Issue 4: Rejuvenation
On the eve of our one-year anniversary as well as with spring around the corner, we would like to celebrate the season with our theme of rejuvenation. Spring is a time to start anew. Within our fourth issue, you will see art and writing that reflects the restoration of self, spirit, nature, and everything in between.
Andrea Balingit (she/her) is a Filipino student and writer. She’s currently trying her hand in reaching both local and international audiences through her written works. When she’s procrastinating, she can be found wailing about almost everything in her twitter: @IamBUTTiful and being dramatic in her blog: http://4ourseason.wordpress.com
Susmita Bhattacharya is an award-winning author with many books to her credit. Her debut novel, The Normal State of Mind, was longlisted for the Mumbai Film Festival prize, Word to Screen. Her short story collection, Table Manners, won the Saboteur Award in 2019 . Susmita’s work has been featured in many magazines and BBC Radio 4. She also teaches creative writing at universities and to young people in the community.
Amy Bobeda holds an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics where she founded Wisdom Body Collective. Her work can be read/is forthcoming from Humble Pie, Vol1 Brooklyn, Denver Quarterly and elsewhere. @amybobeda on twitter.
Annie Bowles is an English Literature graduate from the University of Sussex currently based in London, UK. She has been telling tales since birth but only recently started writing poetry at university, performing spoken word and prose readings at student events and Brighton poetry festival. This September, she will begin a Creative Writing MA at Brunel University London, which she hopes will help her complete the novel she is currently working on.
Christina Ciufo is a passionate writer in poetry, short stories, flash fictions, fables, and completing her first novel. At a very young age, she always had a passion for writing stories and poems, specifically in fairytales, folklore, supernatural, and horror. After graduating Sacred Heart University with a BA in English, she continued to expand her writing abilities at Manhattanville College’s MFA Creative Writing Program and by May 2017, graduated with an MFA degree in Creative Writing. She completed Sacred Heart University's Education Program in December 2018 with a MAT in Teaching in both elementary and secondary. She is currently a Sunday School Teacher at St. Timothy's. She has numerously appeared in literary magazines including Spillwords, Ovunque Siamo, Nymphs, TrulyReview, Mookychick, Moonchild Magazine, Crêpe & Penn, Cauldron Anthology, dream walking, Selcouth Station Magazine, The Wild Literary Magazine, Speculate This Magazine, Poetically Magazine, Analogies & Allegories Literary Magazine, The Clay Literary Magazine, and Re-Side.
Jason de Koff is an associate professor of agronomy and soil science at Tennessee State University. He lives in Nashville, TN with his wife, Jaclyn, and his two daughters, Tegan and Maizie. He has published in a number of scientific journals and has over 70 poems published or forthcoming in literary journals over the last year.
Elizabeth Drawdy is a poet from North Carolina. She has a degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in English Literature and Classical Studies and has been previously published in Dust Poetry Magazine with a forthcoming publication in Nymphs. You can find her on twitter @elizabethdrawdy.
Chukwuemeka Famous was born in Nigeria and has been writing since the age of nine. His short story titled OYINBO was selected as a top ten winner in the Packlight Writing Contest and his novel manuscript was a finalist in the 2020 Quramo Writer's Prize. He is currently working on a novel.
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Orbis, Dalhousie Review and Connecticut River Review. Latest books, “Leaves On Pages” and “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon.
Jameson Hampton is an adventurer from Buffalo, NY who wishes they were immortal, so they'd have time to visit every coffee shop in the world.
