an aspiring psychoanalyst, pursuing a Master's degree in Marriage & Family Therapy at the University of Southern California. He seeks to enrich his understanding of the human experience beyond the confines of psychological nomenclature. Through his poetry and archetypal allegories, he seeks to inspire a connection to others through excavating the depths of the self.

Carter T. Fourie is a new writer with a passion for storytelling. They focus on queer perspectives, but write anything and everything, both creatively and academically

IUSTIN BUTNARIUC (b. 1999, Botoșani) is a student at the Faculty of General Medicine in Iași. Among other things, he is passionate about literature and writes essays, reviews, prose, but especially poetry in Romanian. He has been awarded at various national literary competitions and has published texts in magazines such as Poesis International, Timpul, on the online platforms Omiedesemne, Poetic Stand, Literomania, Hyperion, Liternet, Junimea XXI. He had public readings at the Blecher Institute (March, 2022) and on the occasion of the Librarium Marathon for International Poetry Day (March, 2023). He has not yet debuted in volume, but he plans to do so as soon as possible.

Ashton Emerson is a music teacher, poet, and butch dyke based in Baltimore, MD. He holds an M.M. from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University. In his writing, Emerson explores subjects like family trauma, mental illness, grief, and recovery alongside natural imagery. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Ashton Emerson ashtoneworley@gmail.com 919-720-1690

Glenn Kletke's work can be found in 'Whistle For Jellyfish' and in the form anthology, 'In Fine Form' where he pioneered the framed glosa.

Victoria (Vic) Brooks is a queer nonbinary writer living in London, and parent to an octopod (2-year-old identical twins). Their first queer sci-fi novel, Silicone God, was published by MOIST Books in the UK (December 2023) and House of Vlad Press in the US (February 2025). They have also published various essays, short fiction, and poetry. Find their work in Archer, W0rms, SAND, Discount Guillotine, and elsewhere.

Richard Weems is the author of three short story collections, one of which was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize. His work has appeared in North American Review, The Gettysburg Review, Beloit Fiction Journal and elsewhere. He just recently retired from teaching.

Emma Goldman-Sherman's plays have been produced on 4 continents and include "Abraham's Daughters" based on their documentation of human rights abuses during the first Intifada available as a podcast at TheParsnipShip.com. Their poetry appears or is forthcoming in The Bellingham Review (finalist for the 49th Parallel Award), Eckleburg, Toyon (w/Arabic translation), Gigantic Sequins (1st prize), Exist Otherwise, Writers Resist and others. Emma's micro-chapbook, "Possible Paths for the Minotaur," is forthcoming as part of the Ghost City Press Summer Series. Their microfiction is anthologized in Best Microfiction 2025 and the Fish Anthology of 2023. They have received support from ATHE, Ragdale, Millay, WordBridge, LMCC, and others. They work as a neuroaffirming coach, teach for the Dramatists Guild Institute and PlayPenn, and support writers and artists at https://www.bravespace.online/

Jack Cortez is a queer Spanish Canadian writer, history buff, and father of the dearest little kitten. He has graduated with a Bachelors of Arts degree in history and psychology from the University of Ottawa in 2024. He currently lives in the Ottawa Valley, just a heartbeat away from the Canadian capital city. He has recently published a poem in the Waymark Literary Magazine.

Rumaisa Reza is a high school student from Bangladesh who loves to explore emotions through writing and reading.

Tanya Moldovan is an emerging writer who lives in her home country Moldova. She started writing after losing both her parents to cancer. Her poetry has been published in The Word’s Faire, Festival for Poetry, and the Beyond Words international magazine. Her work focuses on the subjects of death, grief and the experience after death.

Travis Stephens is a tugboat captain who lives and works with his family in California. His book of poetry, “skeeter bit & still drunk” was published by Finishing Line Press. Visit him at: zolothstephenswriters.com

Kris Green lives in Florida with his beautiful wife and two savage children. He’s been published over 80 times in the last few years by the wonderful people at Nifty Lit, The Haberdasher: Peddlers of Literary Art, In Parentheses Magazine, Route 7 Review, BarBar Magazine, and many more. He won the 2023 Barbe Best Short Story and Reader’s Choice Award for his short story, “Redemption”. He has regular nonfiction articles being published by Solid Food Press on fatherhood entitled “On Raising Savages”.

Monica Barron is a poet and nonfiction writer. She published Prairie Architecture, a book of poems, with Golden Antelope Press in 2020. She produces literary programs for Lesbians WriteOn and is nonfiction editor at wordpeace, a social justice writing project. Her most recent magazine publications are Sinister Wisdom and Screendoor Review. She also works as a hospice volunteer in a variety of ways.

James Goddard

Russell Chamberlain was born in Nashville, Tennessee, but currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his family. He recently published an article in the Salt Weekly (issue 35) about the independent music scene in Nashville, Tennessee. He writes short stories, fiction, and poetry. He had two nonfiction pieces published this past winter, one with Waxing and Waning and one with Beyond Words Anthology.

Amanda Conover is a recent MFA alum based in Peoria, IL who often explores themes such as existentialism, spirituality, and social issues. She is the Poetry Editor for Carolina Muse Literary & Arts Magazine and works in scholarly publishing. Her poetry has been published in Atlanta Review, the lickety~split, Sad Girl Diaries, the Chaffin Journal, and elsewhere.

Virginia Elizabeth Samuel writes poetry as a complement to her work as a professional violist and classical composer. She has been published in the Harvard publication, ‘The Advocate’, the British publication, ‘Tears in the Fence’, Denver Quarterly and The Mid-Atlantic Review, among others. She was born in the US, but currently resides in Britain.

Ashley Groves is a Cincinnati-based writer. They have previously acted as the Coordinating Nonfiction Editor for the Short Vine Literary Journal.