Kathryn Hemmann is a writer and comic artist who lives at the center of a maze of bookshelves in Philadelphia. Their work explores ancient ruins, hidden mysteries, and the gentle horrors of everyday life. They go by @kathrynthehuman on Twitter and Instagram, and they curate a small museum of monsters and flowers on their website, Digitalfantasydiary.com
DJ Hill’s debut collection of poetry and collage, Homespun Mercies, won the NYC Big Book, IBPA Benjamin Franklin and CIPA EVVY gold medal, was a silver medalist in the Nautilus and IPPY Book Awards, and most recently named a Medal Provocateur Finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards (winner named in April). Release, the cover art of Homespun Mercies created by DJ, was named Spirit of the Suffragists at the opening ceremony of VOTE: A Centennial Celebration at the Loveland Museum in Loveland, Colorado. Her poetry and mixed media art have appeared in The Rumpus and numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies including Worcestershire Poet Laureate Remembrance, JOMP21’s Dear Mr. President, and Gone Dogs: Tales of Dogs We’ve Loved. DJ’s chapbook, Of Ash & Fire, will be published summer of 2021 by Finishing Line Press. She was most recently named a Medal Provocateur, First Horizon, and Grand Prize Short- List Finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards. DJ holds a BFA in creative writing from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She writes and creates at her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
DJ Hill’s debut collection of poetry and collage, Homespun Mercies, won the NYC Big Book, IBPA Benjamin Franklin and CIPA EVVY gold medal, was a silver medalist in the Nautilus and IPPY Book Awards, and most recently named a Medal Provocateur Finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards (winner named in April). Release, the cover art of Homespun Mercies created by DJ, was named Spirit of the Suffragists at the opening ceremony of VOTE: A Centennial Celebration at the Loveland Museum in Loveland, Colorado. Her poetry and mixed media art have appeared in The Rumpus and numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies including Worcestershire Poet Laureate Remembrance, JOMP21’s Dear Mr. President, and Gone Dogs: Tales of Dogs We’ve Loved. DJ’s chapbook, Of Ash & Fire, will be published summer of 2021 by Finishing Line Press. She was most recently named a Medal Provocateur, First Horizon, and Grand Prize Short- List Finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards. DJ holds a BFA in creative writing from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She writes and creates at her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Claire HM (she/they) is a poet, fabulist and hag. She writes and reads tarot as an act of self-healing that is an invitation for others to create the stories they need to access healing too. She has recently been published in Black Flowers Literary Journal, streetcake 68, Mooky Chick and in Cape Magazine. 'How to Bring Him Back' her debut novella (a story framed by a spell to let go of the past) will be published by Fly on the Wall press in October 2021.
Rebecca Kane is a 21-year-old poet from Scotland. She is currently studying English and Art History at the University of Glasgow. Her poems deal with ideas of dissociation, the uncanny and the surreal. She has previously been published in Wild Press Books Young Poets’ Anthology "Dark Animals.” Her Instagram is @r.kpoetry and her Twitter is @rkpoetryy.
Anisha Kaul is a poet with a Master’s in English Literature, presently living in New Delhi, India. Her work is forthcoming or has appeared in Cardigan Press, Ethel Zine, Southchild Lit, Splintered Disorder Press, 3 Moon Magazine, Dwelling Literary, Fevers of the Mind, From the Farther Trees, Briefly Zine, The Indian Feminist Review, Ink Drinkers Poetry, Fahmidan Journal, Glitchwords, The Minison Project, Beir Bua Journal, Small Leaf Press, Analogies & Allegories Literary Magazine, and Visual Verse, among others. She also loves to write about herself in the third person. You can reach out to her on twitter @anishakaul9.
Anita Kestin, MD, MPH, has worked in academics, nursing homes, hospices, and locked wards of a psychiatric facility. She is a daughter (of immigrants fleeing the Holocaust), wife, mother, grandmother, progressive activist. She has been writing for years but has just started submitting her work. To her delight, over a dozen pieces have now been accepted for publication or published, the first when she was in her sixties.
Kayla King is the author of These Are the Women We Write About, a micro-collection of poetry published by The Poetry Annals. She is the founder, Editor-in-Chief, and contributing writer for Pages Penned in Pandemic: A Collective, now available for purchase. Kayla's fiction and poetry has been published by Firewords Magazine, Sobotka Literary Magazine, and Capsule Stories, among others. You can follow Kayla’s writing journey over at her website: kaylakingbooks.com or her twitterings @KaylaMKing.
Dominic Loise is open about and advocates for mental health awareness as seen with his essay writing for F(r)iction. His work has appeared in Alchemic Gold Poetry Society, Alt.Ctrl.Jpg, Analogies & Allegories, Calm Down, Clementine Zine, Collective Realms, Emotional Alchemy, Goat's Milk, Innsaei Journal, Mulberry Literary, October Hill, Ouch!, Push up Daisies!, Raven Review, Re.Collective, Refresh and Silent Auctions. Dominic was a finalist in Short Editions' "America: Color it in" contest.
DS Maolalai has been nominated eight 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)
Melissa Martini received her Master’s degree in English with a focus in Creative Writing from Seton Hall University. Her fiction has previously appeared in Zanna Magazine, Jalada Africa’s “Bodies” anthology, Camas Magazine, and Analogies and Allegories; her flash fiction has previously appeared in Pretty Owl Poetry, Bandit Fiction, and Dime Show Review; and her poetry has appeared in The Confessionalist Zine and The Daily Drunk. She currently serves as prose reader and newsletter creator for the winnow mag.
Melissa Martini received her Master’s degree in English with a focus in Creative Writing from Seton Hall University. Her fiction has previously appeared in Zanna Magazine, Jalada Africa’s “Bodies” anthology, Camas Magazine, and Analogies and Allegories; her flash fiction has previously appeared in Pretty Owl Poetry, Bandit Fiction, and Dime Show Review; and her poetry has appeared in The Confessionalist Zine and The Daily Drunk. She currently serves as prose reader and newsletter creator for the winnow mag.
Melissa Martini received her Master’s degree in English with a focus in Creative Writing from Seton Hall University. Her fiction has previously appeared in Zanna Magazine, Jalada Africa’s “Bodies” anthology, Camas Magazine, and Analogies and Allegories; her flash fiction has previously appeared in Pretty Owl Poetry, Bandit Fiction, and Dime Show Review; and her poetry has appeared in The Confessionalist Zine and The Daily Drunk. She currently serves as prose reader and newsletter creator for the winnow mag.
Maxine Meixner (she/her) is writer, poet, and floral print enthusiast. Born in the USA to a German father and Zimbabwean mother, she spent a decade growing up in South Africa and now lives in the UK, trying to figure out what home means. She holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London, and her work has previously featured in small leaf press and Second Chance Lit. Maxine is the author of “A Shade of Meaning,” a self-published novella, and is currently working on what she affectionately refers to as her ‘sapphic novel.’ She can be found overthinking on Twitter as @MaxineM_x
Tanvi Nagar is a high school senior at Delhi Public School, Gurgaon. She has been writing for the past nine years and is passionate about public speaking, travelling, playing sports and reading novels. She has contributed to national newspapers like The Times of India and Hindustan Times; journals like Flare Journal, The Weight Journal, Nymphs Publications, Secret Attic, Hebe Poetry and Anti-Heroin Chic and anthologies like The Last Flower of Spring and Riding on a Summer Train by Delhi Poetry Slam; The Great Indian Anthology by Half Baked Beans and She the Shakti by Authors Press. She is the former Editor of her school, currently edits for Cathartic Youth Literary Magazine and the Ice Lolly Review and is the present Head Girl of her school’s student council. She has authored four books titled, Metamorphosis, A Treasure Trove of Poetic Wonderland, A Bountiful of Rhythmic Stories and My Book of Short Stories and Poems. She has also won the Eye Level Literary Award 2018 by Daekyo South Korea, The Create Change Challenge by The University of Queensland, Australia and the Millennial Essay Writing Contest by UNESCO. She loves solving maths problems and her favourite singer is Halsey! She wants to study economics and psychology at her dream college and believes that being kind and compassionate is the best way of life. Her website is tanvinagar.com.
Adeyeye James Oluwatobi is an Electrical /Electronics Engineer and a poet. He explores the intersection between human conditions and faith in his works. He's a best of the net nominee 2020. His work death is beautiful was listed among the top 100 poems for the 2019 Nigerian Students Poetry Prize. His works have featured or forthcoming in many anthologies and journals including African Writer, libretto magazine, Rising Phoenix, eboquills, The Quills, Eskimo. He is a Contributor with the Best of Africa magazine.
Abudu-Bhadmus Omolabake is a college student, and a poet based in Nigeria. She is an artist who enjoys painting and writing short stories. Her works have appeared in literary magazines such as Songs of Peace anthology, The Shallow Tales Review. She writes about rebirth, hope and faith. She believes in the power of purpose and embraces life as a gift.
Sam Roberts is self-taught. He believes that writing is a war against death.
Deryck N. Robertson lives and creates in Peterborough, Ontario. His work has appeared recently with Melbourne Culture Corner, Northern Otter Press, TunaFish Journal, Burnt Breakfast Mag, and The Minison Project. He can usually be found in Algonquin Park with his family of paddlers. His latest self-published zine will be printed as soon as he finds enough empties in order to pay for it.
Grace Sampson is an emerging Irish poet, aged Twenty-One. Her work reflects the countryside that she came from, and continues to reside in. She has been previously published in ‘The Galway Review’, and ‘The Lothlorien Poetry Journal’. She now dissects her time between her Undergraduate studies at NUIG, and various writing projects, including: her first collection, a chapbook on womanhood, and a piece in a forthcoming book on the Beat poet, Thom Gunn. She lives in the South-West of Ireland.
Cody B Strange is a particle physics researcher based in Germany. He has upcoming work in the Winnow Magazine and can be found @cbstrange1 on Twitter or cbstrange.com.
J.V. Sumpter (BFA from University of Evansville) is an assistant editor for Kelsay Books, Thera Books, and freelance clients. She received 2020 Virginia Grabill Awards in Poetry and Nonfiction and has work in (or forthcoming in) New Welsh Review, Leading Edge Magazine, The Amethyst Review, Not Deer Magazine, Wretched Creations, Clandestine Lit, Flyover Country Magazine, and The Augment Review. Visit her Twitter @JVSReads.
Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan (he/him) is a keen writer from Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He is a penultimate medical student and a Forward Prize nominee who makes poems from everything he can't stammer through speeches. He has works published or forthcoming at Shore Poetry, Journal Nine, Inverse Journal, Rabid Oak, The Lake, IS&T, Disquiet Art, Dreich Mag, B'K Mag and several other places. He can be reached at out on Facebook @ Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan, on Twitter @wordpottersull1.
Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan (he/him) is a keen writer from Ebonyi State, Nigeria. He is a penultimate medical student and a Forward Prize nominee who makes poems from everything he can't stammer through speeches. He has works published or forthcoming at Shore Poetry, Journal Nine, Inverse Journal, Rabid Oak, The Lake, IS&T, Disquiet Art, Dreich Mag, B'K Mag and several other places. He can be reached at out on Facebook @ Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan, on Twitter @wordpottersull1.
Violette Taylor writes to make her favorite tiny moments big enough for others to see. She has been published at One Sentence Poems and Windows Facing Windows Review. She has work forthcoming in Journal of Erato, Southchild Lit and Lady Anus. She currently lives and studies in Paris. Twitter/Instagram: @violettetaylor_
Ohio born and raised, Kerry Trautman is a founder of ToledoPoet.com and the "Toledo Poetry Museum" page on Facebook, both of which serve to promote Northwest Ohio poetry events. She is a poetry editor for "Red Fez," and she participates readings and events such as Back to Jack (Toledo's traditional Jack Kerouac memorial reader's theater), and the Columbus Arts Festival. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in various anthologies, and in journals such as "Midwestern Gothic," "Alimentum," "The Coe Review," "Slippery Elm," "The Fourth River," and "Mock Turtle Zine." Her poetry books are "Things That Come in Boxes" (King Craft Press 2012,) "To Have Hoped" (Finishing Line Press 2015,) "Artifacts" (NightBallet Press 2017,) and "To be Nonchalantly Alive" (Kelsay Books 2020.)
Victoria VanProoyen is a poet and teacher.
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Courtney Weaver is an English major in progress. She works with adults with disabilities and lives with her dog, Eccleston, and her cat, Bellatrix, in Kansas City. She has bipolar disorder and is passionate about mental health awareness.